The Kroger Co.
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The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American
retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...
company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by
Bernard Kroger Bernard Heinrich "Henry" Kroger (January 24, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American businessman who created the Kroger chain of supermarkets. Kroger was a pioneering grocery innovator who introduced self-service shopping to the public in 1895. ...
in 1883 in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio, Kroger operates 2,719 grocery retail stores under its various banners and divisions in 35 states (mostly in the South, Midwest and West) and the District of Columbia. Its store formats include 134 multi-department stores, 2,273 combo stores, 191 marketplace stores, and 121 price-impact warehouse stores. Kroger operates 33 manufacturing plants, 1,642 supermarket fuel centers, 2,254 pharmacies, 225 The Little Clinic in-store medical clinics, and 127
jewelry store A jewellery store (American English: jewelry store) is a retail business establishment, that specializes in selling (and also buying) jewellery and watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a cons ...
s (782
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...
s were sold to
EG Group EG Group Limited is a British operator of filling stations, convenience stores and Fast-food restaurant, food service providers across Europe, the United States and Australia. It was founded in Blackburn in 2001 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Iss ...
in 2018). Kroger's headquarters are located in
downtown Cincinnati Downtown Cincinnati is one of the 52 List of Cincinnati neighborhoods, neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the central business district of the city, as well as the economic and symbiotic center of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Original ...
. The Kroger Company is the largest
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
operator in the U.S. by revenue and the country's fifth-largest general retailer. The company is one of the largest American-owned private employers in the United States. Additionally, Kroger is ranked No. 25 on the ''Fortune'' 500 rankings of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue. It is frequently listed as being a good dividend stock for investors in 2024. About two-thirds of Kroger's employees are represented by
collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
s, with most being represented by the
United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...
(UFCW).


History


Early history (1883 to 1950s)

In 1883, 23-year-old
Bernard Kroger Bernard Heinrich "Henry" Kroger (January 24, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American businessman who created the Kroger chain of supermarkets. Kroger was a pioneering grocery innovator who introduced self-service shopping to the public in 1895. ...
, the fifth of ten children of German immigrants, invested his life savings of $372 () to open a grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. The son of a merchant, he ran his business with a simple motto: "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." He experimented with marketing products his company had produced so that his customers would not need to patronize separate stores and farms. In 1884, Kroger opened his second store. By 1902, Kroger Grocery and Baking Company had been incorporated. By this time, the company had grown to forty stores and sold $1.75 million worth of merchandise each year. In addition, Kroger became the first grocery chain to have its own bakery. In 1916, Kroger company began using self-service shopping. Before this, all articles were kept behind counters. Customers would ask for them, then clerks would deliver them to customers. In 1929, it was rumored that
Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...
would merge with Kroger. Kroger announced in 2022 that it would acquire Safeway's parent company,
Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...
, but in December 2024 the merger fell through when a federal judge blocked the merger and Albertsons backed out of the deal. In the 1930s, Kroger Grocery and Baking Company became the first grocery chain to monitor product quality and to test foods offered to customers. It also became the first company with a store surrounded on all four sides by parking lots. In 1932, the company tested a pilot project after it opened a grocery store in Indianapolis. The facility, which was surrounded by a 75-car parking space, allowed the company to determine the close relationship between parking facilities and gross sales.


1950s and 1960s

Beginning in 1955, Kroger began acquiring supermarket chains, expanding into new markets. In May, Kroger entered the
Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, market by acquiring the Houston-based 26-store chain
Henke & Pillot Henke & Pillot was a chain of supermarkets headquartered in Houston, Texas.Gonzales, J.R.Houston's own Henke & Pillot" ''Houston Chronicle'' blogs. October 20, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2011. "Offices at 3021 Washington" The chain began in 1872. ...
. In June, Kroger acquired the Krambo Food Stores, Inc. of
Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton () is the county seat of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States, with small portions extending into Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago counties. Located on the Fox River (Green Bay tributary ...
. In July, it purchased Child's Food Stores, Inc. of
Jacksonville, Texas Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,997 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Cherokee County. Ja ...
, and operated 25 supermarkets in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In January 1956, the company bought out Big Chain Stores, Inc., a chain of seven stores based in
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...
, later combining it with the Childs group. All of these chains adopted the Kroger banner in 1966. During all the acquisitions, in September 1957, Kroger sold off its
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...
, store division, which consisted of 16 stores, to J. S. Dillon and Sons Stores Company, then headed by Ray S. Dillon, son of the company founder. In October 1963, Kroger acquired the 56-store chain Market Basket, providing them with a foothold in the lucrative southern California market. Prior to this time, Kroger had no stores west of Kansas. Kroger, however, failed to make significant headway, only managing a 5 percent market share. By 1982, it withdrew from the California market. Kroger opened stores in Florida under the SupeRx and Florida Choice banners from the 1960s until 1988, when the chain decided to exit the state and sold all of its stores;
Kash n' Karry Sweetbay Supermarket was a chain of American supermarkets located in Florida. The first Sweetbay Supermarket to open was in Seminole, Florida, in November 2004. The company's headquarters was located near Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florid ...
bought the largest share.


1970s

In the 1970s, Kroger became the first grocer in the United States to test an electronic scanner and the first to formalize consumer research. Although Kroger has long operated stores in the
Huntsville Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S. The Huntsville metropolitan area had an estimated 525,465 ...
- Decatur area of northern
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
(as a southern extension of its
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, region), it has not operated in the state's largest market,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, since the early 1970s, when it exited as a result of intense competition from
Winn-Dixie Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., is an American supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1925, Winn-Dixie grocery stores and liquor stores serve communities throughout five southeastern states – Alabama, ...
and local chains Bruno's Supermarkets and Western Supermarkets. Kroger built an ultra-modern dairy plant (Crossroad Farms Dairy) in Indianapolis in 1972. At the time, it was considered the largest dairy plant in the world. Kroger exited the
Chicago market The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite citie ...
in 1970, selling its distribution warehouse in Northlake, Il. and 24 stores to the Dominick's Finer Foods grocery chain. Kroger exited the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...
area in 1970, selling 16 stores to Quality Foods, which rebranded the stores to
Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable ...
. Kroger exited Milwaukee in 1972, selling a few stores to Jewel. Kroger would later return in 2015 upon its acquisition of
Roundy's Roundy's Supermarkets (also known as Roundy's) is an American supermarket operator. It owns and operates stores under the names of Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano's Fresh Market. The chain is a subsidiary of Kroger. Roundy's operates 14 ...
. Kroger entered the Charlotte market in 1977 and expanded rapidly throughout the 1980s when it bought some stores from BI-LO. However, most stores were in less desirable neighborhoods and did not fit in with Kroger's upscale image. Less than three months after BI-LO pulled out, that company decided to re-enter the Charlotte market, and in 1988, Kroger announced it was pulling out of the Charlotte market and put its stores up for sale.
Ahold Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. Founded in 1887 by Albert Heijn Sr., the company initially began as a single grocery store in Oostzaan and became the largest grocery chain in the ...
bought Kroger's remaining stores in the Charlotte area and converted them to BI-LO.Charlotte Observer, Kroger will Close Charlotte, Charleston Stores in January. Nov 17, 1988 In 1978, sixteen retail members of Parkview Markets Inc., filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Kroger.


