Grocery Giant Announces Closures: How IL Locations Are Affected

PEORIA, IL — Grocery giant Kroger announced plans to scale back on brick-and-mortar locations this year, with roughly 60 stores set to close over the next 18 months.

In the major chain's first quarter earnings report, which was released on Friday, Kroger said it recognized an impairment charge of $100 million related to the planned store closings. The company expects a "modest financial benefit" after the closures, the company said.

"Kroger is committed to reinvesting these savings back into the customer experience, and as a result, this will not impact full-year guidance. Kroger will offer roles in other stores to all associates currently employed at affected stores," the company said in a statement.

Kroger said the company expects to earn an operating profit of between $4.7 billion and $4.9 billion this year.

Though it is unclear which 60 locations exactly will be closed, media outlets have reported that a number of locations have recently closed or will close soon, including a Peoria store on Sterling Avenue.

The closures come nearly six months after the controversial proposed merger with Kroger competitor, Albertson's, was blocked in court. The rulings were celebrated as a "major win" by the Federal Trade Commission — which, together with several states — asked the federal court to stop the merger.

Federal regulators said the merger would have eliminated competition andresulted in higher prices for consumers and bad outcomes for workers.

The $24.6 billion merger was abandoned and both companies turned to suing each other to recoup the damages.

“Rather than fulfill its contractual obligations to ensure that the merger succeeded, Kroger acted in its own financial self-interest, repeatedly providing insufficient divestiture proposals that ignored
regulators’ concerns,” Albertsons General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer Tom Moriarty said in a news release.

Kroger in response called Albertsons’ claims “baseless and without merit.”

“This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger's written notification of Albertsons' multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger's break fee, to which they are not entitled,” the company said in a prepared statement

Kroger, which is based in Cincinnati, operates 1,239 grocery stores in 16 states and owns many well-known regional chains including Ralphs, QFC, Fred Meyer and Food 4 Less.