A proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger, first announced in October last year, is raising worries about a lack of competition in Colorado, among other issues.

Kroger, which operates King Soopers in Colorado, said that its proposed merger with Albertsons, which operates Safeway, will lead to lower prices, no layoffs for frontline workers and $1 billion to keep raising wages and benefits, according to a statement about two weeks ago. The merger deal would be through a $24.6 billion acquisition by Kroger.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the merger after announcing last year that there would be a multistate investigation over concerns of potentially higher prices, job impacts and negative effects on suppliers.

This merger is unique because consumers are aware that it is happening and many are expressing concerns around the potential of the deal, according to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

“This is a rare merger where the public has a unique visibility into the merger,” Weiser said. “Many mergers might be issues involving what you would call upstream products … where consumers wouldn’t even be aware the merger is happening, wouldn’t have the first idea as to how it could affect them.”

There are several concerns around the merger, according to Weiser. One is resiliency, which relates to multiple supply chains within a market. Concerns around potential job losses and store closures are being voiced by people at listening sessions with Weiser, he said.

“Our job is to make sure that we are fully and thoroughly investigating the merger and hearing from as many people as we can about what concerns them so we can do this analysis to the really fullest and best of our ability,” Weiser said.

Weiser said suppliers, customers and workers could all be affected by the potential merger, so he wants to hear from them at listening sessions or through the office’s survey online.

“This merger … first affects consumers on the front line who are buying products and secondly it affects those workers in the stores,” Weiser said. “And both populations of affected individuals we want to hear from.”

There is now a “Stop the Merger” campaign, which is a national and state-level effort of more than 100 organizations opposed to the potential merger. The union UFCW Local 7 has been vocal about the decision.

“At my store, my colleagues are on pins and needles because like me, they are uncertain as to what is going to happen,” Sandra Chavez, a Safeway worker in Denver, said in a statement to FTC commissioners last week. “Most people are concerned about getting let go, older workers are concerned with their retirement, or losing hard earned seniority if they have to change companies.”

ParentsTogether Action, a national advocacy group, announced last week that the organization has started a campaign to urge the FTC to stop the merger.

“Kroger and Albertsons, corporations that are currently making billions of dollars and are looking to make a few more, should absolutely not be given the green light to put their own profits over the wellbeing of millions of families nationwide,” Ailen Arreaza, executive director of ParentsTogether, said in a news release. “We know this is why regulations exist – to protect consumers, and this is a crucial moment for families already struggling to put food on the table thanks to record prices from inflation and expiring food assistance benefits.”