The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
Ever since Kroger and Albertsons announced plans to fuse into a single supermarket giant almost two years ago, the companies’ ability to get the complex deal past federal regulators has stood out as perhaps their biggest challenge. But the announcement on Thursday by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser that he has won a court order putting the proposed merger on ice until at least early October is a reminder that lower-level efforts to prevent the grocers from combining pose just as big of a hurdle for Kroger and Albertsons as the Federal Trade Commission.
Kroger and Albertsons have been preparing for months to try to persuade a federal judge to reject the FTC’s February request for a court order to block their merger. Yet even if the retailers are able to avoid an injunction during a hearing set to start in late August, they also face the very real possibility that a state judge in Denver could instead have the final word on the deal.
The agreement by Kroger and Albertsons not to close their merger until after the Colorado court rules on the state’s attorney general’s request for an injunction to permanently block it underscores the power a single state can hold over the fate of a transaction with national implications.
Notably, neither Colorado nor Washington state — which has also taken legal action in a bid to stop the merger — were among the states that joined the FTC’s suit against Kroger and Albertsons.
Kroger and Albertsons have focused their efforts to merge on diffusing opposition from the Biden administration. Now that a court in Colorado has seized the spotlight, will that strategy matter anymore?
In case you missed it
California Supreme Court rules on app-based gig workers
On Thursday, the state’s highest court upheld a law allowing companies like Uber, DoorDash and Lyft to treat their delivery workers as independent contractors instead of as employees. The justices ruled unanimously to uphold Proposition 22, which nearly 60% of California voters approved in 2020 and impacts more than 1.4 million app-based gig workers in California, according to The Orange Country Register.
Instacart General Counsel Morgan Fong called the court’s ruling “a landmark victory for app-based workers across the state … [that] preserves access to the flexible earnings opportunities they want and the important benefits provided under Prop 22.”
Save A Lot adds another delivery partner
The discounter has linked with DoorDash for on-demand grocery delivery, DoorDash announced earlier this week. More than 400 Save A Lot stores are live on DoorDash and participating stores will support SNAP/EBT payment capabilities on DoorDash starting later this year.
Save A Lot announced a delivery partnership with Uber Eats last month. The discount grocer is also available on Instacart.
Another new in-store retail media platform
CoolerX, the company formerly known as Cooler Screens, announced Monday a self-service platform for retailers to plan and execute in-store retail media campaigns in-house. The system’s AI capabilities let retailers “improve conversion rates, increase campaign performance and optimize desired outcomes all while delivering a unified, enhanced digital consumer experience across the entire store,” the company said.
Number of the week: 41.4 million
That’s the number of loyalty members Albertsons reported having in its first-quarter earnings results. The grocery company’s base of loyalty members increased 15% year over year during the quarter, during which Albertsons announced that it has streamlined its loyalty program to simplify how members can accumulate and redeem points.
What’s ahead
Sprouts Farmers Market earnings
The specialty grocery chain is scheduled to share its second-quarter results after the stock market closes on Monday.
Impulse find
Remember Trader Joe’s mini tote bags that were flying off the shelves? Well, get ready to add a mini cooler to your TJ’s bag collection.
Trader Joe’s has recently restocked its “crazy popular” Mini Insulated Tote Bags, but warns customers that supplies won’t last, People reported.
Social media has shown just how far shoppers are willing to go to obtain Trader Joe’s latest bag, with videos capturing lines wrapping around stores and shoppers waiting for hours to get their hands on one of these bags.
Some Trader Joe’s locations have employees posted to hand out the bags to customers rather than having them on display in stores. One TikTok poster wrote that employees standing by to give customers the mini coolers bags limited people “running for them like animals.”
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