WEB EXTRA: Kroger - Retailer of the Year

10/8/2013

2013 is a year of milestones for The Kroger Co.

One hundred thirty years ago, Barney Kroger opened his first grocery store in Cincinnati, still the headquarters city of what has since grown to be the nation’s largest traditional grocer, with more than 2,400 stores under multiple banners across the country.

The company is closing in on 10 years of consecutive quarterly same-store sales growth, an unprecedented achievement in the cutthroat retail food business. The widely admired national retailer also polished off a stellar 2012 fiscal year with $80.8 billion in sales, putting it in second place behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. among the top U.S. grocery retailers. Kroger also continues to boost its market share amid an increasingly competitive and fragmented retail environment.

Stockholders have approved plans to merge with Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter, the well-respected 212-store southeastern regional chain, in a $2.5 billion deal that will extend Kroger’s reach even further and leverage the best qualities of both topnotch operations.

As part of its sweeping policy of “community engagement,” Kroger this year is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its Perishable Donations Partnership, having donated the equivalent of 175 million meals to needy families through the program it launched as a component of its long alliance with Chicago-based Feeding America.

And, after helming the company for a decade as chairman and chief executive, David Dillon will relinquish the reins as CEO at the end of the year, passing the torch to President and COO W. Rodney McMullen.

For the second time in five years, Progressive Grocer has chosen to honor Kroger as its 2013 Retailer of the Year – an honor rightly deserved for the aforementioned achievements, as well as for the company’s continued strides in shopper experience, sustainability and talent development.

As part of our celebration of Kroger, we offer this gallery of images depicting the grocer and its people who work so hard to achieve the company's success.