Kroger Shuttering 2 W.Va. Stores

Kroger plans to close two of its 50 stores in West Virginia, one in Diamond, the other in Weston, according to published reports. Both locations will close April 11.

The 31,000-square-foot Diamond store, which opened in 1984, hasn’t been profitable for the past three years, Kroger spokesman Carl York told the Charleston Gazette. York said that store employees would have the option to transfer to other Kroger stores based on seniority according to union contracts.

Asked by the Gazette whether competition from a nearby Walmart Supercenter that opened in 2011 has led to the Diamond store’s closure, York replied, “All competition has an effect on our business, and we affect our competitors.”

Important Market

Although he added that Cincinnati-based Kroger had no further plans to close stores in the region, “we watch it closely.” York also noted that the Charleston market was important to the grocer, pointing out that one store in the area was in the midst of being renovated, with another slated to be overhauled in the near future.

York was additionally quoted in the State Journal business newspaper as saying that the Weston store “has been losing money for several years."
 

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