Katie O’Connell became a regular at Portland’s Cully neighborhood Albertsons store, just two blocks from her home, during the COVID-19 pandemic as prices climbed at other nearby stores. Now, she divides her shopping between the Albertsons for pantry staples and a Safeway on Northeast Sandy Boulevard for fresh produce and meats,

Closing arguments are coming up in the Federal Trade Commission's attempt to block the proposed merger of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons.

Kroger argued its merger with Albertsons would lead to immediately lower prices for consumers, but the Federal Trade Commission said the supermarket merger would kill competition and harm the workforce.