Another retail giant is trimming the fat.
Kroger just confirmed it’s closing five stores this August, with dozens more expected to follow. It’s the opening act in a bigger plan to shut down 60 underperforming locations over the next year and a half — a quiet admission that not every ZIP code is working out.
The closures are starting to roll out like clockwork. A Kroger in Alpharetta, Georgia shuts down August 16. Two Mariano’s stores in Illinois — Bloomingdale and Northbrook — follow right after. Charlottesville, Virginia and Gassaway, West Virginia are also on the chopping block by August 22. Employees at these stores will be offered positions elsewhere in the company, though whether they’ll take them is another story.
Interim CEO Ron Sargent put it plainly: not all stores are pulling their weight. And while the company won’t take a massive financial hit — they’re estimating a $100 million write-down, but sticking to their yearly guidance — it’s clear something deeper is shifting.
In fact, it already has.
Grocery chains are dealing with rising costs, thinner margins, and customers whose habits are drifting away from big weekly hauls toward smaller, more frequent trips — often at discount stores or online. That means even a name as entrenched as Kroger can’t afford to let real estate sit idle.
But this isn’t just belt-tightening. It’s a pivot.
Kroger says the money saved will go into improving the “customer experience” — corporate speak that likely means investing in newer, busier locations, better tech, and more e-commerce infrastructure. They’re still spending nearly $4 billion this year on renovations, expansions, and new stores.
And they’re not alone in the shuffle. Walmart and Lidl have recently taken heat over shelf layout changes aimed at optimizing profits, and Kroger itself has faced backlash for checkout redesigns that some shoppers find clunky or impersonal.
It’s a strange moment for grocery retail. Profits are up, sales are steady, but the fundamentals feel shaky. Companies are cashing in where they can and quietly culling the rest. The fact that union groups flagged the closures before the company did says a lot.
In the coming months, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia will lose more Kroger locations — including Decatur, Brookhaven, Kingsport, and Abingdon. It’s not a full retreat, but it’s a signal: the old model isn’t working everywhere.
And for the communities losing their local store, the message is even clearer. Profit is still king — and if your neighborhood doesn’t measure up, you’re off the map.