Albertsons/Rite Aid Merger

     This week seems to be a big week for news in the supermarket industry. Yesterday, it was announced that Albertsons would be acquiring the remainder of Rite Aid that did not get sold off to Walgreens late last year. An interesting development for sure, but not entirely surprising as it has been rumored that one of the big supermarket chains may have wanted to make an acquisition in the pharmacy space. As part of this deal, the Rite Aid name will live on at existing locations, and Albertsons also said they would like to rebrand all of their in-store pharmacy counters to the Rite Aid name as well (probably bringing the end to whatever is left of Sav-On and Osco, although Jewel-Rite Aid doesn't have the same ring to it! - Hopefully they make an exception there). If Albertsons does go through with the pharmacy rebranding at their stores, this could possibly bring the Rite Aid name back to Florida after a 23 year absence. It will be interesting to see what Albertsons does with the Rite Aid stores, and if they continue to open new freestanding Rite Aids in the areas where they currently operate. I think this deal is much better than the semi-failed merger between Walgreens and Rite Aid, as this deal will keep the Rite Aid name alive and keep some extra competition around in a field where heavy consolidation has occurred over the last 20 or so years. For more detailed information about this deal, you can read Albertsons' official press release about the topic here: https://www.albertsons.com/albertsons-cos-and-rite-aid-merge/

     I'll also be keeping my eye out for any updates on the recent news about Southeastern Grocers and their potential bankruptcy and store closings, especially any store closing lists. It was a complete coincidence that my Harvey's post went up the same weekend that news broke. It's strange how things work out sometimes...

Anyway, that's all I have for now,

Until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger