What’s with Albertson’s? They blitzed into the Houston area in the early 90’s, even built a distribution center. By 2002, they were gone, sold out to Randall’s (and some others, I think). Weird.
Groceries are a very low-profit-margin, high-fixed-costs business. Add to that the need for advertising, cutthroat competition etc., and the advantage goes to large chains that are already established with facilities and name-recognition.
In my area the dominant chains are Safeway and Albertson’s. I’ve seen one chain that was established within the city (Hillman’s) attempt to expand to the suburbs and get crushed, and another one (Byerly’s) come to town, set up a handful of high-end stores, and collapse abruptly. I’m wondering how Roundy’s, new to the area from Wisconsin, is going to fare.