✨ What The Heck Was Newtopia Now?

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Hi, Monica Watrous here, managing editor of Nosh, reporting in with top takeaways from the inaugural Newtopia Now event. When New Hope Network announced last fall it was sunsetting Natural Products Expo East and launching a new event in its place, we all had questions. Namely, what is a ‘Newtopia,’ and why ‘Now’? 

Early pivots leading up to the show contributed to the confusion. Like its location, date and duration. (It was originally set to take place over three days in Savannah, Ga., in early August; it was then moved to later in the month for a two-day span in Denver, Colo.). 

As such, many in the industry took a wait-and-see approach on whether to attend or exhibit at the inaugural Newtopia Now. For those of you who missed it, we have all the details on what went down.

Insiders can access the full scoop and decide for themselves whether the event was worth the expense.

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The hearing on the FTC’s attempt to temporarily block the proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons kicked off on Monday, and so far, the grocers’ opening arguments have painted a bleak picture about what will happen if the deal doesn’t go through.

🗣 Albertsons told a federal judge on Monday that if the deal is blocked, it could result in layoffs and closed stores, claiming the grocery chain doesn’t have the wholesale power to compete with giants like Walmart and Costco on price. The team argued that the fate of the broader grocery market will be much worse off without the deal than with it.

👀 Kroger promised that it would not close any stores or lay off any frontline workers should the deal close. The grocer also said it would invest “billions of dollars” over the next few years to renovate stores and lower prices. 

🛒 Meanwhile, the FTC argued the deal would eliminate competition between Kroger and Albertsons, which shoppers and union workers rely on, “in one fell swoop.” The agency also slammed Kroger’s plan to divest nearly 600 stores and other assets to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a move made to appease antitrust regulators reviewing the deal. 

Catch up on the latest in the grocery store saga on Nosh.

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