With many changes in the Raleigh/Durham area, this one change comes as a shock to most residents.

Kroger, a well-known grocery store in the South, is shutting down all of their locations in the Raleigh/Durham area.

Kroger is an American retailing company founded by Bernard Kroger. In 1883, Kroger invested most of his life savings and decided to open a grocery store in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Over time, Kroger has grown to over 3,000 stores in 35 states. Unfortunately, they are not doing as well as some people thought.

On June 13, Kroger officially announced they would be closing all 14 stores in Raleigh/Durham in mid-August because of the highly competitive market.

“After a thorough evaluation of the market for a significant time period, we have decided to close our stores in the highly competitive Raleigh/Durham market,” said Jerry Clontz, president of the Mid-Atlantic Division of Kroger.

Along with the closing of these stores, many employees and customers are being impacted and will be without jobs very soon.

The employee, Jasmine Robinson, has been working in the pharmacy for 9 months now. Hearing the news about Kroger really surprised her.

“I was shocked and very upset,” said Robinson. As Kroger closes, most employees are currently looking for jobs. “At this moment, I am currently looking for a job. I am hoping to find a job in a hospital nearby.”

Along with the employees, a few customers are a little upset.

Ewarja Hinton, a customer for three years, is saddened by the closing of Kroger. Although Kroger wasn’t her go-to store, Hinton will miss the deals they offered.

“I will definitely miss going to the frozen meat and seafood section as well as the buy save $4.00 sales,” says Hinton. Now that Kroger is closing, Hinton will primarily shop at Food Lion.

Some customers, however, have been grocery shopping at Kroger for over 10 years.

Danyelle Sanders has been a customer at Kroger for 15 years.

“I’m devasted… I save money on gas and groceries,” says Sanders. With the closing of Kroger, she will now have to travel farther to Food Lion.

Many other people, like Jesse Jackson, agree that the closing of Kroger has impacted many neighborhoods.

Although this decision is not good for many customers, the employees have various opportunities to look for other jobs.

More than 1,500 employees are out of their jobs, Kroger will be helping these employees find other job opportunities. “We’re making every effort to assist our associates in finding employment,” said Clontz.

Kroger also agreed to host job fairs and job placement services for the employees as well.
Fortunately, some locations will turn into Harris Teeter.

On June 13, Harris Teeter announced that they will be purchasing eight Kroger stores in the Raleigh-Durham area. During that time, they will renovate and at least keep a few pharmacies open during that time. The final renovations are said to be finished around August 2018.

For more information on these stores, please visit www.harristeeter.com.