Price Chopper, the family-owned regional supermarket chain, is in advanced talks to sell to national supermarket chain Albertsons Companies Inc. for around $1 billion, Reuters reported Tuesday night, citing people familiar with the deal.

The possible purchase comes two years after Price Chopper owner Golub Corp. announced its intention to convert its roughly 130 stores to the Market 32 brand and to invest $300 million over the next five years.

Price Chopper operates across the Northeast, including New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and has $3.6 billion in annual sales. Its supermarket in Lake Placid, opened in 2000, is one of two there and one of seven throughout the Tri-Lakes villages.

Price Chopper spokeswoman Mona Golub said today that the company does not comment on rumors. Albertsons also declined to comment, according to the Times Union of Albany.

The Reuters sources, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential, cautioned it is still possible for the deal to fall through.

Reuters reported that Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP and operates more than 2,200 supermarkets, is the second largest U.S. grocery chain after Kroger Co. In a sign of how fragmented the U.S. grocery market is, these two companies, together with Publix Super Markets, controlled just 27 percent of the market in 2015, according to research organization IBIS World, the Reuters story said.

In August, according to the Times Union, Price Chopper dismissed a report by Supermarket News, quoting unidentified sources, that it was looking at a sale. At the time, Mona Golub said a sale was not on the table, but she did say, “We have formed a finance committee on our board to look for capital partners.”

Supermarket News quoted the managing director for Strategic Resource Group in New York, saying the chain is valued between $1.4 billion and $2.5 billion, depending on whether it sold its real estate and distribution centers as well as its supermarkets.

Reuters said a deal would underscore the wave of consolidation sweeping the U.S. grocery industry, as regional chains struggle to compete against online retailers such as Amazon.com, big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and discount chains such as Aldi.

Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, merged with Safeway last year in a $9.2 billion deal. Its other brands include Shaw’s, Acme, Vons, Jewel-Osco and Tom Thumb.

The parent company of Hannaford, Lake Placid’s other supermarket, was the Belgium-based Delhaize Group until recently, when it merged with Netherlands-based Royal Ahold NV in a $10.4 billion deal. The new Ahold Delhaize’s other U.S. brands include Stop & Shop, Food Lion and Martin’s.

The Times Union said the Capital Region, where Price Chopper is based, has seen increasing grocery competition, including from new entrants Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and the Fresh Market.

Golub Corp. dates back to the turn of the 20th century, when Lewis Golub, a Russian immigrant, settled in Schenectady, where he opened a lunch room, dairy store and eventually, in 1922, a wholesale grocery warehouse. His sons started the supermarket chain in 1932. Still based on Schenectady, it now operates about 130 stories.

This year, Scott Grimmett took over from Jerry Golub as chief executive of Golub Corp. He is the first non-family member to hold that position in the company.

Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation is the Capital Region’s the second-largest philanthropic group, according to the Times Union, and made grants totaling $1,203,901 in 2015.