As part of the plan to merge major grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons, Kroger is considering selling a few Harris Teeter locations — including one in Alexandria, Washington Business Journals first reported.
Kroger owns Harris Teeter, Dillons, Fred Meyer and other brands. Albertsons owns Safeway and (locally) Balducci's. Kroger would technically take over Albertsons.
The grocery acquisition would create the largest grocery store company in the country, designed to compete with Walmart. Because of its size, the Federal Trade Commission is looking at the plans closely, and Kroger and Albertsons are both offering to sell off some of its current stores to help the plan move forward.
The Harris Teeter that is on the Kroger's sale list is the one at 735 N Saint Asaph St. in Old Town North. Harris Teeter is considering selling that grocery store to C&S Wholesale Grocers, based in New Hampshire. The total list of grocery stores that Albertsons and Kroger would sell numbers more than 500.
C&S Wholesale Grocers owns several grocery store brands, including IGA, Full Circle Market, Best Yet and, yes, Piggly Wiggly.
There are a lot of ifs — a chain of events would have to transpire for Old Town North to get a Piggly Wiggly — but it's not impossible. Piggly Wiggly has locations in Newport News, Norfolk and Danville, Virginia.