North Texas

Albertsons in Preliminary Talks to Merge with Sprouts

Albertsons is reportedly in talks to purchase rival grocer Sprouts Farmers Market.

Bloomberg Markets reported very preliminary talks over the weekend between the two popular grocers.

Albertsons' stake in North Texas has grown over the years.

The supermarket chain started out with 42 stores. Then, they bought Tom Thumb, adding another 64 supermarkets and the Market Streets chain gave them seven more.

If a deal is made with sprouts, it would give Albertsons another 23 supermarkets in DFW, making a total of 136 stores.

Supermarkets are getting challenged.

Discount retailer Wal-Mart got into the grocery business becoming the nation's largest grocer with its deep discounts on food, taking away customers from the traditional supermarket.

Club stores like Costco and online retailers like Amazon Fresh bringing groceries right to your door have left traditional supermarkets trying to find ways to be competitive.

Places are dropping their prices drastically to keep up.

Sprouts was one of those challengers, too.

The chain started out specializing in organic and healthy foods at a lower price point than popular chains like Whole Foods.

Sprouts has been slowly expanding its product line to look more like a traditional supermarket and opening more stores in the past two years across the country.

The moves made Sprouts another threat to the traditional grocery which makes them a prime target to be bought out.

Albertsons declined to comment on the report.

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