9mo ago

Kroger's mountain town pricing strategy under scrutiny in Colorado merger trial

denvergazette.com

6 comments

That monopoly really needs to get shut down.
It definitely makes sense for costs to be higher in the mountains, but lord knows there are enough Korger semis bogging down I-70 that it can't be as bad as they make it out to be, and, sure enough, they're making more profit up there by ripping people off.
As someone that lives in a mountain town dominated by Kroger and Albertsons, it is absolutely absurd how expensive shit is. Groceries for one person cost more than a full tank of gas. It's almost cheaper to drive an hour to Walmart or Costco at this point. My monthly grocery bill is half the cost of my rent.
The zone was established to pass on rising costs by raising prices in select stores with less risk of losing sales volume from competition, Groff confirmed.
“And yes, we look for areas that had less competition, and we selected those stores for that reason,” he said, adding it didn’t mean those stores had no competition at all.
Biller pointed out the “no-comp stores” have no Safeway stores nearby, which Groff confirmed, and there are City Market stores in Vail and Gunnison with Safeway that also have high costs to operate but were not included in the zone.
The “no-comp” stores on the Western Slope saw revenues grow faster and yielded gross margins more than double of more competitive Kroger stores, Groff confirmed.
It was considered a successful program, Groff testified, because it raised prices without losing customers and covering Kroger’s rising costs.
- “And yes, we look for areas that had less competition, and we selected those stores for that reason,” he said, adding it didn’t mean those stores had no competition at all.
  So, very literally monopolistic practices. Nice.
Paywall
- https://archive.ph/XOYKm
  Also, no paywall when I looked (VPNed etc, I normally get walled).

6 comments