Albertsons is shutting down two grocery stores in Tarrant County, Texas, eliminating 138 positions as the company continues trimming its national footprint.
The closures in Euless and Fort Worth are set to begin on April 25, 2026, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings cited by USA Today. The Euless location will impact 82 employees, while the Fort Worth store affects 56 workers. These cuts are part of a broader pattern that has seen Albertsons shed nearly 300 jobs across multiple states since January.
The grocery chain, which operates more than 2,200 stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia, closed 20 stores in 2025. Its stock is down 21% over the past year. For a company approaching nine decades in business, the trajectory raises serious questions about its competitive positioning.
According to Yahoo! Finance, in 2024, a planned $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons collapsed due to antitrust concerns and worries that it would weaken workers' bargaining power. The National Grocers Association warned the deal risked "contributing to higher food prices for American consumers." The deal's failure left Albertsons navigating the fiercely competitive grocery landscape on its own.
That landscape is dominated by Walmart, which commands around 23% of the U.S. grocery market with an over $1 trillion valuation. Kroger controls more than 10% of the market. Albertsons, by comparison, finds itself squeezed from above by scale and from below by leaner operators.
The issue has sparked debate about whether legacy grocery chains can survive without consolidation. Free-market advocates might argue that the antitrust intervention, while intended to protect consumers, may have ironically weakened a competitor that needed scale to challenge Walmart's dominance. Without the merger, Albertsons must now find organic ways to compete — or continue shrinking.
During the company's Q3 earnings call in January 2025, former CEO Vivek Sankaran revealed that growing digital sales was central to Albertsons' revival strategy. At the time, digital sales accounted for roughly 7% of total grocery revenue. Sankaran laid out an ambitious vision for leveraging technology to deepen customer engagement. "To engage customers, we have continued to invest in growth through four digital platforms," Sankaran said. "These platforms are designed to drive increased sales, more deeply engage our most loyal customers, increase customer lifetime value, and generate digital space and robust data for the Albertsons Media collective."
The company's Q3 2025 earnings report, released on January 7, 2026, showed tangible progress. Albertsons posted a 21% increase in digital sales and a 12% jump in loyalty members, bringing the total to 49.8 million. Current CEO Susan Morris said the company's investments were "driving smarter decisions, greater efficiency, and more personalized experiences."
The Texas layoffs are not isolated incidents. According to WARN filings, Albertsons has been closing locations across the country in recent months. Here is a summary of recent closures and their impact:
In total, approximately 295 jobs have been cut since January across these locations. Each closure represents real families navigating a sudden loss of income — a human cost that quarterly earnings reports rarely capture.
Albertsons is targeting $1.5 billion in savings as it restructures operations. The company appears to be pulling back from markets where it cannot compete profitably, a rational — if painful — business decision. Whether the digital strategy can generate enough growth to offset physical store losses remains the central question for shareholders.
For investors watching the grocery sector, the lesson is straightforward. Scale matters enormously in a low-margin business, and Albertsons' failed merger left it without the heft needed to match Walmart's pricing power or Kroger's market share. A 21% stock decline over the past year tells that story plainly.
The grocery industry is being reshaped by technology, consolidation pressures, and consumer behavior shifts. Albertsons' bet on digital platforms and AI-driven efficiency is a reasonable play, but executing it while simultaneously closing stores and cutting nearly 300 jobs is a balancing act few companies manage gracefully. Investors and employees alike will be watching closely to see whether the 87-year-old chain can reinvent itself — or whether these closures are just the beginning.