Kroger to end home delivery service

Kroger, one of the largest supermarket chains in the country, will suspend its home delivery service to South Florida on May 25 after just two years, the company announced.

In an email to consumers who used the service after it launched in May 2022, the supermarket chain said it planned to close its South Florida delivery service and two others in Austin, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas.

Consumers can still place orders through May 25, the email said.

“We do not make these decisions lightly, and we understand the impact this has on associates, customers and communities,” the company said. “Despite our best efforts, including the support from new customers, learnings from other locations and the incredible work of our associates, these facilities did not meet the benchmarks we set for success.”

The chain’s venture — delivering groceries to shoppers’ front doors via refrigerated trucks — faced long odds from the start.

While it operates 1,239 stores in

16 states, the company has no physical stores in Florida, according to its website, and South Florida has no shortage of supermarkets.

Publix, the dominant chain, has

867 stores in the state. Of them,

61 are in Miami, 41 are in Fort Lauderdale and 19 are in Hollywood, according to a January 2023 tally by Tampa radio station Q105.

Other prominent supermarket chains in South Florida include Aldi, Winn-Dixie, Sprouts, Presidente, Sedano’s, Bravo, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Fresh Market and Walmart. Independently owned stores competing for grocery dollars include Broward Meat and Fish, Doris Italian Market and Euroland.

The company announced the opening of its 60,000-square-foot

distribution facility in Opa Locka in the summer of 2022.

Sorting products shipped from the company’s 375,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Lake County, the distribution facility employed 109 workers and served a 150-mile stretch from Port St. Lucie to Homestead.

April Martin, Kroger’s head of e-commerce corporate affairs and communications, said in an email on Wednesday: “We want to express our deepest gratitude to our associates for their hard work and are committed to providing support and resources to them during this transition.”

Digital accounts will still work and Kroger loyalty cards, gift cards and coupons will still be accepted in the affected regions until May 24, the company stated on its website.

Consumers within the markets served by the closing distribution centers who became members of the chain’s Boost service will receive 100% refunds of their membership costs within 30 days, the company said on its website.

The decision to close the South Florida and Texas distribution centers will not impact the company’s other fulfillment or distribution centers, Martin said.

Shoppers can still order delivery services if they live within 90 minutes of distribution facilities in Groveland, Tampa, Jacksonville

and Cocoa Beach, the company said.

The delivery service marked Kroger’s second attempt to gain a foothold in the Florida grocery market.

In 2016, the company announced a major investment in Boulder, Colorado-based Lucky’s Market, a modestly priced organic grocery chain that opened 21 stores around Florida before Kroger divested in December 2019, forcing Lucky’s to close all of its Florida stores and declare bankruptcy.