Kroger slowly weaning us off plastic grocery bags

Kroger plans to eliminate plastic shopping bags from your store by 2025, becoming the latest retailer to address customer backlash against disposable packaging and utensils.

The Cincinnati-based company said last week it would remove single-use plastic bags from its stores in the Pacific Northwest next year and eliminate them from all 2,800 Kroger-owned stores in the next seven years.

Other companies like Starbucks, Hyatt Hotels and Walt Disney have said they would curb their use of single-use plastic straws.

Aldi has never had plastic bags. Whole Foods and IKEA both announced they were eliminating plastic bags in 2008, but few other big chains have followed suit.

The U.S. generates more than 4 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps a year, with less than 13 percent of it recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Abandoning plastic bags is a good idea; I’m just not sure what me and Rover will do during our walks.

Hotel growth booms in Dayton

Reporter Holly Shively wrote a good story last week on the exploding new hotel construction in the Dayton area.

At least six new hotels with a combined 675 rooms will open in the next year in this market. The growth is another sign of a burgeoning economy and high consumer spending.

Terry Baltes of Baltes Commercial Real Estate told us it’s a good time to be a hotel owner because interest rates are at historic lows and both hotel occupancy and average daily rate are at all-time highs.

Dayton will have a good balance of hotel rooms when the current projects are done, Baltes said, improving a shortage of quality hotel rooms the region has seen since the recession. There’s a phrase in the hotel industry, “It’s not oversupplied, it’s underdemolished,” Baltes said.

Bull run continues

In case you haven’t been paying attention, your 401(k) continues to boom as the stock market continues its bull run.

Last week, the bull market reached 3,453 days, the longest period of uninterrupted gains in American history. The streak is being fueled largely by tech companies like Google and Apple and an unprecedented period of low interest rates that have allowed consumers to take out loans.

The market will continue to make gains as long as inflation remains in check and the economy does not stumble, but investors tell us they don’t expect the next year to be as good as previous years.

Skeptics have been warning of a big drop for years, but this bull run keeps proving them wrong and has risen almost 325 percent since March 2009.

In spite of the success, some

investors told me now is not the time to follow the saying, “Buy low and trade high.” They said investors

Rich Gillette is the Dayton Daily News business editor. He can be reached at rich.gillette@coxinc.com or on Twitter @richgillette.