1980s

Kroger had a number of stores in the
Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...
region, encompassing
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and surrounding areas from 1928 until 1984 when the U.S. began experiencing a severe economic
recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...
. The recession had two significant and related effects on Kroger's operations in the region. One of them was that the highly cyclical manufacturing-based economy of the region declined in greater proportion than the rest of the U.S., which undercut demand for the higher-end products and services offered by Kroger. Kroger sought wage rollbacks in several areas during this time period including in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, the West Virginia Panhandle and Michigan. The second effect of the economic recession was to worsen labor-management relations, causing a protracted labor strike in 1983 and 1984. During the strike, Kroger withdrew all of its stores from the Western Pennsylvania market, including some recently opened "superstores" and "greenhouses", selling these stores to Wetterau (now part of SuperValu), who promptly flipped the stores to independent owners while continuing to supply them under the
FoodLand Foodland may refer to: Supermarket chains * FoodLand, eastern U.S. * Foodland (Canada) * Foodland (South Australia) * Foodland (Thailand) * Foodland Hawaii Others * ''Foodland'' (film), a Canadian film * Foodland Ontario, a consumer food promo ...
and
Shop 'n Save Shop ’n Save was a grocery store chain in the Greater St. Louis market with 36 stores at its peak. The company, headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. SuperValu also ...
brands. Kroger's exit ceded the market to lower-cost, locally owned rivals, most notably
Giant Eagle Giant Eagle, Inc. is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and incorporated on August 31, 1931. ''Supermarket News'' ...
and the SuperValu-supplied grocers. (Kroger purchased Eagle Grocery company, whose founders went on to create Giant Eagle.) Kroger still maintains a presence in the nearby
Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Monongahela River in North Central West Virginia and is the home of West Virginia University. The population was 30,347 at the 2 ...
,
Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...
, and
Weirton, West Virginia Weirton ( ) is a city in Hancock and Brooke counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located along the Ohio River in the state's Northern Panhandle. The population was 19,163 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous ...
/
Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville ( ) is a city in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Weirton–Steubenville m ...
, areas where Giant Eagle has a much smaller presence and the SuperValu-supplied stores are virtually nonexistent, though in all of these cases, Walmart remains a major competitor and
Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...
is the only other supermarket with any market overlap. Kroger entered the competitive
San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
, market in 1980 but pulled out in mid-1993. On June 15, 1993, the company announced the closure of its 15 area stores. From 1984 to 1986, Kroger exited the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, and St. Louis markets. The company cited that higher wages for union employees made it unable to compete. The chain closed several stores around
Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...
, in 1981, which were converted by local businessman Al Kessel to a new chain called
Kessel Food Markets Kessel Food Markets was an American supermarket chain based in Michigan. It began in 1981 when Owosso, Michigan, native Al Kessel, a former executive vice president of Hamady Brothers supermarkets, purchased Kroger locations in Corunna, Michigan, ...
. Kroger bought most of these stores back in 1999 and began reverting them. Several other Michigan stores were sold to another Flint-based chain,
Hamady Brothers Hamady was an American supermarket chain based in Flint, Michigan, United States, which at its peak had 37 stores and 1,300 employees. Given the chain's pervasiveness in the area, paper grocery bags were known as “Hamady sacks”. History Hamad ...
, in 1980. The Hamady acquisition was short-lived. In 1982, Kroger sold the 65-store Market Basket chain it had operated for several years in southern California. The stores were reverted to the
Boys Markets Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names ...
branding, after acquiring the chain. Boys Markets was acquired by the
Yucaipa Companies The Yucaipa Companies, LLC is an American private equity firm founded in 1986 by Ronald Burkle. It specializes in a private equity and venture capital, with a focus on middle-market companies, growth capital, industry consolidation, leveraged ...
in 1989. When Yucaipa acquired
Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket Chain stores, chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Fo ...
, the Boys brand disappeared. In 1983, The Kroger Company acquired Dillon Companies grocery chain in Kansas along with its subsidiaries (
King Soopers King Soopers is an American supermarket chain located in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It started as its own brand, and is now a subsidiary of Kroger. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. King Soopers has a significant presence ...
, City Market, Fry's and
Gerbes Dillons is a regional grocery supermarket chain based in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is a division of Kroger. Other banners under the Dillon Stores Division include Gerbes in Missouri and Baker's in Omaha, Nebraska. Dillons operates grocery stores ...
) and the convenience store chain Kwik Shop. David Dillon, a fourth-generation descendant of J. S. Dillon, the founder of Dillon Companies, became the CEO of Kroger. In northeastern Ohio, Kroger had a plant in
Solon, Ohio Solon ( ) is a city in southeastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 24,262 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. History In 1820, the first ...
, until the mid-1980s. When that plant shut down, Kroger closed its northeastern Ohio stores in the Cleveland,
Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...
, and
Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...
areas. Some of those former Kroger stores were taken over by stores like Acme Fresh Markets,
Giant Eagle Giant Eagle, Inc. is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and incorporated on August 31, 1931. ''Supermarket News'' ...
, and Heinens. Kroger opened and had about 50 stores in
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
until it left the market in 1986, saying that its stores were unprofitable. Most of its stores were bought by
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
,
Schnucks Schnuck Markets, Inc., doing business as Schnucks (), is a supermarket chain. Based in the St. Louis area, the company was founded in 1939 with the opening of a store in north St. Louis and currently operates over 100 stores in four states thro ...
, and
Shop 'n Save Shop ’n Save was a grocery store chain in the Greater St. Louis market with 36 stores at its peak. The company, headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. SuperValu also ...
. Most of the remaining Kroger stores in eastern Missouri and west-central Illinois became a western extension of the Central Division (headquartered in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
). Kroger also experienced a similar withdrawal from
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...
, in 1989. Many of these stores were sold to the local grocery chain
Red Food Red Food Stores, Inc. (or simply Red Food) was a supermarket chain company headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It operated stores mostly in northwest Georgia, northeast Alabama, and southeast Tennessee. Around 55 stores were operated in the ...
, which was in turn bought by BI-LO in 1994. Today, Chattanooga is the only metropolitan market in Tennessee in which Kroger does not operate with the nearest location being
Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, Whitfield County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton metropolitan area, Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encomp ...
, with 2 stores (Walnut Avenue and Cleveland Highway).


