Kroger will close approximately 60 stores in the next 18 months and already has taken a $100 million impairment charge related to the closings in its fiscal Q1, which ended May 24, 2025. The supermarket giant reported $45.1 billion in Q1 sales, down slightly from the $45.3 billion generated during the same period last year.
Interim CEO Ronald Sargent downplayed the closings’ impact: “There’s really minimal financial impact on company results as a result of the store closures,” he said on a call discussing the company’s financial results. “The geography is spread really around the country. It’s kind of one’s and two’s by division. And all the associates who are affected will be offered jobs in other stores.”
“There is a modest financial benefit to closing these stores,” added CFO David John Christopher Kennerley during the call. “However, we intend to reinvest the efficiencies back into the customer experience, and as a result this will not impact our full-year guidance.”
Ecommerce was a bright spot for the Kroger, increasing 15% during the quarter. Sargent reported that Kroger has created a new ecommerce business unit, “aligning all areas of the online customer experience under Yael Cosset, our Chief Digital Officer.”
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Sargent, who is Chair of the Kroger board, was named Interim CEO following the departure of long-time Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, who resigned in March 2025 after an internal investigation into his personal conduct. On the call, Sargent reported that the board is engaged in a search for a new CEO with the help of a “nationally recognized search firm.”
Would-be merger partner Albertsons sued Kroger in December 2024 in the wake of the failed deal, and Kroger counter-sued in March 2025.
