Kroger Drops Prices in Virginia

The Kroger Co. has launched an aggressive price-lowering initiative on more than 10,000 items in its seven Hampton Roads, Va., stores.

The price-cutting move covers more than one-third of the average 28,000 items in Kroger’s Hampton Roads grocery, drug and general merchandise departments that range from fresh produce, center store and frozen foods to dairy, soaps and paper products.

The move aims to increase the chain’s market share in the metro Norfolk-Virginia Beach geographic market, according to a company spokesman, who described the price reductions as a “a major investment during a tough economy.”

In related news, the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. plans to build its first new supermarket – a 123,600-square-foot Marketplace concept store – next year in Hampton Roads since it entered the market a dozen years ago at the former Super Kmart site on Holland Road.