Another grocery chain quietly shuts down more stores

While interest continues to emergence astir the outgo of groceries, different large contented is softly cropping up successful your neighborhood: section market stores closing.

During its June 2025 net call, Kroger announced that it would shutter 60 locations implicit the adjacent 18 months, citing underperformance. The closures besides impact different brands nether the institution umbrella, including Fred Meyer, Fry's Food and Drug, Harris Teeter, Foods Co, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Mariano's, Pick 'n Save, and QFC.

Many consumers struggling with higher nutrient costs person turned to discount market stores for relief, but those are besides winking retired of show successful immoderate areas. Aldi is different concatenation closing stores successful 2026, with locations shuttering successful Minnesota, Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin. While the concatenation has plans to grow up to 3,200 locations by 2028, it needs to chopped underperforming stores to scope that goal.

Grocery Outlet besides falls into the discount class -- and it's besides closing stores. The concatenation announced successful March 2026 that it would shutter 36 locations. CEO Jason Potter said that the concatenation stretched itself excessively bladed with a accelerated enlargement plan. 24 locations included successful the closure are connected the eastbound coast, translating into little discount market options for galore consumers successful request of them.

Now, different market has announced caller closures, immoderate affecting locations that person been unfastened for decades.

Safeway shutters much stores

Safeway's astir caller closure was Newport, Oregon, astatine 2220 N Coast Hwy, a determination that served locals for 30 years. The store closed its doors successful July. This closure follows the Hechinger Mall determination successful Washington, D.C., which was unfastened for 40 years and shuttered connected May 16. Before that, the Hayward Safeway connected Jackson St. successful California's Bay Area closed successful February 2026.

"Like each retailers, we are perpetually evaluating our store footprint and person to look astatine each space of the business. This includes our existent property portfolio. We are coming to the extremity of our lease astatine this location, and person made the determination to reinvest our resources into different existing stores," Safeway said successful a connection successful effect to the Washington store closure.

Related: Grocery elephantine rethinks proviso concatenation plans arsenic store closures mount

The closures are portion of a strategical displacement for Safeway's genitor company, Albertsons. 30 Albertsons locations closed successful 2025, and different 12 are connected the chopping artifact for 2026 truthful far.

"We're continually looking astatine our store basal and making decisions connected whether to support the stores oregon tin we crook them around, tin we alteration the profitability oregon making the hard decisions from clip to clip to exit those stores. And we've not seen a melodramatic displacement oregon summation successful store profitability astatine this time. Again, it's a beauteous tiny fig of our fleet," CEO Susan Morris said during the company's first-quarter net call.