By Patrick Thomas | Photography by Kyle Green for WSJ

Veteran supermarket executive Susan Morris testified in front of a federal court last summer that she was ready to take on Kroger, the biggest grocery-store operator in the U.S.

This year, she gets the chance to do it.

Morris, 57, has spent nearly 40 years working for supermarket company Albertsons, rising from a customer-service desk to the C-suite. After Kroger in 2022 struck a $20 billion deal to buy Albertsons, it was Morris the companies picked to lead a new supermarket venture to be formed from the divestiture of hundreds of stores.

"She can walk around the store and pick an apple and tell you how long that apple has been there," Vivek Sankaran, Albertsons's chief executive at the time, told a Portland, Ore., federal courtroom last year as the supermarket giants defended their merger plan.

Antitrust concerns sank the deal in December. But Morris is getting her shot anyway, taking over as Albertsons's CEO last month after Sankaran's retirement.

Morris brings a fierce competitive streak. During last year's antitrust trial, Federal Trade Commission lawyers showed an internal email Morris sent in 2022 after Albertsons posted better quarterly sales numbers than its main rival: "Eat our dust, Kroger."

Albertsons needs that energy. The Boise, Idaho-based company, which runs chains such as Safeway and Jewel-Osco, spent much of the past three years focused on the Kroger takeover. Albertsons's market share slipped, and its profit declined 26% to $959 million in the company's latest fiscal year.

Morris is presiding over a cost-cutting plan that aims to save $1.5 billion over the next three years. The company has laid off about 800 employees and shut nearly a dozen stores this year, and Morris said Albertsons would close more underperforming stores this year and next.

"We're going to be a little bit leaner," she said in an interview. "We've gotten behind on what I would call just the normal hygiene of reviewing the profitability of our store base and making tough decisions."

For now, Morris said, big deals aren't part of her plan.

Morris started off at Albertsons as a high-school student in Colorado, working at a customer-service counter where she sold lottery tickets and called shoppers about bounced checks. She studied social science at Colorado State University but stuck with the supermarket chain, working her way up from a sales manager to running the company's Denver locations.

By the time Albertsons agreed to sell itself to Kroger, Morris had risen to chief operating officer, spending much of her time in Albertsons stores. She also regularly walked her competitors' aisles, looking for what they did differently, how stores looked and the prices they charged. She said she admires some rival stores, such as H-E-B and Wegmans.

"She's great in the stores and in the field," said Jose Tamez, managing general partner for Austin-Michael, a Colorado-based executive recruiter focused on food retail.

Morris is also going up against Kroger in court. After the takeover was blocked, Albertsons sued Kroger, saying it didn't do enough to secure regulatory approval. Kroger has denied the accusation and countersued Albertsons for allegedly breaking the merger agreement.

As CEO, Morris said she plans to expand Albertsons's in-store advertising business and improve its produce and store brands. The company needs to better harness its loyalty program, she said, to help determine which products can sustain higher prices, and which should be priced lower to attract more shoppers.

Joseph Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said that keeping pace with rival grocers' prices is one of Morris's top challenges. During last year's antitrust trial, lawyers from Kroger said prices for goods at Albertsons were 10% higher on average than at Kroger stores.

Morris said Albertsons has never confirmed that number. While the company might not have the scale or buying power of Walmart or Aldi, she said, Albertsons's niche is being a one-stop shop for consumers. "We're never going to be the cheapest guy in town."

To keep prices low, Morris said, Albertsons needs to play hardball with food companies and distributors. In late March, Albertsons sent a letter to suppliers, warning against raising prices for tariff-related reasons unless the chain grants permission.

By the end of the year, Morris said Albertsons will have automated about 30% of its distribution volume. The company is hiring engineers to rethink the layout of bakery and deli departments, seeking to cut down the time it takes for employees to do their job.

The idea, Morris said: "Speed up those things that might add more productivity to the bottom line."

Write to Patrick Thomas at patrick.thomas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Albertsons CEO Susan Morris is 56. "The Aisle-Prowling Albertsons CEO Taking On Kroger," at 7 a.m. incorrectly said she was 57.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 17, 2025 09:36 ET (13:36 GMT)

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