Antitrust trial begins to block Kroger-Albertsons merger.

An antitrust investigation in Washington state aimed at blocking the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons is scheduled to begin Monday.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of the state’s two largest supermarket chains, arguing it would severely limit consumers’ shopping options and eliminate key competition that keeps prices low.

Ferguson will join members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union at a rally Monday outside Seattle City Hall during a court recess.

Other attendees scheduled to speak at the rally include Faye Guenther, president of UFCW 3000, Katie Garrow, executive secretary and treasurer of Martin Luther King Jr., and Yasmin Ashur, a Port Orchard Albertsons employee.

Earlier this year, King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson denied Kroger and Albertsons’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

“Free enterprise relies on competition among businesses, and that competition benefits consumers,” Attorney General Ferguson said in a statement after the decision. “My legal team and I will continue to work to protect Washington consumers and workers from rising prices and fewer choices.”

Ferguson filed the lawsuit in January, arguing the merger would violate Washington state antitrust law, eliminate Kroger’s biggest competitor and cause consumers to pay more.

Kroger and Albertsons are the two largest supermarket chains in our state. These two companies are also the second and fourth largest grocery retailers in the country.

The food giants employ more than 700,000 workers in nearly 5,000 stores in 49 states.

Kroger and Albertsons operate more than 300 supermarkets in Washington, including about 194 in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area.

According to the Seattle Times, citing Nielsen statistics, more than half of households in the Seattle metropolitan area most often shop at stores owned by one of these two companies.

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has reported that more than half of the supermarkets in the state are owned by Kroger or Albertsons.

Albertsons owns Safeway and Haggen, while Kroger owns QFC and Fred Meyer.

The companies have proposed selling hundreds of stores to C & S Wholesale, which currently operates 23 supermarkets. That would make C & S the state’s second-largest supermarket operator almost overnight.

Ferguson says the proposed merger would immediately enable the combined Kroger-Albertsons brand to outperform competition from C&S stores.

Albertsons and Kroger disputed claims that C&S Wholesale would not be a profitable operator. Attorneys argued that C&S would be well-positioned to operate the stores and that their sale plan had nothing to do with previous failed sales that Safeway and Albertsons made to Haggen and Lawrence Bros.

“C&S is not a family business or a risky private equity venture,” Kroger said in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. “It is a well-capitalized company with extensive industry experience.”

On April 22, the companies announced a change in the original plan to sell the C&S assets.

When Albertsons merged with Safeway in 2015, it sold 146 Haggen stores, including 26 in Washington state. But analysts say Haggen lacked the infrastructure needed to quickly expand into a multistate operation. Haggen struggled and was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a year later.

Albertsons has bought back more than 50 stores it had previously sold, including 14 in Washington state. Some stores were reacquired for as little as $1 per store at auction. Albertsons now owns and operates Haggen stores in our state.

Critics fear that if C&S fails, it could lead to Kroger repossessing the supermarkets it sold, much like Albertsons did after Haggen went bust.

Tom Brock is a weekend editor, reporter and anchor for KIRO Newsradio.