Kroger

The Kroger Company, more commonly known as Kroger, is an American retail company founded in 1883 by Bernard Kroger in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the United States' second-largest general retailer and the largest supermarket chain. They are currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio, but its various divisions have regional headquarters around the country.

Kroger family of stores
Kroger began the process of instituting decentralized divisions in 1930. The Louisville division was the first to complete this process on April 14 of that year, with all of the then-23 divisions doing so by December 1. This list includes acquisitions made by Kroger over the years. Circa 1973, the amount of divisions was streamlined
 * Baker’s (acquired 2001, merged into Dillons division)
 * Bi-Lo (former, Detroit and Cleveland areas (unrelated to same-named chains in other parts of the United States), dissolved early 1980s)
 * Big Chain (former, became part of Shreveport division)
 * C. Thomas (acquired 1929, became part of Grand Rapids division)
 * Childs (former, became part of Texas division)
 * P.W. Walker (former, acquired 1933)
 * City Market (acquired 1983, former subsidiary of Dillons, currently part of King Soopers division)
 * Community (acquired 1917, became part of Detroit division)
 * Consumers (former, became part of Chicago division)
 * Dillons (acquired 1983, current division includes Bakers and Gerbes)
 * Eagle (acquired 1928, became part of Pittsburgh division)
 * Foltz (former, merged into Cincinnati and Louisville divisions)
 * Food 4 Less (acquired 1998, former subsidiary of Fred Meyer, Los Angeles and Chicago areas only, Food 4 Less-bannered stores in other parts of the United States are not owned by Kroger)
 * Cala Foods (former, dissolved 2011)
 * Foods Co.
 * Fred Meyer (acquired 1998)
 * Marketime Drugs (former)
 * Pollock Bros. (former, acquired 1928)
 * Fry’s (acquired 1983, former subsidiary of Dillons)
 * Gerbes (acquired 1983, former subsidiary of Dillons)
 * Harris Teeter (acquired 2014)
 * Northern
 * Central
 * Southern
 * Food World (former, acquired 1984)
 * Henke & Pillot (former, became part of Houston division)
 * Hiller's Market (former, acquired 2015 and became part of Michigan division, all stores rebranded as Kroger or closed by December 2015)
 * Hoosier Stores Corporation (former, became part of Fort Wayne division)
 * King Soopers (acquired 1983, former subsidiary of Dillons)
 * Jamison (former, became part of Roanoke division)
 * JayC Food Store (part of Louisville division)
 * Kroger
 * Atlanta (formerly part of Southland from 1972-1974)
 * Carbondale (former, dissolved 1960, stores became part of Louisville, Memphis and St. Louis divisions)
 * Carolinas (former, dissolved 1989, stores became part of Atlanta and Mid-Atlantic divisions)
 * Central
 * Fort Wayne (merged 1972-1974)
 * Indianapolis (merged 1972-1974)
 * Peoria (merged 1972-1974)
 * Chicago (former, dissolved July 1970, remaining stores became part of Peoria division)
 * Cincinnati/Dayton
 * Cincinnati (merged 1972-1974)
 * Dayton (merged 1972-1974)
 * Columbus (formerly part of Great Lakes between March 2003 and September 2007)
 * Dallas (formerly part of Southwest between 1998 and 2016)
 * Delta
 * Little Rock (merged 1972-1974)
 * Memphis (merged 1972-1974)
 * Erie (former, dissolved 1985)
 * Cleveland (merged 1972-1974)
 * Pittsburgh (merged 1972-1974)
 * Gateway (former, dissolved 1986-1989)
 * Kansas City (merged 1972-1974)
 * St. Louis (merged 1972-1974)
 * Great Lakes (former, dissolved September 2007)
 * Houston (formerly part of Southwest between 1998 and 2016)
 * Louisville (formerly part of Mid-South until 2013)
 * Wisconsin (former, dissolved 1971)
 * Madison (merged October 4, 1959)
 * Krambo (acquired 1955, merged October 4, 1959)
 * Michigan (formerly part of Great Lakes between March 2003 and September 2007)
 * Detroit (merged 1974)
 * Grand Rapids (merged 1974)
 * Kessel (former, acquired 1999 and became part of Michigan division, all stores rebranded as Kroger or closed by 2006)
 * Mid-Atlantic
 * Charleston (merged 1974)
 * Roanoke (merged 1974)
 * Mid-South (dissolved 2013)
 * Minnesota (former, dissolved October 1970)
 * Nashville (formerly part of Southland from 1972-1974, Mid-South until 2013)
 * Oklahoma City (former, dissolved 1935)
 * Southwest (former, dissolved 2016)
 * Toledo (former, dissolved 1974, stores became part of Columbus and Michigan divisions)
 * Washington (former, dissolved April 1967)
 * Wichita (former, dissolved 1957)
 * Kwik Shop (sold 2018)
 * The Little Clinic
 * Fry's
 * King Soopers/City Market
 * Cincinnati-Dayton
 * Columbus, Michigan
 * Delta, Nashville
 * Atlanta
 * Delta-Memphis
 * Central, Louisville
 * Mid-Atlantic
 * Dallas
 * Loaf 'n Jug (sold 2018)
 * M&M (former, acquired 1985, became part of Atlanta division)
 * Market Basket (former, dissolved 1982)
 * Model Market (former, became part of Kansas City division)
 * Mr. Bowers (former, became part of Memphis division)
 * Owens Market
 * Pay-Less Super Markets
 * Piggly Wiggly
 * Atlanta
 * Cincinnati
 * Columbus
 * Cleveland
 * Louisville
 * Memphis
 * Oklahoma City
 * St. Louis
 * Price Savers (sold 1988)
 * QFC (acquired 1998, former subsidiary of Fred Meyer)
 * Ralphs (acquired 1998, former subsidiary of Fred Meyer)
 * Alpha Beta (acquired 1995)
 * Roundy's (acquired 2015)
 * Copps (former, dissolved 2017)
 * Mariano's
 * Metro Market
 * Pick 'n Save
 * Rainbow Foods (former)
 * Ruler Foods
 * Smith’s Food and Drug (acquired 1998, former subsidiary of Fred Meyer)
 * Las Vegas (dissolved)
 * New Mexico (dissolved)
 * Tom Thumb (sold 2018)
 * Turkey Hill (sold 2018)
 * Universal (former, became part of Wisconsin division)
 * Walgreens (Kroger Express joint venture)
 * Wyatt (former, became part of Dallas division)

Prior to 1930, Kroger had a store numbering count universal across all of its stores, with it having reached around #5500 by that time. With the decentralization process that year, the store count began anew, with stores from 1-999 alloted in each division, often denoted with the division code (ex. "A" for Cincinnati, "F" for Fort Wayne). These often would appear sequentially, though in recent decades, numbering has been stratified based on acquisitions (500-series for Hannaford acquisitions in Richmond and Hampton Roads, Virginia, Mid-Atlantic division), division streamlining (800-series in markets in the Michigan division previously part of the Grand Rapids division) or prototypes (900-series for Kroger Family Centers and Sav-on stores).

Slogans

 * "Where Everybody Shops" (1920s)
 * "The Complete Food Store" (ca. 1930)
 * "Live Better for Less" (1950s)
 * "I've Been Krogering" (1970s+)
 * "Kroger Means Better Meat" (1970s-1980s)
 * "For Goodness Sake" (1990s)
 * "Right Store. Right Price." (2000s)
 * "Fresh Food. Low Prices." (2010s)
 * "Fresh for Everyone" (2019-)

Resources

 * Decor packages
 * Exterior designs
 * List of store locations