Kroger grocery chain

Year

1883

By

Bernard Kroger

Company

Kroger

Place

Cincinnati, Hamilton County ZIP 45202 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County

In the 1880s shoppers often bought from several small stores: one for meat, one for bread, one for groceries. Prices were not marked the same way everywhere. Bernard Kroger, 23 years old, wanted to run a grocery that did better.

In 1883 he put his life savings of $372 into a grocery at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. The business grew fast. By 1902 it was incorporated as the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company, with 40 stores and $1.75 million in yearly sales.

Kroger says it was the first grocer in the country to establish its own bakeries, in 1901, and it brought in self-service shopping in 1916. Through buying smaller chains it controlled over 5,500 locations by the 1920s, mostly in the Midwest and South. In the 1960s it began using electronic scanning in supermarkets.

Today Kroger runs roughly 2,700 supermarkets with about 414,000 employees and is still based in Cincinnati.

• 1883: Bernard Kroger opens a grocery with $372 at 66 Pearl Street. (Cincinnati, OH) source
• 1902: The company is incorporated as the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company with 40 stores. (Cincinnati, OH) source
• 1901: Kroger sets up its own bakeries; the company says it was the first grocer to do so. (Cincinnati, OH) source
• 1916: Kroger introduces self-service shopping. source
• 1920s: After buying smaller chains, Kroger has over 5,500 locations. (Midwest and South) source
• 1960s: Electronic scanning is introduced in supermarkets. source

• From one store to 40 in 19 years (1883-1902).
• About 2,719 supermarkets and roughly 414,000 employees today.

Largest US supermarket chain.

• Wikipedia: Kroger

• Wikipedia: Kroger
• Kroger: Our History (opened)