When it comes to grocery shopping, people have their favorite stores.
"I don't use Walmart,” Kroger shopper Jana Botibom said outside a store in Euless. “I don't use another store. I use Kroger."
"If I'm being honest Boar's Head lunch meat brings me in here," Kroger shopper Dean Cunningham said.
Naturally, some shoppers were not happy about a possible merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons.
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"I just don't like Kroger and the way they operate,” Albertsons shopper Phillip Stone said. “I love Albertsons. So, I know when they merge them it's going to be bad. So, I'm not for it."
Kroger is offering up $24.6 billion for the deal.
"These are big players,” Rincon and Associates President Edward Rincon said. “These are not small-time supermarket chains."
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Rincon and Associates is a Dallas-based marketing and research firm. Rincon said losing a major grocery store option could impact shoppers.
"Oftentimes with few choices, prices do go up,” Rincon said. “It just depends on how many choices consumers have."
Shoppers are aware this could happen.
"I'm not sure I'm thrilled about that,” Cunningham said. “How many more grocery stores do we have? Tom Thumb? So that would be one less competitor. I'm not thrilled about that."
Besides pricing, Albertsons shoppers have even more to consider.
"I don't know if that will impact my medication,” Albertsons shopper Linda Hale said. “If I will have to go back to Kroger. I don't know what it's going to do, so I'm anxious."
A merger would make this company the second-largest grocer behind Walmart. Rincon said Kroger still needs to do more to gain growth in north Texas.
"Without any new innovative techniques I think that the H-E-B and Amazon are still going to dominate this North Texas market," Rincon said.
Regulatory approvals are needed before the merger can go through.
But some shoppers already have their minds made up.
"No," Albertsons shopper Phillip Stone said. “I'm not for it. No. They need to rethink that.
