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Grocery giant Kroger Co. announced Friday that it will close its Romany Road store next month.
Company spokesman Tim McGurk said the store’s last day will Sept. 12. He said the decision was not made lightly and that all of the store’s employees will be offered work at other stores.
“This is not a decision that the company wanted to make, but it is important to Kroger that we deliver the best shopping experience possible,” McGurk said in a statement. “The condition of the building, its small size, and the lack of adequate parking simply make this impossible.”
McGurk said the store has 103 workers and all will be offered similar work at other stores. Kroger has opened two newer stores within a couple miles of the Romany Road site.
“The Romany Road grocery shoppers can choose between two other modern Kroger stores near their neighborhood,” McGurk said. “Euclid Avenue is 1.1 miles away, and Chinoe Road is 1.8 miles away.”
McGurk said the Romany store had been losing money since 2008 and that Kroger’s lease on the building was about to expire, with both issues factoring into the decision.
McGurk said the move was regrettable but highlighted the company’s investment in Lexington.
“The company has invested over $30 million this year to open the new Euclid Avenue store and modernize the Chinoe Road and Boston Road stores,” he said.
Indeed, the closing is a rare bit of negative news for Kroger this year. In June the company approved a two-for-one stock split, a 13.5 percent hike to its quarterly dividend and a $500 million stock repurchase plan. And in July it opened its largest Kentucky store, the 133,000-square foot MarketPlace Kroger in Versailles.