1990s

In the 1990s, Kroger acquired Great Scott (Detroit),
Pay Less Food Markets Pay Less Super Markets is a chain of nine supermarkets located in the central Indiana towns of Anderson, Lafayette, Muncie, and West Lafayette. There were two Pay Less grocery stores in Omaha that only lasted two years before being taken over ...
,
Owen's Market Owen's Market was a small chain of grocery stores located in northern Indiana in the United States, owned by the Kroger corporation. Founded in 1938. At the time of the chain name's phase-out in August 2020, there were three Owen's Market locati ...
,
JayC Food Stores JayC Food Stores is an American supermarket chain based in Seymour, Indiana. , the chain operates 64 stores in Southern Indiana. JayC has been a division of Kroger since 1999. History Early history JayC was founded in 1863 by Swiss immigrant Joh ...
, and
Hilander Foods Hilander was a small chain of supermarkets in the metro area of Rockford, Illinois in the United States. The stores were operated by Schnucks, which acquired the chain from The Kroger Co. on September 21, 2011. As of May 2013, the stores have ...
. Additionally, the Houston market was strengthened when Kroger bought several stores from
AppleTree Markets AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston, which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988. The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin. By Janu ...
, which were former Safeway stores in early 1994. In 1998, Kroger merged with the then fifth-largest grocery company
Fred Meyer Fred Meyer, Inc. is an American chain of hypermarket superstores and subsidiary of Kroger based in Portland, Oregon. The stores operate in the northwestern United States, with locations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company was ...
, along with its subsidiaries,
Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket Chain stores, chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Fo ...
,
QFC Quality Food Centers, Inc., better known as QFC, is an American supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, east of Seattle. It is a subsidiary of Kroger and has 62 stores in western Washington and northwestern Oregon, primarily located i ...
, and Smith's. In the late 1990s, it acquired many stores from A&P as it exited many markets in the South. Kroger also swapped all ten of its
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
-area stores in 1999 to
Matthews, North Carolina Matthews is a town in southeastern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte. The population was 29,435 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
-based
Harris Teeter Harris Teeter Supermarkets, LLC., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte. , the chain operates 262 stores in ...
, for 11 of that company's stores in central and western Virginia. Kroger in turn would acquire Harris Teeter 15 years later.


2000s

Long the dominant grocer in western Virginia, Kroger entered the
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
, market in 2000, where it competes against market leaders Martin's (including former Ukrop's stores) and
Food Lion Food Lion is an American regional supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1,000 supermarkets in 10 states: Delaware, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsyl ...
. Kroger entered the market by purchasing
Hannaford Hannaford is a rather uncommon surname worldwide, emanating from the small village of Hannaford in Devonshire, whose name may have originated as "Hanna's ford" and spread in the 16th-century to nearby towns such as Kingsbridge and Ashburton, Devon, ...
stores that either already existed or were being built in Richmond. Hannaford purchases also included the competitive
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...
market, where it now competes with Farm Fresh, Harris Teeter (which is owned by Kroger), and Food Lion. The Hannaford locations in these markets were purchased from
Delhaize Delhaize Group SA (, ) was a Belgian multinational retail company headquartered in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium, and operated in seven countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group was the operation of f ...
by Kroger as a condition of Delhaize's 2000 acquisition of the Hannaford chain, which had previously competed against Food Lion, also owned by Delhaize. Walmart Supercenters are also major competitors in both markets, and the chain briefly competed against
Winn-Dixie Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., is an American supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1925, Winn-Dixie grocery stores and liquor stores serve communities throughout five southeastern states – Alabama, ...
, which has now exited Virginia. In 2001, Kroger acquired
Baker's Supermarkets Baker's is a supermarket chain operating primarily in the metropolitan area of Omaha, Nebraska. It is owned by Kroger. Baker's supermarket has an annual revenue of $325,000,000. History Abraham Baker opened his first grocery store in Walnut ...
from Fleming Companies, Inc. Albertsons exited the San Antonio and Houston markets in early 2002, selling many of the Houston stores to Kroger. In 2004, Kroger bought most of the old Thriftway stores in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, when
Winn-Dixie Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., is an American supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1925, Winn-Dixie grocery stores and liquor stores serve communities throughout five southeastern states – Alabama, ...
left the area. These stores were reopened as Kroger stores. In 2007, Kroger acquired
Scott's Food & Pharmacy Scott's Food & Pharmacy was a supermarket chain in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, market. The company was once a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, but was acquired by The Kroger Co. in 2007. At the time of its purchase by Kroger, the chain had 18 ...
from
SuperValu Inc. SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Na ...
, and in the same year, also acquired 20 former Michigan Farmer Jack locations from A&P when A&P exited the Michigan Market. In 2008, Kroger began a partnership with
Murray's Cheese Murray's Cheese is an artisanal cheese and specialty foods retailer and wholesaler based in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1962 as a spinoff of Glen Alden farms, an egg and dairy wholesaler. The company ...
of New York City. Murray's Cheese counters within Kroger stores sell various artisanal cheese from all parts of the world.


2010s

On July 9, 2013, Kroger announced that it would acquire the 212 stores of Charlotte-based Harris Teeter in a deal valued at $2.5 billion and that it would assume $100 million in the company's outstanding debt. Harris Teeter's stores are in eight Southern states, with a major portion of them in its headquarters state of North Carolina. Doing so, Kroger acquired Harris Teeter's click-and-collect program, which allows online ordering of groceries. Some industry experts saw this as a competitive move against
online grocer An online grocer is a supermarket or grocery store that allows ordering via websites or mobile apps. The order can either be collected by the customer or delivered to the customer by drivers engaged by the grocer, a food delivery service, or by ...
s such as
AmazonFresh Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American e-commerce company Amazon in Seattle, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores in some U.S. cities, as well as in London and delivery services in the United States and various intern ...
. The Harris Teeter acquisition marked Kroger's return to the Charlotte market after a 25-year absence. It also allowed Kroger to enter
Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...
for the first time. Charlotte and Asheville had been the only large markets in North Carolina where Kroger had no presence. In 2013, Kroger announced that the spouses of the company's unionized workers would no longer be covered by the company's insurance plan. The company cited the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health ...
as a prime reason for the move. The benefit cut affected roughly 11,000 workers in Indiana. The company announced in April 2013 that full-time employees would maintain their health insurance benefits. In 2013, Kroger was noted for carrying 17 out of 22 Red List species, four of which are in the top list of said species. On February 11, 2014, Kroger announced it would acquire YOU Technology, a digital coupon/identity company founded by Ajay Amlani, that pioneered the ability for shoppers to load digital coupons onto their loyalty card profiles. It also specialized in being one of the earliest companies to use AI/ML to personalize digital coupons to shoppers based on their past purchase history and intent to buy. The company enabled the loading of billions of coupons and singlehandedly drove the demise of paper coupons. It was later sold to by Kroger to Inmar with a $565 million price disclosed. On March 3, 2015, Kroger announced it would enter
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, having registered with the state as a new business in February 2015. Kroger was planning to expand to Hawaii in 2006 but withdrew after it had already submitted registration. Kroger, which is in the process of looking for locations to open its first store, will face competition from Honolulu-based rivals
Foodland Foodland may refer to: Supermarket chains * FoodLand, eastern U.S. * Foodland (Canada) * Foodland (South Australia) * Foodland (Thailand) * Foodland Hawaii Others * ''Foodland'' (film), a Canadian film * Foodland Ontario, a consumer food promo ...
and
Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...
; major retailers Safeway, Walmart, and
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
; Japanese-owned Don Quixote; and Department of Defense-owned DeCA Commissaries. On May 1, 2015, Kroger announced the acquisition of the seven-store Hiller's Market chain in Southeast Michigan, and that it would operate all but one of those stores under the Kroger banner. In June 2015, Kroger eliminated the Harris Teeter brand from the crowded Nashville, Tennessee, market, where its growth had been stunted by aggressive competition since it entered with six stores in the early 2000s. Kroger has traditionally had a market-leading presence in Nashville and initially promised to keep the five remaining Harris Teeter stores open when it acquired the chain, but the market "did not support Harris Teeter's future business plans". Two Harris Teeter stores were closed outright, and three closed temporarily while being converted to the Kroger brand (one of these would undergo a major remodeling and replace a neighboring Kroger store). On November 11, 2015, Kroger and
Roundy's Roundy's Supermarkets (also known as Roundy's) is an American supermarket operator. It owns and operates stores under the names of Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano's Fresh Market. The chain is a subsidiary of Kroger. Roundy's operates 14 ...
announced a definitive merger, bringing Roundy's chain's 166 primarily Wisconsin-based chains under Kroger ownership. The merger is valued at $800 million, including debt. The acquisition, which brought Kroger back to Wisconsin after a 43-year absence, will retain the Roundy's, Pick 'n Save, Mariano's, Metro Market and Copps names, along with its Milwaukee operations. (Within a year-and-a-half, however, Kroger had rebranded all Copps locations to the Pick 'n Save banner.) In April 2016, Kroger announced that it had made a "meaningful investment" in the
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
-based
Lucky's Market Lucky's Market is a brand of supermarkets that are being used by two independent and unrelated regional supermarket chains, LM Acquisition Co. LLC in Colorado and Lucky's Market Ohio in Ohio. LM Acquisition Co. LLC , doing business as Lucky' ...
, an organic foods supermarket chain that operated 17 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States. In February 2017, Kroger withstood large community protests after announcing the closing of two smaller-sized Louisville-area stores. Despite high store volumes and high population densities, the Old Louisville (lease expiration) and Southland Terrace stores closed. On February 7, 2017, it was announced that Kroger Co. had purchased Murray's Cheese. , Kroger is no longer offering a discount to senior citizens 59 and up. On May 1, 2017, Kroger, along with the
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...
and
UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...
, sports and campus marketing partner JMI Sports, announced a 12-year, $1.85 million per year campus marketing agreement. Included in the agreement is the
naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...
to Commonwealth Stadium, the university's
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
stadium, which will be renamed
Kroger Field Kroger Field, also known as Commonwealth Stadium, is a stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, located on the campus of the University of Kentucky that primarily serves as the home field for the Kentucky Wildcats football team. The stad ...
. This agreement makes the University of Kentucky the first school in the
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...
to enter into a corporate partnership for the naming rights to their football stadium. On May 10, 2017, Kroger opened its first convenience store in
Blacklick, Ohio Blacklick is a small unincorporated community in southern Jefferson Township, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. Blacklick is also included in the Columbus Metropolitan area. History The community was established by William A. Smith in 1852 ...
, labeled "Fresh Eats MKT". The new prototype stores will have about of space, and will be very similar to the
Walmart Neighborhood Market Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
project, as these stores only sell food. These stores have a
