Albertsons (ACI), a leading US food and drug retailer, is pulling back in the high-stakes North Texas market as part of a broader restructuring.
According to recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings listed by USA Today, the grocery giant will shutter two Tarrant County locations by late April, resulting in 138 layoffs.
This adds to a string of location closures by the grocery retailer, which spans California and Washington, D.C. These new locations add to its shrinking physical footprint, following the company’s 2025 closure of 20 stores to survive as a standalone entity.
While the Euless and Fort Worth closures may seem like a local story, they underscore a rising trend of digital productivity amid cooling merger ambitions in an extremely competitive market.
Under the company banner are known names, including Safeway, Vons, Acme, Pavilions, Shaw’s, and Tom Thumb, among others, with a combined strength of more than 2,200 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
In 2024, the planned $24.6 billion merger between grocery giant Kroger and Albertsons collapsed due to antitrust concerns and concerns that it would reduce workers’ bargaining power.
This deal was a missed lifeline for a financially pressured Albertsons, as competition from Costco, Walmart, and Texas-based H-E-B continues to make staying relevant in this market extremely difficult.
More Layoffs:
Adding to the pressure is market manipulation by dominant grocery retail power buyers like Walmart, which is “contributing to higher food prices for American consumers,” according to the National Grocers Association.
As such, it is pushing local retailers such as Albertsons to brace for a brutal reality in which names like Walmart, with an over $1 trillion valuation, capture around 23% of the U.S. grocery market, followed by Kroger, which accounts for over 10% of the market, as reported by TheStreet.
During the company’s Q3 earnings call in January 2025, then-CEO Viveik Sankaran revealed that increasing digital sales was a pivotal part of its revival strategy.
“To engage customers, we have continued to invest in growth through four digital platforms. These platforms are designed to drive increased sales, more deeply engage our most loyal customers, increase customer lifetime value, and generate digital space and robust data for the Albertsons Media collective,” said former Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran.
