State Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp,...

State Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, who last week urged the Federal Trade Commission to reject Vons’ planned purchase of the Southern California Safeway grocery stores, has also urged the commission to turn down the acquisition of Lucky Stores by American Stores, which owns the Alpha Beta chain. In a 40-page comment, he said the agreement “would decrease competition and increase costs to the consumer.” American Stores, based in Irvine, reiterated earlier plans to adopt Lucky’s low-price strategy and to institute price cuts in Alpha Beta stores. It also noted that it has signed agreements to sell 30 of 37 stores that it must divest to satisfy FTC concerns.