Kroger laying off hundreds of workers

Cincinnati-based Kroger is laying off hundreds of employees, including managers, at its grocery stores.

The Dayton Daily News has received reports from local Kroger employees that the largest regional grocery provider has recently laid off managers.

Kroger Co., which also owns Harris Teeter, Ralphs and Fred Meyer has 443,000 full-time and part-time workers. In Dayton, the company has 44 stores, including six Marketplaces. The stores employ 8,100 people in the Dayton region.

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“At Kroger, we are constantly evolving our business to ensure we build the teams and leaders who will deliver an amazing experience for our customers and associates both now and in the future,” a Kroger spokeswoman said. “A key part of this evolution is moving resources closer to the customer by putting our top talent into our store leadership positions.”

A spokesperson said “many store operating divisions” are evaluating middle management roles and team structures.

“Store divisions operate independently but all of them are taking steps to ensure they have the right talent in the right store leadership positions. Beyond that we generally do not comment on personnel matters related to the Kroger family of companies,” the spokesperson said.

Kroger shares were down about 3 percent Thursday morning from five days ago.

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The company has been rolling out its Restock Kroger plan to compete with other grocers with digital sales. The grocery wars have been heating up in recent years with increased pressures from discounters like Aldi and Walmart that has been steadily increasing its share of grocery sales.

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