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
, and a Kroger Pharmacy. On June 1, 2017, Kroger opened their second Fresh Eats. Kroger is also going to convert some Turkey Hill stores into the concept store. The CFO, Mike Schlotman, has called these stores a "small test." Local reaction to this new concept has been positive. The concept was discontinued in March 2020. In February 2018, Kroger announced that it will be selling its 762 convenience stores to
EG Group EG Group Limited is a British operator of filling stations, convenience stores and Fast-food restaurant, food service providers across Europe, the United States and Australia. It was founded in Blackburn in 2001 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Iss ...
, a British service station operator, for $2.15 billion. They operate under the ''Turkey Hill'', ''Loaf 'N Jug'', ''Kwik Shop'', ''Tom Thumb'' and ''Quik Stop'' banners. Kroger will retain just over 20 convenience stores. Kroger's supermarket fuel centers are not included in the sale. The sale was closed on April 20, 2018. On April 10, 2018, Kroger announced plans to hire an estimated 11,000 new employees. An estimated 2,000 managerial positions will be filled by the new hires. With the addition of these new hires, the total number of people employed by the company is close to half a million. On May 17, 2018, Kroger announced a partnership with
Ocado Ocado Group plc ( ) is a British business based in Hatfield, England, which licenses grocery technology. It also owns a 50% share in the UK grocery retail business Ocado.com (the other 50% is owned by UK retailer Marks & Spencer). The company ...
, a UK-based online supermarket. The partnership is designed to improve Kroger's ecommerce program, including online ordering, automated fulfillment, and home delivery via the construction of 20 new, automated fulfillment centers. The first of these fulfillment centers, located in
Monroe, Ohio Monroe is a city in east central Butler and west central Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 15,412 at the 2020 census. Monroe is a part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Monroe w ...
, opened in April 2021. , eight total fulfillment center locations have been constructed and opened, with additional locations in
Groveland, Florida Groveland is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 18,505 at the 2020 census. It is located at the intersection of State Road 19 and State Road 33/ 50. Groveland is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–San ...
,
Forest Park, Georgia Forest Park is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. It is located approximately south of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,932. In the 1800s, Forest Park ...
,
Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin Pleasant Prairie is a village in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. Located along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Michigan, Pleasant Prairie was home to 21,250 people at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The village is positio ...
,
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Romulus, Michigan Romulus is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 23,989 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Romulus is a western suburb of Metro Detroit and is also considered part of the Dow ...
,
Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...
, and
Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Maryland, second-largest ...
. Each fulfillment center also operate in conjunction with several "spoke" facilities, which assist to further extend the capable range of delivery. , the latest "spoke" facility to be opened is located in
Johnstown, Colorado Johnstown is a home rule municipality in Weld and Larimer counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The population was 17,303 at the 2020 United States census. History The Town of Johnstown began with the vision of Harvey J. Parish before i ...
. Kroger has taken advantage of its investment in online shopping capability to grow rapidly during the pandemic. In 2020, Kroger's online sales grew by 116%, to over $10B annually. On May 24, 2018, Kroger announced they were acquiring
Home Chef Home Chef is a Chicago-based meal kit and food delivery company that delivers pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to subscribers weekly in the United States. According to the company it delivers three million meals monthly to its subscribers. ...
for $200 million with an additional $500 million in incentives if certain targets are met by Home Chef. On June 13, 2018, Kroger Mid-Atlantic announced the Kroger branding will be leaving the Raleigh-Durham area by eliminating all 14 Kroger-branded stores, eight of which will transition to Harris Teeter (also owned by Kroger). One will become a Crunch Fitness and another will become a Food Lion. The fate for the remaining four stores is unclear. In July 2018, Kroger officials backed off a Net 90 payment plan to the produce industry. In October 2018, Kroger announced online wine delivery to 14 states in partnership with DRINKS. Customers can select assorted wines in 6-bottle or 12-bottle packs. On December 4, 2018, Kroger announced a deal to sell food inside drugstore
Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...
. Kroger Express will offer meal kits and other meal solutions. In the light of increased self-checkout usage via kiosk or smartphone app in 2019, Kroger is gradually shifting towards creating more self-checkout smartphone apps and lanes than cashier lanes. The company has been investing millions of dollars, in replacing many cashier stations with automation by 2023. As many other supermarkets (such as
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
and
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
) are also shifting towards automation, and displacing cashiers in the near future. In March 2019, Kroger announced it was expanding its service with robotics company Nuro to Houston, Texas, with Nuro's autonomous Priuses. In August 2019, Kroger began charging customers between $0.50 and $3.50 for receiving cash back while making purchases with debit cards. The new fees were first test marketed in March at Kansas area
Dillons Dillons is a regional grocery supermarket chain based in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is a division of Kroger. Other banners under the Dillon Stores Division include Gerbes in Missouri and Baker's in Omaha, Nebraska. Dillons operates grocery stores ...
stores, a Kroger-owned supermarket chain, before the new fees were rolled out to other Kroger-owned supermarket banners in the rest of the nation. In September 2019, Kroger announced a partnership with th
Plant Based Food Association
(PFBA) to test a plant-based meat retail concept in 60 stores in Denver, and parts of Indiana and Illinois. In November 2019, Kroger unveiled an updated logo for their stores and company, with the '"Fresh For Everyone" tagline and the "Krojis". The company also announced an expansion of its online wine delivery program into Arizona. In partnership with DRINKS, the service is now available in 19 states plus Washington D.C. In December 2019, Kroger was named the second-largest grocer in the nation with $110 billion in 2016 sales. The same month, ''USA Today'' listed Kroger—and its brands—as the top supermarket (based on Google searches, Yelp data, and 24/7 Tempo's research) in Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.


