The American Stores Company has petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to reopen and vacate a 1988 consent order stemming from its acquisition of retail grocery stores in parts of California and Nevada. The order requires American Stores, for a period of 10 years, to obtain prior Commission approval before acquiring specified numbers of retail grocery stores in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the 'San Francisco Bay Area,' or other stores in specified towns and cities, within certain time frames.

American makes the request pursuant to the Commissionþs prior-approval policy, under which the Commission adopted a rebuttable presumption that the public interest requires deleting prior-approval provisions in outstanding merger orders. The petition will be subject to comment for 30 days, until September 8.

American Stores is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah

Comments on the petition should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580

Copies of the petition, as well as other documents associated with this case, are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC's World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov

(FTC Docket No. C-3238)
(Amerstor.rel)