2 more Fred Meyer stores closing in Washington

Right now, Fred Meyer is having a hard time with their parent company. Kroger announced that they were closing two stores in Washington state, and then the next day announced that they were closing two more. 

According to mynorthwest.com,
‘The two Fred Meyer closures are scheduled for October 17 and 18. The Everett location is on Evergreen Way, and the Kent location is on 240th.
Kroger noted that the closures could affect approximately 360 workers from both stores.’ 

So now if you count the two stores that Fred Meyer is closing near Lake City and in Seattle, we have a total of 4 Fred Meyer stores closing in October.  

In part, the announcement claimed that one of the reasons for closing these stores was an increase in theft (or shrinkage.) and also an increase in the difficulty of managing Federal regulations that they claim increase the cost of operation and make these stores unprofitable. 

There was a quick response from political leaders claiming in part that Kroger was having problems trying to recover their financial losses from their failed merger attempt with Albertsons. Others noted expensive “share buybacks” as another contributing cause. 

Back in July, Kroger announced that they would close a Fred Meyer in Tacoma as well as a QFC store, those closures are set for September. Kroger claims that they're offering those workers the opportunities to relocate to other stores if they can. 

Full disclosure, I don't normally shop at Fred Meyer. I do go there maybe once or twice a year for a specific item that I know I can't find anywhere else.  

I just think it's a shame when any large company has to close a store and negatively impacts so many workers.

2 Washington Fred Meyer stores permanently closing
Seattle-area Fred Meyer closures raise skepticism, worries | The Seattle Times
The great grocery merger is dead. Can Albertsons, QFC and others survive? | The Seattle Times