2020s

According to a ''
PBS NewsHour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
'' February 13, 2021 broadcast, during the pandemic, Kroger provided their essential workers with a hazard pay, which the company called "hero pay." The hero pay consisted of a raise of US$2 an hour from the end of March 2020 until May 2020, when the hero pay ended. In January 2021, the Long Beach City Council in California passed an ordinance making it mandatory for some large grocery stores—like Kroger—to provide their essential workers with a hazard pay increase of US$4 an hour "effective immediately for 120 days". The ordinance affected companies with "more than 300 workers nationwide and more than 15 employees per store". Seattle and Washington passed similar ordinances. In response, in early February, Kroger announced the closure and permanent termination of the entire operations of some of their stores—including a Ralphs and a Food4Less in Long Beach—"for economic reasons including the economic cost mandated by the Long Beach ordinance requiring an increase in employee wages, four dollars an hour". Kroger closed two Seattle QFC stores in April 2021 blaming that City's Covid Related Hazard Pay Law. The
United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...
(UFCW), with members whose jobs had been terminated, viewed the closures as a "warning to other cities considering hazard pay mandates". Andrea Zinder, president of the UFCW Local 324 that represents employees at the two Long Beach stores—Ralphs and a Food4Less—said that compared to the same time period in 2019 both stores saw an increase of about 30% in sales. In 2020, during the pandemic, Kroger's earnings increased by 87.7%. Kroger's quarterly revenues as reported by November 20, 2020, were US$29.72 billion, and the corporation's per-share earnings and dividends grew at a rapid rate in 2020. Its dividend increase was about 14% annually. Starting in early 2020, Berkshire Hathaway began buying shares of Kroger, and by August 2021 became a top ten shareholder. In July 2021, a wrongful-death lawsuit was filed against Kroger by the family of worker Evan Seyfried. Seyfried committed suicide after allegedly enduring abuse at the Kroger location in Milford, Ohio, where he had worked for 19 years. According to the lawsuit, Seyfried was bullied for wearing a mask in the early days of the pandemic and taunted for his political views. Also on the receiving end of alleged workplace sabotage, one of Seyfried's co-workers called the company's ethics helpline and reported that she and Seyfried were being bullied. However, no action was taken. In December 2021, Kroger Co. announced the elimination of some COVID-19 benefits for unvaccinated employees. In 2021, the company was reported to have been breached by a third-party hack which compromised the pharmacy records of Kroger owned Fred Meyer and QFC stores' customers. In April 2021, Kroger sold what were previously Fred Meyer properties located in Shoreline, Puyallup and Tacoma to Benderson Development Company for a combined $98.7 million. In May 2021, Benderson Development bought an additional twenty-eight Fred Meyer properties (as part of a "sale-leaseback investment") for an estimated $500 million as part of a sale totaling 380 acres and 4.5 million square feet of retail space. On August 2, 2021, Kroger announced that it had elected
Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transpor ...
to its board of directors. Chao was formerly Secretary of Labor under President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and
Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...
under President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
. The news was met with backlash from a small number of Kroger customers on Twitter, with calls for a boycott trending nationally due to her ties to the Trump administration and to her husband,
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...
. On September 23, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at a Kroger location in
Collierville, Tennessee Collierville ( "call your ville" or "call yer ville"), officially the Town of Collierville, is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. With a population of 51,324 in the 2020 Unite ...
. One person was killed and 13 others were injured before the gunman, identified as 29-year-old Uk Thang, committed suicide by gunshot. Thang was working at the store as a third-party vendor. In the aftermath of the shooting, Kroger offered counseling services for its employees and closed down the store until November 10. In September 2021, Kroger tweaked its logo to add the "Fresh Cart" symbol. The symbol is an abstract
shopping cart A shopping cart (American English), trolley (British English, Australian English), or buggy (Southern American English, Appalachian English), also known by a variety of #Name, other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a Retail#Types of ret ...
with the basket represented as
citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...
slices. In October 2021, Kroger announced an expansion into South Florida with its online delivery service, Kroger Delivery. To do this, Kroger will build two new automated fulfilment centers assisted and facilitated by the UK-based technology company Ocado Group. Kroger Delivery is also set to launch in the Northeast of the US and expand its operations in California, to be followed by sites in Texas, Georgia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina. The company launched its online delivery services in Central Florida earlier in 2021. On April 5, 2022, Kroger launched Kroger Restaurant Supply in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, a new business distributing food and related supplies to restaurants, bakeries, and catering companies. For Kroger, this move into foodservice distribution represents an expansion beyond its core retail grocery operations. On October 14, 2022, Kroger announced a merger with Albertsons in a deal worth $24.6billion, combining both companies into one entity but divesting some stores to
C&S Wholesale Grocers C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC is a national wholesale grocery supply company in the United States, based in Keene, New Hampshire. In 2021 it was the eighth-largest privately held company in the United States, as listed by Forbes. C&S operates and ...
to secure regulatory approval. However, in January 2024, Washington state sued to block the proposed $25 billion merger between Kroger and
Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...
, warning that if approved it could raise prices and harm consumers. In February 2024, Colorado Attorney General
Phil Weiser Philip Jacob Weiser (born May 10, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 39th Attorney General of Colorado since 2019. He is the Hatfield Professor of Law and Telecommunications, executive director and Founder of the Sil ...
also filed a lawsuit, saying consumers told him they feared it "would lead to stores closing, higher prices, fewer jobs, worse customer service, and less resilient supply chains." In February 2024, the FTC sued to block the acquisition stating that the deal would negatively impact consumer prices and workers' wages. A 2022 Economic Roundtable survey of 10,000 Kroger's workers in Colorado, Southern California, Washington found that wages have declined over the last several years while over the same period executive pay has increased. The survey found that over 75% of workers experience food insecurity, over 66% struggle to meet basic needs and 14% experience homelessness, while CEO
Rodney McMullen William Rodney McMullen (born 1961) is an American businessman who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kroger, the third-largest general retailer in the United States, from 2014 until 2025. In March 2025, McMullen resigned abruptly after an ...
made over $22 million in 2020, compared to $12 million for the year 2018. According to
Peter Dreier Peter Dreier is an American urban policy analyst, author, self-described democratic socialist, and college political science professor. He is the Dr. E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. ...
, who participated in the project: "There are workers sleeping in RVs or couch surfing or living in parks somewhere. Americans go to their local supermarket every week and smile at the person cashing them out, not aware that the person they're talking to is going to sleep in a car after they clock out." About two-thirds of Kroger employees are part-time workers, whose schedules often change making it difficult to take a second job. On July 9, 2024, Kroger released the complete list of 579 stores that would be divested in order to satisfy anti-trust concerns from the Federal Trade Commission. Within the list of stores being proposed for divestment, the Dallas market would be the most affected, with 26 Albertsons locations being sold which includes the
Tom Thumb Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. ''The History of Tom Thumb'' was published in 1621 and was the first known fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, ...
chain and six Market Street locations. Following the announcement, the
United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...
made a statement saying that they will continue to oppose the merger and that Kroger's announcement "changes nothing". In December, 2024, a U.S. district judge ruled against the proposed merger, stating that it would be bad for consumers and employees.


