The Kroger Company is an American retailer founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. By revenue, it is the country's largest supermarket chain, second-largest general retailer (after Walmart), and twenty-third largest company. Kroger is also the fifth largest retailer in the world. As of February 2013, Kroger operates, either directly or through its subsidiaries, 2,424 stores. Kroger's headquarters are in downtown Cincinnati. It maintains markets in 31 states, with store formats that include supermarkets, superstores, department stores, convenience stores, and mall jewelry stores. Kroger-branded grocery stores are located throughout the Midwestern and Southern United States. Kroger also is parent to several "banner" chains, such as Ralphs in California.
Kroger's employees are mostly represented by collective bargaining agreements. Seventy-five percent of Kroger employees are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
In 1883 Bernard 'Barney' Kroger invested his life savings of $372 (roughly equal to $9,415.59 as of 2014) to open a grocery store in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Cincinnati. Kroger, the son of a merchant, had simple dictum: Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself. Kroger tried many ways to satisfy customers. He experimented with making his own products, such as bread, so that customers would not need to go to a separate bakery.
In 1929 there were rumors of a Safeway-Kroger merger. In the 1930s Kroger became the first grocery-chain to monitor product quality and to test foods offered to customers, and also the first to have a store surrounded on all four sides by parking lots.
Kroger Personal Finance was introduced in 2007 to offer various stores' branded Visa; mortgages; home equity loans; pet, renter's and home insurance, identity theft protection and wireless services. In 2011, Kroger dropped its contract with MasterCard, and now offers store credit and debit cards through Visa.
i-wireless is a national private label wireless service provider sold in over 2,200 retail locations within the Kroger family of stores across 31 states. i-wireless allows customers to accrue minutes on their i-wireless phone in exchange for using their shopper's card on qualifying purchases. The i-wireless service functions over the Nationwide Sprint Network. Customers can choose from monthly, unlimited, or pay-per-use plans that do not have contracts, activation fees, or the ability to roam.
Source: Wikipedia.
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