Kroger hiring 2000, investing $110M in Michigan

[Spartan]

The investment will cover the costs to remodel, expand or open a number of stores in Michigan over the next two years, including a new 88,000-square-foot store in Commerce Township in November and a 114,000-square-foot store in Shelby Township in January.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130709/NEWS/130709878/kroger-to-hire-2000-invest-110m-in-michigan-stores


Wonder if they would consider Detroit proper at all.

[313WX]

Wonder if they would consider Detroit proper at all.

After the disaster at 7 Mile and Gratiot, not a chance.

That said, they're probably keeping tabs on how Meijer and Whole Foods do.

[Wheels]

The investment will cover the costs to remodel, expand or open a number of stores in Michigan over the next two years, including a new 88,000-square-foot store in Commerce Township in November and a 114,000-square-foot store in Shelby Township in January.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130709/NEWS/130709878/kroger-to-hire-2000-invest-110m-in-michigan-stores


Wonder if they would consider Detroit proper at all.

They are afraid to compete with the Spartan stores!

[downtownguy]

Yipee! They ditched the city years ago. I could care less. I guarantee I won't be shopping in their new Commerce Twp or Shelby Twp stores.

[stasu1213]

After the disaster at 7 Mile and Gratiot, not a chance.

That said, they're probably keeping tabs on how Meijer and Whole Foods do.

That was a different era. I think that a Kroger will work in Detroit during this time period in Detroit. The mood for retail is on an upswing compared to 2001 when the area in Detroit especially Gratiot and 7 was on a downturn. Kroger would work in the Livernois 7 mile area, Jefferson Chene area, and would had work inside Lafayette Park where there is a strong middle class community exist. Spartan stores had dominated Detroit especially the areas where Kroger and Trader Joes would had been successful such as Lafayette Park, Indian Village, Sherwoood Forest/Green Acres/ Palmer Woods area.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Whoopie..... there will be a stampede at the door for those $10.00 per hr jobs.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Whoopie..... there will be a stampede at the door for those $10.00 per hr jobs.

I bet there will be. Detroit, I would guess, has several hundred thousand people for whom $10/hr would be more than they earn now.

[DetroitPlanner]

The new stores are replacing existing ones. 2,000 seems like a lot to add. Are they counting kids that only work part of the year then quit for something better/school?

[Lowell]

News like this strikes me as a zero sum game. It's not like they are going to create new mouths to feed as population growth is relatively flat. So the effect of their move will be to squeeze out smaller mom and pops and other marginal grocers. They hire 2000 and more than that get laid off.

[mikeg19]

I was talking to a friend over the weekend about these hires. He's a manager at a Oakland County Kroger, and basically the two thousand hires are due to Obamacare. Kroger is going to be knocking all the part time workers who would be qualifying today for it to less than the minimum hours they would need to receive the healthcare under that plan. So basically you take away the hours from current workers and give them to new ones who will also be under that minimum hour Obamacare number.

[Bham1982]

That was a different era. I think that a Kroger will work in Detroit during this time period in Detroit. The mood for retail is on an upswing compared to 2001 when the area in Detroit especially Gratiot and 7 was on a downturn.

2013 Detroit is significantly poorer and emptier than in 2001. This is true across almost all neighborhoods.

I can't imagine Gratiot/7 [[or really any non-core neighborhood) being better in 2013 than in 2001.

[TKshreve]

I was talking to a friend over the weekend about these hires. He's a manager at a Oakland County Kroger, and basically the two thousand hires are due to Obamacare. Kroger is going to be knocking all the part time workers who would be qualifying today for it to less than the minimum hours they would need to receive the healthcare under that plan. So basically you take away the hours from current workers and give them to new ones who will also be under that minimum hour Obamacare number.

This^ makes the most sense to me.

The fact that they would spin it as a huge PR win is not the least bit surprising either.

[Novine]

"I was talking to a friend over the weekend about these hires. He's a manager at a Oakland County Kroger, and basically the two thousand hires are due to Obamacare. Kroger is going to be knocking all the part time workers who would be qualifying today for it to less than the minimum hours they would need to receive the healthcare under that plan. So basically you take away the hours from current workers and give them to new ones who will also be under that minimum hour Obamacare number."

If true, it's typical corporate stupidity. See how that works out for them numbers-wise when they people leave and get replaced with lower quality workers with less productivity and higher turnover rates.

[TKshreve]

"I was talking to a friend over the weekend about these hires. He's a manager at a Oakland County Kroger, and basically the two thousand hires are due to Obamacare. Kroger is going to be knocking all the part time workers who would be qualifying today for it to less than the minimum hours they would need to receive the healthcare under that plan. So basically you take away the hours from current workers and give them to new ones who will also be under that minimum hour Obamacare number."

If true, it's typical corporate stupidity. See how that works out for them numbers-wise when they people leave and get replaced with lower quality workers with less productivity and higher turnover rates.

It's our personal race to the bottom.

[TKshreve]

Double post