Business trends


Chains


Kroger Marketplace

Kroger Marketplace is a chain of
hypermarket A hypermarket or superstore is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full grocery lines and general merchandise. In ...
s. The brand was introduced in 2004 in the
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
, area, which lost the
Big Bear Big Bear, also known as (; – 17 January 1888), was a powerful and popular Cree chief who played many pivotal roles in Canadian history. He was appointed to chief of his band at the age of 40 upon the death of his father, Black Powder, u ...
and Big Bear Plus chains in
Penn Traffic The Penn Traffic Company was a food service company founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The company eventually evolved into a general merchandise department store. By the early 1960s, it also returned to the food business through the acq ...
's
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
. The Kroger Marketplace format is based on the Fry's Marketplace stores that the Arizona division of Kroger is currently operating. There are currently a total of 188 marketplaces. Similar to rival chains
Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwestern United States. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering ...
,
Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
,
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
,
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
, and Albertsons; the stores are modeled after Kroger-owned Fred Meyer which house multiple departments. In addition to the grocery department, stores typically include a
Fred Meyer Jewelers Fred Meyer Jewelers is a national chain of jewelers. It is a owned by Fred Meyer, which is a subsidiary of Kroger. The company also formerly operated under the name Littman Jewelers. History Fred Meyer Jewelers started in 1973 as a catalog showro ...
,
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
,
Donatos Pizza Donatos Pizza, LLC is a Columbus-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Gahanna, Ohio, United States. It is a pizza delivery franchisor with nearly 200 locations in twelve states, the majority of them being in Ohio. Additionally, Don ...
, an in-store bank, and sections for toys, appliances, home furnishings as well as bed and bath; a format Big Bear had in their stores in the Columbus area. In 2005, the company began renovating many ''Kroger Food & Drug'' stores in Ohio to an expanded and updated look, converting them to the ''Kroger Marketplace'' format. In February 2006, Kroger announced plans for two new Kroger Marketplace stores by the end of summer in Cincinnati suburbs
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
and Liberty Township. The store in Liberty Township opened in July 2006. On October 5, 2006, a new Kroger Marketplace opened in
Gahanna Gahanna is a city in northeastern Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Columbus. The population was 35,726 at the 2020 census. It was founded in 1849. History Gahanna was founded along the Big Walnut Creek in 1849 by John C ...
. With the Gahanna opening, the number of Kroger Marketplace stores grew to six, four in the Columbus area and two in the Cincinnati area. Two more stores were planned in 2007, one in Middletown (which opened in April 2007, after the old store was razed and made part of the current parking lot) and one in Englewood. In 2011, the
Elder-Beerman The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 sto ...
in
Centerville, Ohio Centerville is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A core suburb of Metro Dayton, its population was 24,240 as of the 2020 census. History Following the signing of the Treaty of Greenville, which opened the Northwest Territory to ...
, was demolished, and a new marketplace replaced it. The location has a fuel center and opened on December 8. This marketplace is the largest Kroger store ever built from ground up to date at . Two more stores opened in the Cincinnati area, in the Northern Kentucky suburbs of
Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
and
Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingd ...
which were completed in November 2008. Three Kroger Marketplace stores in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
opened in 2009, two in Lexington and one in
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...
. Another Marketplace opened in
Beavercreek, Ohio Beavercreek is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 46,549 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the county and the second-largest suburb of Dayton. The Beavercreek area was settled in the early 1800s. A ...
. A
Mount Orab, Ohio Mount Orab ( ) is a village in Brown County, Ohio, United States. The population is 4,347 as of the 2020 United States census. History Mount Orab was laid out in 1850. The village's name most likely is derived from Mount Horeb, a place in the H ...
, store opened in the spring of 2010. Kroger opened a new store in
North Augusta, South Carolina North Augusta is a city in Aiken and Edgefield counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina, on the north bank of the Savannah River. It lies directly across the river, and state border, from Augusta, Georgia. The population was 24,379 at the ...
. In 2015, a Marketplace was opened in the Cincinnati suburb of Oakley. The first Kroger Marketplace store in Tennessee opened in
Farragut, Tennessee Farragut is a suburban town located in Knox and Loudon counties in the State of Tennessee, United States. The town's population was 23,506 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of U ...
(a suburb of
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
), at the end of 2008, and a second store in
Thompson's Station, Tennessee Thompson's Station is a town in Williamson County, Tennessee. The population has grown from 2,194 at the 2010 Census to 7,485 in the 2020 Census. Locations in Thompson's Station listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places include the ...
, about south of
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, opened in early 2009. A third location opened in
Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Named for United States Secre ...
, on March 11, 2010. The first Kroger Marketplace store in Texas opened on October 9, 2009, in the Waterside Marketplace in
Richmond, Texas Richmond is a suburb of Houston and the county seat of Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. The city is located within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 11,627. History In 1822, a group of Austin's ...
. The second Kroger Marketplace store in
Rosenberg, Texas Rosenberg is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Rosenberg was named for Henry Von Rosenberg, who immigrated to Texas from Switzerland in 1843. Von ...
, opened on December 4, 2009. The third opened in
Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Collin County, Texas, Collin and Denton County, Texas, Denton counties. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (DFW) and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth In ...
, in early 2010. The fourth, in
Willis, Texas Willis is a city in Montgomery County, Texas, Montgomery County, Texas, United States, located eight miles north of Conroe, Texas, Conroe in north central Montgomery County. The city began to develop in 1870 after what is now the Union Pacific Ra ...
, opened on August 11, 2011. Other Kroger Marketplace stores in Texas are in
Little Elm, Texas Little Elm is a city in Denton County, Texas, United States, and a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is an extended suburb of Denton, Texas, Denton; its population was 46,453 as of the 2020 census. In 2000, the census population was at ...
; Fort Worth's Alliance Town Center; Mansfield;
Wylie, Texas Wylie is a city and northeastern suburb of Dallas, that was once solely located in Collin County, but now extends into neighboring Dallas and Rockwall counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located on State Route 78 about northeast of cen ...
; and Baytown, Texas. The first Kroger Marketplace in Arkansas opened in August 2010 on Chenal Parkway in
Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
. Locations also opened in 2012 in
Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. The city also serves as a regional shopping, ...
and 2014 in
Jonesboro, Arkansas Jonesboro () is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County, Arkansas, Craighead County. In 2023, the city had an estimated population of ...
. The first Kroger Marketplace in Indiana opened on September 29, 2011, on Dupont Road on Fort Wayne's northwest side. This store is a rebuilt Kroger Food & Drug. A second Kroger Marketplace opened on October 4, 2012, from a rebuilt Scott's Food and Pharmacy in the Village at Coventry on the southwest side of Fort Wayne. These two stores are part of a $100 million expansion project in the Fort Wayne area. In October 2016, it was announced that a Kroger Marketplace will open in
La Porte, Indiana La Porte () is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was estimated to be 21,341 in 2022. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana metropolitan stat ...
, within the NewPorte Landing development. Construction of the new store is expected to begin early in 2018. The first Kroger Marketplace in Virginia opened on Midlothian Turnpike in
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
, on the site of the former Cloverleaf Mall on December 6, 2012. Another Marketplace opened in
Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...
, at the site of a former
Super Kmart Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard button) ...
, on July 31, 2013. The third location opened in December 2013 in the Staples Mill shopping Center in
Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...
. A fourth location opened on October 15, 2014, in
Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. It lies across the Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
, at the site of the former I.C. Norcom High School. The first Kroger Marketplace in Michigan opened on June 14, 2013, at Sterns and Secor Roads in Lambertville (a suburb north of
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
). Formerly a conventional Kroger store, the square footage (square meterage) increased from . It carries toys, home essentials, apparel and shoes in addition to groceries. The state's second store opened in 2014 in Shelby Township on property that already contained a 2010-built Fuel Center, replacing a smaller Kroger store across Hayes Road in neighboring Macomb Township, which was soon converted into an
Emagine Entertainment Emagine Entertainment Inc. is an American movie theater chain based in Troy, Michigan, operating 28 cinemas in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Emagine is ranked as the 9th largest theatre chain in North America. Emagine ...
movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
. Three further locations opened in 2016, one in White Lake. The first Kroger Marketplace in Mississippi opened on September 16, 2016, in Hernando (a suburb of
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
) to much fanfare. This store was formally a Kroger Food & Drug with twelve aisles, now rebuilt with sixty-four, in addition to having a Starbucks, ClickList, and expanded deli inside. The first Kroger Marketplace store in Alabama opened in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
in 2017.


Manufacturing and distribution


Distribution and logistics

Food distribution and buying takes place under various subsidiaries and divisions. These include: * Kroger Group Cooperative, Inc. * Kroger Group, Inc. * Peytons * WESCO * Inter-American Products Kroger operates its own fleet of trucks and trailers to distribute products to its various stores, in addition to contracts with various trucking companies. In June 2018, Kroger announced testing driverless cars for delivering groceries. For this, Kroger is partnering with autonomous car company Nuro. In addition to stocking a variety of regional brand products, The Kroger Company also employs one of the largest networks of private label manufacturing in the country. Thirty-three plants (either wholly owned or used with operating agreements) in seventeen states create about 40% of Kroger's private label products. Similar to most major supermarket retailers, Kroger uses a three-tiered
private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...
marketing strategy. One private brand emphasizes no-frills products at the lowest possible price, another is intended to be comparable to leading national brands but a better value and the third is a premium (often organic) brand.


Private label brands

Kroger offers a collection of its own branded products, referred to by the retailer as "Our Brands". The products are produced and sold in quality tiers, and account for over 30% of the retailer's unit sales.


