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() is an
American Retail Supermarket chain, founded by
Barney Kroger in
1883 in
Cincinnati ,
Ohio . It has over
US$ 56
Billion in sales per year and is the top grocery retailer in the country, and third place general retailer in the country, with
Wal-Mart and
Home Depot filling slots one and two, respectively.
Anderson Township ,
Hamilton County, Ohio , houses the world's largest Kroger store.
It has its headquarters in Cincinnati, but it spans many states with store formats that include supermarkets,
Hypermarket s,
Department Store s,
Convenience Store s and
Mall Jewelry stores.
Alabama ,
Arkansas ,
Georgia ,
Illinois ,
Indiana ,
Kentucky ,
Michigan ,
Mississippi ,
North Carolina ,
Ohio ,
South Carolina ,
Tennessee ,
Texas ,
Virginia , and
West Virginia are among those with Kroger stores carrying the Kroger name.
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 .
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. As of 2005, Kroger operated only five Kroger Marketplace stores, all in Ohio.
Kroger stores existed in various Florida markets from the 1960's until
1985 , when the chain decided to exit the state and sold most of its stores to
Albertsons . Recently, retail analysts have begun to speculate about whether Kroger may capitalize on the misfortunes of
Albertsons and reenter Florida again, but the dominance of native
Publix and the growing force of
Wal-Mart in Florida would be a tough sell for Kroger.
Kroger had about 50 stores in St. Louis until it left the market in 1986, saying that its stores were unprofitable. Most of their stores were bought by National, Schnucks and Shop 'n Save.
Kroger exited the competitive
San Antonio ,
Texas , market in mid-1993. On June 15,
1993 , the company announced it would close its 15 area stores 60 days later. San Antonio-based
H-E-B was the market leader at the time; its 37 area stores held a 43.2 market share. Kroger and
Albertsons (10 stores) were the area's other two top grocers, Kroger holding a 13.7 share and Albertsons a 13.1 share. Albertsons would eventually also succumb to H-E-B and exit the market by closing its 20 remaining area stores in April
2002 after previously shuttering three other stores in December
2001 . By the time Albertsons exited San Antonio, the 44-store H-E-B chain had reached a 61 market share, while second-place Albertsons held a 15 market share.
