“They even have a name, “no-comp[etition] or low-comp[etition] zones,” according to one executive on the stand.”
Washington’s attorney general fined Albertsons $25,000 for a deed restriction that bars any grocery store from a Bellingham site it sold in 2018 until 2038. In Bishop, Vons leased an empty K-Mart in 2019, and the mayor says its restrictions “basically completely block grocery retailers.” A new store costs about $10 million, so paying rent on an empty building is the cheap way to keep prices high. $25,000 for a 20-year lockout is a rounding error.