What shoppers will see if Wheaton Mariano’s gets new owner

An attorney for the prospective new owner of the Mariano’s in Wheaton has addressed what shoppers can expect if the grocery store is sold.

“Really no changes in the layout or the Mariano’s branding,” Jennifer Niesen, an attorney representing C&S Wholesale Grocers, told Wheaton liquor control commissioners last week. “It’s going to be really from a customer-facing perspective that you shouldn’t feel any changes.”

A wholly owned subsidiary of New Hampshire-based C&S is seeking its own liquor license from the city. The liquor control commission has recommended approval of the request, and the city council is scheduled to review the application on Sept. 3.

The Wheaton supermarket near Roosevelt Road and Main Street is among the 35 Chicago-area grocery stores — 31 Mariano’s and four Jewel stores — expected to be sold by Kroger and Albertsons if their blockbuster merger is approved. C&S Wholesale Grocers has agreed to acquire a total of 579 stores as part of a revised divestiture deal worth $2.9 billion, The Washington Post reported.

Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission, along with eight states and the District of Columbia, filed a suit to block the merger, claiming it would eliminate competition, threaten consumers’ access to affordable groceries and undermine labor unions, The Post reported.

According to Kroger, the parent company of Mariano’s, the updated divestiture plan is meant to respond to concerns raised by federal and state antitrust regulators.

“We have reached an agreement with C&S for an updated divestiture package that maintains Kroger’s commitments to customers, associates and communities, addresses concerns raised by regulators, and will further ensure that C&S can successfully operate the divested stores as they are operated today,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a statement in April.

A C&S spokesperson on Monday said via email the “transaction is not final and C&S’s agreement is subject to Kroger and Albertsons resolving the pending cases in court.”

C&S has “many exciting plans underway to provide customers with a high-quality and cost-competitive grocery shopping experience,” the spokesperson wrote.

“We are also very excited to welcome thousands of highly skilled grocery retail, store and distribution team members from Kroger and Albertsons who are currently responsible for these supermarkets,” the spokesperson wrote. “Their knowledge, along with C&S’s wholesale and supply expertise, will ensure these stores continue to successfully serve their communities.”

• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.