Here in Cincy, we are rooting for Kroger. That said, I wouldn’t bet against Kroger...this isn’t a winner take all scenario...
Kroger practically invented the retail grocery business; they’ve survived challenges before, including Wal-Mart’s invasion of their market.
In my neighborhood, Kroger moved from a stand-alone store to a new location in the middle of a shopping complex. They converted half of a failing K-Mart into a state-of-the-art grocery store, and sold their old building to a local church. Traffic in the new location has increased significantly, and I would assume sales are up as well. And the store is located only 1/2 mile from a very busy Wal-Mart Super Center. I can find anything in those stores that I could buy at Whole Foods, at a much better price.
Plenty of room in the grocery business for companies that know the business. Down in Texas, H-E-B has done very well, despite tough competition in the grocery sector. A few years ago, Wal-Mart held their annual meeting in Houston, and local store managers were “ordered” to tour an H-E-B location near the convention center, because senior management was extremely impressed with what the Texas chain has done.
Not sure what Bezos has in mind for Whole Foods, but it’s a sure bet the next generation of those stores will include some kind of delivery outlet for Amazon. He’d be better served finding a way to significantly cut prices at Whole Foods; the “whole paycheck” joke is pretty accurate and gimmicks like offering discounts to Amazon Prime customers won’t work very well with customers who need grab a few items for their evening meal. And most of them don’t want to pay the Prime subscription fee to save a little bit on “upscale” groceries.