Kroger has closed or scheduled the closing of at least 50 stores across 18 states, according to a Fast Company count through Oct. 22, 2026 that TheStreet cited on Nov. 2. The tally covers banners including Kroger, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Mariano’s, and it is up from an August count of 39 stores in 15 states.
The count is a media tally rather than a company list, and TheStreet’s report quotes no Kroger statement on it. Kroger itself described the plan as closing approximately 60 stores over 18 months, so the 50 stores counted by Oct. 22 amount to most of that target with about ten weeks of 2026 left.
How the 50-store count grew
FOX Business reported on Aug. 12 that at least 39 Kroger locations were no longer operating, based on online searches, across nine banners in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The newer count is 11 stores and three states larger, though the two outlets built their tallies separately.
TheStreet does not name the three added states, so the 18-state figure rests on Fast Company’s list. The scale matters for context: FOX Business, citing Kroger’s SEC filing, put the chain at 2,697 supermarkets across 35 states as of January 2026. Fifty closures is under 2% of those stores, but the closures already touch roughly half of the states where Kroger operates.
For anyone who shops or works at a Kroger-owned store, the count raises one practical question: is the local store among the 50? Kroger has not released a full list of closures, FOX Business reported, so Fast Company’s running list is the place to start, along with signs posted in the store and a word with the pharmacy counter.
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TheStreet also quotes Nate Faust, Kroger’s chief eCommerce officer, referring at an Investor Day to “our 2,700 stores” while he discussed delivery speed. The remark shows how the company frames the closings: a trim of the weakest locations inside a network that is still about 2,700 stores.
What Kroger said it was doing
Kroger put a number on the plan in its first-quarter earnings release dated June 20, 2025. The company recorded a $100 million impairment charge “related to the planned closing of approximately 60 stores over the next 18 months,” a window that runs through the end of 2026.
The release said Kroger expects a “modest financial benefit” from the closings, and that the plan “will not impact full-year guidance.” The after-tax effect was $77 million, or $0.12 per diluted share. Kroger said it intends to reinvest the savings in the customer experience.
For workers, the release made a specific promise: Kroger “will offer roles in other stores to all associates currently employed at affected stores.” That is a transfer offer rather than a layoff notice. The release gives no detail on pay, hours or distance at the new store.
Chain Store Age reported that Chairman Ron Sargent told analysts on the earnings call that the stores were not delivering “the sustainable results we need,” and that Kroger had paused its annual store review while the Albertsons merger was pending. With that deal gone, the review resumed, and the closures followed.
Because the 18-month window ends in December 2026, more closings could still be announced before year-end. Any store added after Oct. 22 falls outside the Fast Company count, so the 50 is a floor for the plan rather than a final total, as the “at least” wording in the count itself signals.
Albertsons is closing stores without a stated target
TheStreet’s report sets Kroger beside its former merger partner. Albertsons has not announced a nationwide closure target for 2026, but Fast Company counted at least 12 Albertsons-family locations closed or slated to close as of May, including Safeway, Vons, Acme and Randalls stores.
Executive Chair Meg Whitman has said the company “must also take a close look at” its portfolio, and CEO Susan Morris has pointed to lower-income shoppers shifting to Walmart and Amazon. Albertsons gives no number; Kroger gave 60. That makes Kroger’s count the one that can be tracked against a plan.
What a closing store changes for a household
Anyone with prescriptions on file at a store on the list can ask the pharmacy counter which nearby location will take the files over and in which week the switch happens. Asking early keeps a refill from lapsing during the move, and it settles who to call about insurance questions afterward.
Store employees offered a transfer can ask for the new location, pay rate and schedule in writing before answering. A longer commute is a cost of its own, and it belongs in the decision beside the paycheck.
The same arithmetic applies to shoppers. A weekly trip that grows by several miles adds gas and time every month, and that sits in the household budget next to the prices on the shelf. A neighborhood store closing is a small, recurring cost that rarely shows up on a receipt.
Is a Kroger-owned store near home on the closing list?
When a neighborhood supermarket closes, the cost shows up as longer drives, a pharmacy that moves and a grocery bill that drifts upward without any single bad charge. Retirees on fixed incomes feel that drift more than most, because every extra dollar of routine spending has to come from somewhere.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
