Kroger Closing 60 Stores Across 16 States After Disastrous Year

Americas Largest Grocery Chain Cuts Back

Kroger just announced it will shut down about 60 stores over the next 18 months. The closures represent 5% of the company’s locations across 16 states.

For a grocery chain that has operated since 1883, this is a significant pullback, and it comes at the worst possible time. A $25 billion merger collapsed in court.

The CEO resigned in disgrace. Lawsuits are flying in both directions.

And communities that depend on these stores are now scrambling for options.

Company Takes $100 Million Hit

Kroger revealed the closure plan in its first-quarter 2025 earnings report on June 20.

The company took a $100 million impairment charge tied to the shutdowns but said it expects “modest financial benefit” in the long run. Sales had dropped slightly to $45.1 billion compared to $45. 3 billion for the same period a year earlier.

Kroger said it would reinvest the savings into “customer experience” at its remaining stores. The stock jumped nearly 10% on the news, which tells you who Wall Street thinks this decision benefits.

Kroger Wont Release the Full List

The company told reporters it will not release a list of affected stores. That left employees, unions, and local officials to piece together the information themselves.

A Grocery Dive analysis of WARN notices, union announcements, and local news reports identified 39 stores on the chopping block by late August, with at least 18 already closed.

The secrecy has frustrated communities trying to prepare for the loss of their local grocery store. Some workers found out their store was closing from news reports, not management.

Georgia Illinois and Washington Hit Hard

Four Kroger stores in the Atlanta area are closing, including locations in Alpharetta, Brookhaven, and Decatur.

Three Mariano’s stores in the Chicago suburbs are shutting down in Buffalo Grove, Bloomingdale, and Northbrook.

In Washington state, Kroger is closing six Fred Meyer and QFC locations in the Puget Sound region, including stores in Seattle, Redmond, Kent, Everett, and Tacoma.

Wisconsin is losing five Pick ‘n Save stores in the Milwaukee area. Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia are also losing locations.

The Albertsons Merger Collapsed in Court

In December 2024, both a federal district court in Oregon and a state court in Washington blocked the $24. 6 billion deal, saying it would reduce competition and harm shoppers.

The merger would have combined America’s two largest supermarket chains into a company with more than 5,000 stores.

The FTC had argued the deal was anticompetitive, with one executive candidly admitting it would “basically create a monopoly in grocery. ” Kroger and Albertsons had spent over two years trying to win approval.

They failed.

Both Companies Started Suing Each Other

The day after the courts blocked the merger, Albertsons abandoned the deal and sued Kroger for breach of contract.

Albertsons claimed Kroger failed to make “best efforts” to secure regulatory approval and sought billions in damages.

Kroger fired back with counterclaims, alleging Albertsons had secretly undermined the merger strategy by working with the proposed divestiture buyer behind Kroger’s back.

Court documents revealed Albertsons had offered to spend $800 million to help settle the case with regulators, but Kroger didn’t respond.

CEO McMullen Quit After Ethics Investigation

In March 2025, Kroger announced that CEO Rodney McMullen had resigned following a board investigation into his “personal conduct.”

The company said his behavior was “inconsistent with Kroger’s Policy on Business Ethics” but was unrelated to financial performance and didn’t involve any employees. Kroger provided no other details.

McMullen forfeited $11 million in unvested equity and bonuses as part of his departure, an unusual move that raised eyebrows among corporate governance experts.

The mystery deepened when a lawsuit involving singer Jewel sought to force McMullen to explain his resignation in writing.

He Started as a Stock Clerk in 1978

McMullen had been with Kroger for nearly five decades, first joining the company as a part-time stock clerk at a Kentucky location in 1978.

He worked his way up through the company, becoming chief financial officer in 1995 and chief operating officer in 2009. He was named CEO in 2014 and chairman in 2015.

His rise from bagger to chief executive was the kind of story companies love to tell. His exit was the kind they don’t.

Interim CEO Blames Underperforming Stores

The board appointed Ron Sargent, a director since 2006 and former Staples CEO, as interim chief executive.

Sargent told investors that “not all of our stores are delivering the sustainable results we need” and that the company had not reviewed its locations during the merger process as it usually does every year.

He noted that customers are “eating more meals at home,” which boosted sales of private-label products. Kroger is now searching for a permanent CEO.

Critics Warn of Growing Food Deserts

Indiana State Rep. Maureen Bauer called the closure of a South Bend Kroger a “devastating loss” that “deepens an already growing food desert.”

In Washington, Governor Bob Ferguson said his office is “watching this closely” as six Puget Sound stores close.

UFCW 3000 noted that three of four closing Washington stores are in zip codes with incomes below their county’s median.

The Everett City Council declared one closure “an act of corporate neglect” that will create a food and retail desert. For residents without cars, the nearest grocery store may now require two buses and a 25-minute trip.

Workers Get Job Offers at Other Stores

Kroger said all employees at affected stores will be offered roles at other locations. In Washington, the six closing stores impact more than 700 workers.

UFCW 3000 called the closures “callous, out-of-touch corporate management” and said Kroger is “putting profit over people. ” The union pointed out that Kroger’s net income was 77% higher than in 2019.

Whether workers can actually transfer depends on commute distances, scheduling, and whether nearby stores have openings.

From One Store to Americas Largest Chain

Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a single grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati in 1883. By 1929, the company operated 5,575 stores, the most it has ever had.

Today, Kroger operates 2,719 grocery stores in 35 states and remains America’s largest supermarket chain by revenue. The company pioneered in-store bakeries, electronic scanners, and loyalty programs.

It survived the Great Depression, adapted to the supermarket era, and fended off a hostile takeover in 1988. Now it faces a different kind of reckoning: what happens when growth stops and cutting becomes the strategy.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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