Kroger expels longtime CEOs after investigating personal behaviour
Longtime Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen resigned after an internal investigation determined that his personal actions were “inconsistent” with the company’s ethical policies.
Reuters
Kroger will close to 60 locations across the country for the next 18 months, the supermarket giant announced on Friday, June 20th.
According to Kroger’s first quarter sales report for the 2025 quarter, the company expects “conservative financial profit” to come from closing “about 60 stores.” Kroger also said he intends to reinvest his savings from the closure into the “customer experience.”
Kroger will offer roles in other stores to all associates currently employed at the closed location, the report says.
Kroger spokesman Erin Rolfs told USA Today in an email about the location of the closure that the company “will not publish the store list at this time.”
Kroger operated 2,731 stores at the beginning of the fiscal year. In other words, the cuts account for about 2% of all locations.
Why are Krogers closed in about 60 locations?
Interim CEO Ron Sargent spoke about the location during a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Friday, June 20, saying that unclosed stores have spread across the US.
Kroger reaffirmed its plans to spend between $3.6 billion and $3.8 billion this year on capital spending, including building new stores and expanding and renovating existing stores.
The closure suddenly resigned on March 3rd after Sargent took over the CEO role from Rodney McMullen. Grocers are currently searching for new CEOs nationwide.
The closure will take place after two rounds of layoffs
The store closure comes months after Kroger announced a two-round layoff for an unspecified number of non-store workers this spring.
“We are focusing on key priorities areas that support strategy for the market. As part of this prioritization work, we have announced a small number of roles to restructure and improve efficiency for our teams.”
Based in downtown Cincinnati, Kroger employs 409,000 workers nationwide.
Contributor: Alexander Coolidge/Cincinnati Enquiler
Jonathan Limehouse covers USA Today’s broken and trending news. Contact him at jlimehouse@gannett.com.
