The grocery store scene in Butler County just got yet another shake up as Cincinnati, Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger is preparing to complete its purchase of Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion, the company announced Wednesday, July 1.

The companies have entered a definitive agreement on the acquisition, with Kroger aiming to assume control of the family-owned retailer in 2027, pending regulatory clearances. Giant Eagle has 197 supermarkets, 11 standalone pharmacies and does $9 billion in annual sales.

“Today’s announcement marks an exciting next chapter for our team members, customers, vendors and community partners,” Giant Eagle CEO Bill Artman said. “Together with Kroger, we will be well-positioned to advance our strategy and deliver better quality and service, better everyday value and a better shopping experience for our customers, while providing greater growth opportunities for our dedicated team members.”

Kroger said it does expect to sell or close some Giant Eagle locations, according to a news release, stating “Kroger and Giant Eagle expect to make limited Giant Eagle store divestitures.” No such announcements have been made at this time.

“Giant Eagle is a well-run, high-quality regional grocer with a strong reputation for fresh products, pharmacy, private label and customer loyalty,” said Greg Foran, Kroger’s chief executive officer. “We evaluated the opportunity carefully and the strategic fit is clear.”

The sale consists of $1.25 billion in cash considerations and the assumption of about $400 million in outstanding liabilities, Kroger said.

Giant Eagle expects to maintain its headquarters in Cranberry Township under the same leadership and will maintain the myPerks loyalty program, according to Artman.

“As part of Kroger, Giant Eagle will retain its name and its commitment to serving its customers as it always has — with the same familiar supermarkets and pharmacies, high-quality products and services and dedicated team members,” Artman said.

Kroger previously operated supermarkets throughout Western Pennsylvania before exiting the Pittsburgh market in 1984. During a prolonged labor dispute, the company sold its 45 area stores to food distributor Wetterau Inc., ending more than five decades of operations in the region according to UPI.com, the digital home of American news agency United Press International.

In fact, many Pittsburgh-area Kroger locations left by the company in the 1980s eventually became Giant Eagle stores, such as the Giant Eagle Supermarket on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Giant Eagle was founded in 1931 and has locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.

In April of 2024, Giant Eagle moved its corporate headquarters from O’Hara Township, Allegheny County, to Butler County in the Cranberry Woods Business Park, previously occupied by FedEx.

The site was chosen because of its proximity to the turnpike and Interstate 79 and its modern amenities, Artman said.

In June of 2025, Giant Eagle closed a deal with Canadian company Couche-Tard, to sell off its GetGo convenience store locations.

Cranberry Township manager Dan Santoro said the township has not had any conversations with Giant Eagle or Kroger about the transaction at this time, but he would welcome such conversations in the future.

“Based on my understanding, I think it will strengthen Giant Eagle and their ability to serve customers in this region,” Santoro said. “We are looking at it as a positive.”

Mark Gordon, chief of planning and economic development for Butler County, said throughout his professional career, he has moved around a lot, with a stint in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area for about seven years.

During that time, Gordon said he became familiar with how Kroger operates within the communities it serves and he was able to draw some similarities between that and the way Giant Eagle operates.

“I found that in those years I was in Cincinnati, that (Kroger) was very much community minded,” Gordon said. “They were engaged in the communities in many ways, not just as a grocer, but as a community partner. I think they will be well received here in Western Pennsylvania. The Giant Eagle organization has already been committed to our community for all these years.”

“I would like to thank Giant Eagle for what they have done and continue to do,” Gordon added.

Gordon said as the dust settles and the transaction goes through regulatory channels, from an economic development and a Butler County perspective, he we will be reaching out to the Kroger organization to welcome them to the Butler County business community.

“I hope to have the opportunity to sit down and learn how we can assist them in this transitional process,” Gordon said.

Joe Saeler, Community Development Corporation of Butler County executive director, said he and the development corporation have not had any conversations yet with Giant Eagle or Kroger on the acquisition, as the organization is hardly involved in private transactions such as this.

However, he does foresee conversations happening in the future to help the organizations fulfill their goals, whatever those might be.

“I think a lot of it will be on their future growth,” Saeler said. “Will they be opening new locations and what do they need infrastructure-wise and what jobs will be available? They might be still working through those details. There is a lot to do when you merge and do transactions like this.”

The move aims to shake up the Butler County grocery store landscape even further on the heals of other grocery store announcements over the past year.

In January of 2025, New York-based grocery chain Wegmans announced that it will be opening a store located on Cool Springs Drive in the Cranberry Springs development near UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Wegmans Food Market has 19 locations in Pennsylvania, with some in the Erie and State College areas, but the Cranberry Township location is the first in the Pittsburgh region.

Then in September of 2025, Meijer, a retailer based in Grand Rapids, Mich., announced that it has begun acquiring properties in the region following a successful expansion into neighboring northeast Ohio.

Meijer would go on to get approval for locations in Cranberry Township in December 2025 and Jackson Township in May 2026.

A year later, in June of 2026, Meijer began eyeing up a third location in Butler County. According to Gordon, the grocer is currently looking for a site “closer to the middle of the county.”

“There are reasons they want to be here,” Santoro said of new grocery chains moving into the area. “The high quality of amenities and residents here is what attracts corporations. At the end of the day, it is all just going to be good for the consumers because competition is good.”