Kroger to sell its 784 convenience stores

Kroger announced last week that it reached an agreement to sell its convenience store business for $2.15 billion to EG Group, a petroleum and convenience store retailer based in Great Britain. The deal includes 784 stores across 18 states.

The EG Group plans to continue operating the stores under their current banners (Turkey Hill, Kwik Shop, Quick Stop, Tom Thumb and Loaf 'N Jug), and plans to establish its North American headquarters in Cincinnati, where Kroger is based.

Burt Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, doesn't support the sale.

"For Kroger to sell more than 700 convenience stores when they had the opportunity to get to 1,700 stores, it is really regrettable that the company succumbed to this activist pressure because the c-stores were performing so well across all banners."

Flickinger believes that Kroger will miss out on the opportunity to further grow the business by installing Amazon lockers in the c-stores, as Marathon Speedway currently does.

Kroger to debut new convenience store concept

Kroger, the largest traditional grocer in the U.S., announced last week that it has a new convenience store concept called Fresh Eats MKT. A location for the store is planned for Ohio, and Supermarket News reported that the company may rebrand existing convenient stores currently under their Turkey Hill banner.

According to Supermarket News, an Instagram page showed a photo of the new store and a description that said "Putting fresh within reach. Start shopping fresh produce, meat, bakery and dairy beginning May 10."