Our story began in 1883 when Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a single grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. He had a simple motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.”
Nearly 140 years later, the Kroger Company is still particular about how we serve customers and community, how we innovate and who we hire. As the nation’s largest grocer with nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states operating under 28 different names, we meet our customers’ changing needs by making fresh food accessible to all. Our current practices are rooted in Barney Kroger’s early efforts to serve customers through food freshness, low prices and innovation—fundamentals that remain at the heart of our Kroger mission today. This is the story of all the people in our history who helped change the way we shop. People who continue to make a difference in the lives of our customers every day.
