More than half a decade after many retailers scrapped 24-hour service, supermarket giant Kroger is testing keeping stores open around the clock in two states, the company told The Enquirer.
Greater Cincinnati is home to one of the stores: the newly expanded Marketplace store in West Chester on Tylersville Road. Kroger is testing 24-hour service at five other locations sprinkled across Indiana: Bloomington; Fort Wayne; West Lafayette; and Brownsburg and Fishers in suburban Indianapolis.
“We are always looking for more ways provide our customers with fast and convenient ways to shop - both in stores and online,” Kroger said in a statement. “The small pilot program revisiting stores open 24 hours a day is one more example of the ways we working to better
serve our customers.”
24-hour service used to be widespread for grocers, retailers
All-day and all-night service used to be widespread, not just for grocery stores but for many retailers; nearly a third of the region's Kroger stores were open 24-7 a decade ago. But the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020interrupted that for Kroger, discount rival Walmart, fast food restaurants and many other retailers.
Initially, many retailers curtailed hours to enable cleaning crews to sterilize storesto prevent the spread of illness. A labor shortage, a sluggish economy and inflation then slowed retailers’ urge to restore extended hours.
Kroger is a major U.S. retailer
AFortune 500 companybased in downtown Cincinnati with nearly $148 billion in annual sales, Kroger operates nearly 2,700 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including 77 in Greater Cincinnati. The company employs 403,000 workers, including nearly 20,000 in the Greater Cincinnati region.
The retailer operates stores under the Kroger banner name as well as Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Pick ‘n Save, Dillons, King Soopers, Mariano’s, Fry’s, QFC and others.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kroger tests return to 24-hour service
