Challenging the Impacts of Supermarket Consolidation

Facing Goliath: Challenging the Impacts of Supermarket Consolidation on our Local Economies, Communities, and Food Security By Katy Mamen, Fellow, The Oakland Institute.

In the 1920s and ‘30s, a robust citizen movement to protect local economies from the impacts of chain stores swept across the nation. One ardent spokesperson, writing in a 1929 issue of Harper’s magazine, argued that “chain stores represent a sort of absentee landlordism. On our Main Street, and on thousands of other Main Streets, there is a situation where policies are dictated and standards are set by men who have possibly never seen our town. Despite strong and widespread opposition, these early chain stores won out over the proposed regulations and statutes that sought local authority over corporate behavior. Since that time, the rise of chain stores has rapidly continued, with big box stores dotting the landscape as successful independent businesses disappear. Today, identical stores offer identical selections from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon, and with this new level of homogenization, concerns about local economic and community health have been renewed.

However, issues of control and access to food have generated little attention in the chain store debate, even though food, as a basic human need, warrants special consideration. Supermarkets have long represented the face of consolidated food retail and are considered a core aspect of the retail landscape. As megastores such as Wal-Mart have expanded into food retail, making Safeway and Albertsons seem like local groceries by comparison, the impact of consolidation on producers and consumers alike has raised new questions.

This Policy Brief will address critical issues pertaining to consolidation in food retail, investigating structural changes that are occurring along the supply chain and uncovering the broader socio-economic impacts of consolidation on the community. Several strategies for building strong, sustainable food economies and communities are highlighted.