Where is the closest Kroger?

The Kroger Company is America's largest food retailer. It runs over 1,300 supermarkets in 24 states. More than 1,050 of those utilize the Kroger name, and others are known by Dillon Stores, King Soopers, and Fry (namely, its subsidiary Dillon Companies). More than 93 percent of the company's revenues come from its food processing operations, and most of the rest are from more than 800 convenience stores. Also, Kroger runs 37 food processors producing milk, bakery, deliveries, and other foodstuffs. 

Kroger was founded in 1883 by Bernard H. Kroger, one of America's first chain store operations, who started the Great Western Tea Company. By 1893 the store's number reached 17. By 1902 the Kroger merged his businesses into the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company, having 40 shops and a Cincinnati factory. 

The business started to expand beyond Cincinnati; it had its stores in 1920 in Hamilton, Dayton, and Columbus, Ohio. The Chain had a long history of expansion. Kroger offered its shares for sale for more than $28 million in 1928. Kroger had 5,575 stores in 1929, which was more than ever. After the end of WW2, in 1946, Joseph Hall became the company's president and changed its name to Kroger Company. Kroger first made revenue exceeding one billion dollars in 1952. Considering supermarkets, this was a period of rapid growth. The number of supermarkets in the country increased almost three times between 1948 and 1963. 

In 1960, the business started to grow into the pharmaceutical industry, taking into account the potential of locating drugstores close to grocery stores. The firm acquired a small chain of pharmacies and made its owner James Herring, lead the division. The first company's drugstore, named Super X, was launched in 1961, located close to the Kroger food store in Milford, Ohio. The retail trend from the 1960s was discount shops, meaning strategically placed shops choosing aggressive merchandising strategy along with a low margin and minimum service. 

Kroger joined the trend and went to discount by 1962. Later on, Kroger started shutting down hundreds of small stores to create bigger ones with more departments. James Herring became the company's president in 1970. In the 1970s, the food industry was generally turbulent, but it was profitable for Kroger. He has mastered scientific approaches in market analysis to better the company's planning and promotion. 

Kroger faced the pressure of fierce competition in several markets during the recession in the early 1990s. In 1992, the company's sales and profits were also hit by a 10-week strike in Michigan and another in Tennessee. Kroger, therefore, undertook a major program aimed at recovering its productivity by technological improvement. 

By 1994 the debt burden of Kroger reduced dramatically. That year, Kroger spent $534 million to launch 45 new shops, 17 enlarged shops, 66 refurbishments, and 20 supermarkets. From 1995 to 1997, the expansion programs cost $600 million per year. This became the most significant expansion of capital in the history of Kroger.

Related to Kroger