Banner Brand

Banner Brand items are goods that bear the name of Kroger or its subsidiaries (i.e., Ralphs, King Soopers, etc.) or make reference to them (i.e., Big K), and are offered exclusively within Kroger-owned stores. These products are marketed to customers as budget-friendly, and account for over $13 billion in annual sales. Many of Kroger's health and beauty goods, one of the company's fastest-growing private label categories, are manufactured by third-party providers; these products include goods like
ibuprofen Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used to relieve pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes dysmenorrhea, painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It can be taken oral administration, ...
and contact lens solution.


Private Selection

Products marked ''Private Selection'' are offered to compare with gourmet brands or regional brands that may be considered more upscale than the standard Kroger brand products.


Simple Truth

''Simple Truth'' is Kroger's flagship natural and organic brand, and has grown quickly since its launch in 2012. The brand's launch marked the first time Kroger had delved into making its own gluten-free products, including flour mixes, bread, etc. The Simple Truth brand became the first Kroger offering to be introduced in China, on Alibaba's
Tmall Tmall (), formerly Taobao Mall, is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail, spun off from Taobao, operated in China by Alibaba Group. It is a platform for local Chinese and international businesses to sell brand-n ...
platform. Simple Truth reached $2 billion in annual sales in 2018.


Smart Way

''Smart Way'' is Kroger's budget-priced private label line that includes around 150 products. This line, which launched in two waves starting in September 2022, consolidates 16 legacy brands at a "new opening price-point."


Other private label brands

In addition to its core brands, Kroger's manufacturing creates a variety department-specific brands. These are featured especially in Fred Meyer stores, where more than half the goods sold are non-food, or in the smaller Fred Meyer-based Marketplace stores. The brands listed below may be found in various Kroger-owned stores. * Abound – natural pet food * Bakery Fresh Goodness – fresh-baked foods * Bloom Haus – floral arrangements * Comforts – baby products * Dip –
fast fashion Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term ''fast ...
brand designed by Joe Mimran * Everyday Living – home goods * HD Designs – upscale home goods * HemisFares – imported foods *
Home Chef Home Chef is a Chicago-based meal kit and food delivery company that delivers pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to subscribers weekly in the United States. According to the company it delivers three million meals monthly to its subscribers. ...
– meal kit and food delivery company acquired in 2018 * Kroger Mercado – Hispanic-inspired food products * Luvsome – pet food *
Murray's Cheese Murray's Cheese is an artisanal cheese and specialty foods retailer and wholesaler based in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1962 as a spinoff of Glen Alden farms, an egg and dairy wholesaler. The company ...
– artisanal cheese shop founded in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
in 1940 * OfficeWorks – stationery and office supplies * Pet Pride – pet food


Other operations


Pharmacy Group

Kroger previously owned and operated the SupeRx drug store chain. In 1985, Kroger outbid
Rite Aid Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. Prior to its first bankruptcy in 2023, it was the th ...
for the
Hook's Drug Stores Hook's Drug Stores was an Indianapolis, Indiana–based drug store chain which was founded in 1900 by John A. Hook. The chain flourished throughout central Indiana for most of the 20th century. Hook's did business under its own banner, the SupeR ...
chain, based in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, Indiana, and combined it with SupeRx to become Hook's-SupeRx. In 1994, Kroger decided to exit the stand-alone drugstore business and sold its Hook's and SupeRx stores to
Revco Revco Discount Drug Stores (known simply as Revco or Revco, D.S.), once based in Twinsburg, Ohio, was a major drug store chain operating through the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southeastern United States. The chain's stock w ...
, which later was sold to CVS. Today, Kroger operates 2,252 pharmacies, most of which are located inside its supermarkets. The Kroger Pharmacies continue as a profitable portion of the business and have been expanding to now include pharmacies in City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Smith's Food and Drug, and Kroger Supermarkets.


Supermarket Petroleum Group

Since 1998, Kroger has added fuel centers in the parking lots of its supermarkets. More recently, the company has begun opening standalone fuel centers, often near stores whose parking lots could not accommodate a fuel center. As of Q2 2022, Kroger operated 1,629 supermarket fuel centers. In 2006, Kroger introduced a new common
logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...
for all of its convenience store chains that is now also used at the fuel centers of all of its supermarket chains—a
rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (: rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhom ...
with a white, stylized image of the
continental United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
in the center bordered by four colored areas: dark blue representing the Pacific Ocean, red representing Canada, green representing the Atlantic Ocean, and yellow representing the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
. This logo is also still used at the convenience stores that were sold to EG Group in 2018.


Kroger Personal Finance

Kroger Personal Finance was introduced in 2007 to offer branded
Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...
cards, mortgages, home equity loans, pet, renter's and home insurance,
identity theft Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...
protection, and wireless services. In 2017, MasterCard became the network for Kroger's newly branded 1-2-3 REWARDS credit card issued by U.S. Bank. In 2019, Kroger banned the use of Visa credit cards (but not debit cards) at two of its subsidiary chains: Foods Co. Supermarkets and Smiths, citing rising costs from premium cards.


Kroger Wireless

Kroger Wireless, formerly known as i-wireless, is a national private label wireless service provider sold in over 2,200 retail locations within the Kroger family of stores across 31 states. Kroger Wireless service functions over the nationwide
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
network. Customers can choose from "Unlimited" rate plans including unlimited talk/
text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...
and with data allotments up to and including unlimited data. Kroger Wireless allows customers to purchase phones at select Kroger store locations, via their website, or by bringing their eligible T-Mobile device for activation.


84.51°

84.51° is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kroger engaged in data science and consumer insights, created in April 2015, as a result of Kroger purchasing the remaining half of its then-joint venture Dunnhumby USA from
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
.


Controversies


Pricing discrepancies and overcharges

In 2025, an investigation by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', Consumer Reports, and the '' Food & Environment Reporting Network'' revealed widespread overcharging at Kroger stores across multiple states due to expired sale tags leading to higher prices at checkout. Tests in 26 stores across 14 states and Washington, D.C., identified over 150 items with expired sale tags, averaging a $1.70 overcharge per item, or 18% above the advertised sale price. In Colorado, union tests at over 30 King Soopers stores found more than 300 expired tags, with overcharges averaging nearly 15%. An internal Kroger audit at one western U.S. store reported approximately 6% of price tags were incorrect, exceeding the company’s 1% error threshold. The investigation, supported by customer complaints and union reports, linked the issue to chronic understaffing, with expired tags remaining on shelves for weeks. Kroger denied systemic pricing issues, asserting that errors were a small fraction of billions of annual transactions and emphasizing regular audits to ensure pricing accuracy.


References


Further reading

* ''The Kroger story: A century of innovation'' by George Laycock, The Kroger Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1983, 143p. *


Videos

*


External links

* {{Authority control 1883 establishments in Ohio American companies established in 1883 Companies based in Cincinnati Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Retail companies established in 1883 Supermarkets of the United States Retail companies based in Ohio