Schenectady

The Price Chopper on Madison Avenue in the Pine Hills section of Albany is less than two miles from the Price Chopper on Central Avenue. It is also just 1.5 miles from the company's Delaware Avenue store.

Here's an easy prediction: At least one of those supermarkets would close if Albertsons snatches up Price Chopper.

That's just one reason why the Capital Region has much to lose from the acquisition and little to gain. The sale would be a blow to the region's economy and esteem.

First, the details as reported by Reuters: The Albertsons chain, based in Idaho but owned by a Manhattan private equity firm, is in talks to buy Price Chopper for $1 billion.

The purchase makes sense. Albertsons owns Shaw's and Star Market in New England and the Acme and Safeway chains, which are big in the mid-Atlantic. But its presence in New York is scant, particularly upstate.

With the Price Chopper acquisition, Albertsons would fill in a big dark spot on its national map.

Price Chopper and Albertsons have largely declined to comment on the acquisition. Neil Golub, executive chairman of Price Chopper parent company Golub Corp., on Wednesday did not deny the article's assertions, but dismissively said he doesn't respond to "nonsense articles."

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Still, the purchase also would continue a decades-long consolidation trend that has swallowed up most regional grocery chains, including Hannaford, which was purchased by Delhaize Group in 2000.

It's ironic: As shoppers have grown more interested in locally grown food, supermarkets are increasingly owned by distant corporations. And while intelligent people may disagree on whether consolidation has been good for shoppers overall, I tend to think putting the food supply in fewer hands has more downsides than benefits.

There's also little positive that happens when a region loses a corporate headquarters — and when decisions about local stores and employees are made by distant executives who don't know Madison Avenue from Delaware, or Schenectady from Menands.

Plus, more of the money spent at a locally owned company stays in the regional economy. Money spent at a distantly owned stores gets sucked out of the regional economy.

The Capital Region is a cantankerous and often pessimistic place, so it's probably not surprising that there's a fair amount of grumbling about Price Chopper. We're not good about appreciating what we have.

Yes, the quality of Price Chopper (or Market 32) locations is uneven — the store in Cohoes, for example, does not compare with the one in Latham. But the more important consideration is Price Chopper's unusual willingness to stick with urban locations that other supermarket chains would have abandoned.

Price Chopper operates the only full-service supermarkets in Schenectady, Watervliet, Cohoes and Mechanicville. It has three stores in Albany, another in Troy and a much-celebrated store in downtown Saratoga Springs.

How many of those stores will close if Albertsons takes over? How many jobs would be lost? There's reason to be pessimistic, because Safeway, acquired by Albertsons in January, has been aggressively closing less-profitable stores.

What happens to the corporate headquarters in Schenectady, considered a key component of the city's revitalization when it opened in 2010? What about Price Chopper warehouse and distribution jobs in Rotterdam?

Let's also not forget about the company's unusual generosity: Price Chopper's Golub Foundation, the region's the second-largest philanthropic group, made grants totaling $1,203,901 just in 2015.

That level of civic engagement shows why corporate headquarters are important to a region. But after the departures of GE, KeyBank and others, there aren't many big headquarters left here. State government is increasingly the region's only claim to importance, economic or otherwise.

It's true, though, that grocery competition has increased significantly. Just 10 years ago, there were no Fresh Market, ShopRite, Whole Foods or Healthy Living Market stores, and the Honest Weight Food Co-op was still on Central Avenue.

I know some of you believe that if Price Chopper is acquired by Albertsons, then Rochester-based Wegmans will arrive here soon after — based on the oft-heard (but strongly denied) theory that upstate's two big regional supermarket chains have avoided infiltrating each other's core markets.

Well, maybe Wegmans would come. Maybe it wouldn't. I'm a dissenter from the Cult of Wegmans, so I don't care much either way.

Still, the arrival of another supermarket chain could never begin to compensate for what would be lost if the Schenectady-based supermarket is acquired.

Price Chopper is ours, the only locally owned grocery chain we have. We're unlikely to ever have another.

cchurchill@timesunion.com • 518-454-5442 • @chris_churchill