Kroger the Consolidator

CINCINNATI — While the $13 billion Fred Meyer acquisition five years ago is still known around Kroger as “The Merger,” the company here has remained active on the acquisition front, focusing mainly on in-market purchases of small handfuls of stores.

These smaller acquisitions don’t often generate the headlines of a Fred Meyer purchase. Yet for Kroger, they make good business sense because market share indexes with Kroger’s ability to leverage its costs in procurement, advertising and distribution, said Don McGeorge, president and chief operating officer. In the five years since the Fred Meyer merger, Kroger has acquired nearly 250 stores in more than 40 separate transactions, ranging from single-store pickups to the 41-store buy of Albertsons locations divested by regulator mandate.

Does Kroger eye acquisitions as a means to enter new markets? “Never say never,” McGeorge said. However, further in-market acquisitions are much more likely. “We’re not anti- any market,” he added. “We just like to be able to fill in where it gives us the greatest leverage and return on assets.”

Following is a list of Kroger’s purchases since the 800-store Fred Meyer merger closed in May of 1999: