Kroger operates approximately 2,720 grocery retail stores under its various banners and divisions in 35 states and the District of Columbia with store formats that include hypermarkets, supermarkets, superstores, department stores, and 130 jewelry stores (782 convenience stores were sold to EG Group in 2018). Kroger operates 33 food processing or manufacturing facilities, 1,617 supermarket fuel centers, 2,253 pharmacies, and 225 The Little Clinic in-store medical clinics.

The Kroger Company is the United States’ largest supermarket operator by revenue and fifth-largest general retailer.The company is one of the largest American-owned private employers in the United States.

The company’s milestones:

1883 – Barney Kroger used his life savings to open his first grocery store in downtown Cincinnati.

1884 – Kroger opened his second store.

1901 – Kroger became the first grocer in the country to establish its own bakeries, followed by integration of the meat department.

1902 – The Kroger Grocery and Baking Company had been incorporated.

1912 – Kroger made his first long-distance expansion, buying 25 stores in St Louis, Missouri.

1916 – The company introduced another innovation in 1916 with the beginnings of self-service shopping.

1920  – The company had begun a process of rapid expansion beyond the Cincinnati area.

1927 – Steady expansion to 1927 gave this company a system of 3,749 retail units integrated with manufacturing and wholesaling divisions.

1930 – The company established Kroger Food Foundation, making it the first grocery company to test food scientifically in order to monitor the quality of products.

1947 – Kroger opened its first egg-processing plant in Wabash, Indiana, in order to further ensure egg quality.

1955 – Kroger began acquiring supermarket chains, expanding into new markets.

1960 – The company began its expansion into the drugstore business, with an eye on the potential for drugstores built next to grocery stores.

1972 – Kroger became the first grocery retailer in America to test an electronic scanner.

1979 – Kroger became the second largest supermarket chain in the United States.

1981 – Kroger began marketing its Cost Cutter brand products.

1998 – Kroger merged with the then fifth-largest grocery company Fred Meyer, along with its subsidiaries, Ralphs, QFC, and Smith’s.

2005 – The company began renovating many Kroger Food & Drug stores in Ohio for an expanded and remodeled look, converting them to the Kroger Marketplace format.

2006 – A new Kroger Marketplace opened in Gahanna.

2007 – Kroger Personal Finance was introduced in 2007 to offer branded Visa cards, mortgages, home equity loans, pet, renter’s and home insurance, identity theft protection, and wireless services.

2016 – Kroger announced that it had made a “meaningful investment” in the Boulder, Colorado-based Lucky’s Market, an organic foods supermarket chain that operated 17 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States.

2017 – Kroger opened its first convenience store  in Blacklick, Ohio, labeled “Fresh Eats MKT”.

2018 – Kroger announced online wine delivery to 14 states in partnership with DRINKS.

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.

2021 – Kroger tweaked its logo to add the “Fresh Cart” symbol. The symbol is an abstract shopping cart with the basket being citrus slices.

According to en.wikipedia.org; zippia.com. Source of photos: internet