The collapse of the Kroger-Albertsons merger Wednesday was greeted in the Seattle area with sighs of relief and lots of questions about the future of local grocery stores

Albertsons is giving up on its merger with Kroger a day after it was rejected in two courts, and it is suing the grocery chain, saying it didn’t do enough to secure regulatory approval of the $24.6 billion agreement.

A federal judge has ruled against Kroger’s $25 billion takeover bid for Albertsons, granting a preliminary injunction blocking the deal. After holding a more than three-week "mini-trial" in August and September,