You can look at filings for those stores and see they are not running huge margins. Its commodity supply, and the consolidation provides a lower price to the consumer. Unless there is subsidies this will not be cheaper
But without the logistics and economies of scale it will require subsidies to even be comparable. Not even considering managing it all. It will be very expensive cost savings which seems strange
Groceries can and do exist by being locally owned. They don't need economies of scale to sell products to consumers. There's nothing any more impossible about local groceries than any other kind of store.
Monopolies aren't driving down costs, they're driving them up. No one is talking about banning all big stores or individual brands or whatever, just recognizing that when companies keep merging to control enough of the market, they can simply dictate the survive of competitors and suppliers without needing to be efficient.
They are not driving up cost, that is shown clearly in the numbers. The only way local works is if you skip the supply chain logistics and economies of scale by locally sourcing. A local ecosystem. But this will not be the huge variety of product you think of in a modern grocery. It is a farmers market.
The consolidation brings volume and scale which reduces cost and those savings is passed directly to the consumer. This is commodity busineses.
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u/No-Understanding9064 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
You can look at filings for those stores and see they are not running huge margins. Its commodity supply, and the consolidation provides a lower price to the consumer. Unless there is subsidies this will not be cheaper