Kroger

Type: Public (NYSE: KR)
Founded: 1883
Headquarters: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Key people: David Dillon, CEO & Chairman
Industry: Retail
Products: Bakery, banking, beer, dairy, deli, frozen foods, gasoline (select locations), general merchandise, liquor (select locations), meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, wine.
Website: www.thekrogerco.com

General Information

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) is an American retail supermarket chain and parent company, founded by Bernard Henry Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported over US$60 billion in sales during its most recent fiscal year and is the top grocery retailer in the country and third-place general retailer in the country, with Wal-Mart and The Home Depot filling slots one and two, respectively. Supermarket News ranked Kroger No. 2 in the 2007 'Top 75 North American Food Retailers' based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $66.6 billion. As of January 28, 2006, Kroger operated, either directly or through its subsidiaries, 2,507 supermarkets, 579 of which had fuel centers.

It has its headquarters in Cincinnati, but it spans many states with store formats that include supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores, convenience stores and mall jewelry stores. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia are among those with Kroger stores carrying the Kroger name.

Kroger Marketplace

Kroger Marketplace is a relatively new style of store for Kroger. The brand started in 2004 in the Columbus, Ohio, area, which lost the Big Bear and Big Bear Plus chains in Penn Traffic's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Kroger Marketplace format is based on the Fry's Marketplace stores that the Arizona division of Kroger is currently operating.

Similar to rival chains Meijer and Super Kmart, and modeled after Kroger-owned Fred Meyer, these stores contain multiple departments. In addition to the grocery department, they contain a Fred Meyer Jewelers, Donato's Pizza, and an in-store bank, as well as sections for toys, appliances, and home furnishings, something that Big Bear once had in their stores in the Columbus area.

In 2005, the company began renovating many Kroger Food & Drug stores in Ohio to give out an expanded and remodeled look, converting them into the Kroger Marketplace format. In February 2006, Kroger announced plans for two new Kroger Marketplace stores to open by the end of the summer in Cincinnati suburbs Lebanon and Liberty Township. The store in Liberty Township opened in July 2006. On October 5, 2006, a new Kroger Marketplace opened in Gahanna. With the Gahanna opening, the number of Kroger Marketplace stores is six, four in the Columbus area and two in the Cincinnati area. Two more stores are planned in 2007, one in Middletown and one in Englewood.