Kroger is closing more than 60 grocery stores it calls "underperforming" across at least 11 states, including two in California, even as the Cincinnati-based chain bets $1.65 billion on a major acquisition.
The closures span Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and California, the New York Post reported. Five stores each will close in Virginia and Wisconsin. Four will shut down in Illinois, three in Indiana, and two in Colorado. Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia will each lose at least one location.
In California, where grocery costs already rank third-highest in the nation, the two stores on the chopping block are a Foods Co. at 8122 Gerber Road in Sacramento and a Food 4 Less at 19200 Soledad Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. Both banners operate under the Kroger umbrella. The Santa Clarita location will reopen as a Ralphs, another Kroger-owned brand, but the Sacramento store has no announced replacement.
Kroger's leadership frames the wave of closures not as a retreat but as what it calls a "tactical consolidation", shifting resources away from weaker locations and toward newer, larger-format stores. In West Virginia, for instance, the company launched a 122,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace this past June, a facility valued at $40.3 million. The strategy is to migrate shoppers from shuttered outlets into these upgraded locations.
The closures come at the same time Kroger is pursuing a $1.65 billion deal to acquire Giant Eagle, a regional chain headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. Giant Eagle operates 197 supermarkets and 11 standalone pharmacies. The deal is expected to close in 2027.
Kroger CEO Greg Foran cast the acquisition in strategic terms.
"We evaluated the opportunity carefully, and the strategic fit is clear. Giant Eagle expands our reach into attractive adjacent markets, allowing us to do what we do best: Run outstanding stores, deliver fresh foods and convenient meal solutions at affordable prices, and take care of our customers and associates every single day."
The math is worth noting. Kroger operates roughly 2,700 stores. Shedding 60-plus while absorbing 197 through the Giant Eagle purchase means the company is reshaping its footprint, not simply shrinking it. Whether that reshaping serves existing customers, particularly those who relied on the stores now closing, is another question entirely.
Kroger is hardly the only major chain trimming its brick-and-mortar presence. Stop & Shop has pushed past 40 closures in its own retreat from the Northeast, part of a broader pattern across the grocery and retail landscape.
For Californians, the closures land in a state where grocery bills are already punishing. Data from 2025 showed California ranked behind only Hawaii and Alaska for the highest grocery costs in the country, with the average shopper spending $127 per week. Losing even two stores, especially discount-oriented banners like Foods Co. and Food 4 Less, removes options from price-conscious consumers who can least afford it.
The Santa Clarita store's conversion to a Ralphs may soften the blow for some shoppers there, though Ralphs typically carries higher price points than Food 4 Less. The Sacramento closure, with no announced replacement, offers no such cushion.
Kroger's broader corporate restructuring has drawn attention for months. The company's store closure strategy and leadership changes reflect a chain trying to find its footing after a failed merger attempt with Albertsons reshaped the competitive landscape.
Specific closure dates for the individual stores have not been disclosed. Kroger has not publicly detailed which locations in most affected states are on the list, only the two California addresses have been identified by name and address.
The broader grocery industry is in flux. Albertsons, the chain Kroger once tried to merge with, is undergoing its own restructuring. CEO Susan Morris said in a recent earnings call that the company plans to consolidate its 11 divisions into four regions and accelerate investments aimed at lowering prices.
Morris described the goal as an effort to "sharpen accountability and strengthen execution in the areas that matter most to our customers: fresh service, store standards, local merchandising and community connection."
That kind of corporate language is familiar. What matters to shoppers is whether prices actually come down and whether stores stay open in the neighborhoods that need them. Recent price studies have shown Kroger competing well on store-brand grocery costs against Walmart, Aldi, and Albertsons, but low prices mean little if the nearest store is 20 miles away.
The trend is not limited to grocery chains. Walgreens has been closing stores across the country in its own multi-year contraction, part of a wider brick-and-mortar pullback that has left communities, particularly in rural and lower-income areas, with fewer retail options.
Several pieces of information remain missing. Kroger has not said when each store will close. The company has not named the specific locations shutting down in Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, or the other affected states beyond California. It is unclear whether the 2,700-store figure Kroger cites reflects its network before or after the closures, or whether it already accounts for the planned Giant Eagle additions.
Nor has Kroger explained what happens to the workers at the 60-plus stores going dark. Corporate consolidation strategies always sound clean in a press release. The employees stocking shelves and running registers at a Foods Co. in Sacramento do not have the luxury of thinking in terms of "tactical consolidation."
When a company can find $1.65 billion to buy a new chain but cannot find a reason to keep 60 existing stores open, the people who lose their neighborhood grocery store are entitled to wonder whose strategy this really serves.