It can be either the store you work at or one you've shopped at/helped out at/worked at in the past, whatever.
My store is now up to EIGHTEEN. They keep yanking out the traditional registers/express registers and replacing them with more and more Self Checkout "clusters". We now have three clusters of six vs. the one cluster of six when I first started. I'm not even sure if they are done putting in more... now one side of the front end has two clusters while the other side has one, so maybe they're gonna rip out even more standard registers and have two clusters on each side? That's gonna leave like... four traditional registers when we originally had sixteen, lol.
We've even got more Self Check-Outs than the Walmart Supercenter now that's only like... six miles away.
Yeah, I remember being told that Kroger's vision for the customer is now heavily focused on the self checkout experience. Which is why they want every Uscan attendant to be actively engaging customers (that smiling and greeting every single customer crap). Every new store that is being built will have at least 3 Uscan clusters. Don't quote me on that, but it looks that way.
Our store, for example, was rebuilt from the ground up two years ago. It's right next to the university, so it gets a ton of college kids coming in all the time. Now it has a huge bistro area that spans TWO FLOORS, a liquor store, and FOUR Uscan clusters. 3 Uscan clusters at the front end (18 lanes) and 1 cluster for the bistro area (this one has only 3 lanes). I would always get a customer waiting in line at our main cluster, and then I'd point them in the direction of the other clusters which would have open spots, and their faces would light up, "OH WOW, I didn't know those were there!!!"
And just a quick 5 minute drive into the downtown area from our store, is the brand new store that just opened a couple weeks ago. It replaces a much older but smaller store which was just a couple blocks away. No idea what they're going to do with that older store, but I think they're going to demolish it and turn that area into a parking lot. I haven't been inside it yet, but from the quick glances I take every time I drive by, it appears to also have 3 Uscan clusters and a second floor for a bistro area.
It also, strangely enough, has apartment buildings DIRECTLY top of it. They're not ready yet, but if you've always wanted to live right on top of a Kroger store, well here you go... Talk about convenience. I used to have customers who would joke around that they see me at my store everyday, that I must be living there in the store or something. Well... with that new store, you can do that. Personally, I can't think of a worse nightmare to be living directly on top of the store where you work at. No... my place of work and my home need to be miles apart.
On the other side of the city, is an old but big Kroger store which feeds a huge area of that part of the city. It too also has 3 Uscan clusters. I was there when they added in the third one about a year ago. I think it was because they also adopted ScanBagGo.
My store has 22 SCOs. Downstairs we have two clusters of 6. (One cluster was just put in a few weeks ago.) That's in addition to the 10 regular check stands downstairs. Upstairs we have one cluster of 6 with two regular check stands and another cluster of 4 also with two regular check stands. We also have two customer service desks. Upstairs is only for returns and Rug Doctor rentals while the one downstairs is for all Money Services.
An apartment complex on TOP of a Kroger? Yeah, no thank you.
I already see enough people shopping in their pajamas early in the morning.
Yep, you heard right. I think there's about 20 stories worth of them. I wonder if the elevators connect the apartments to the store directly. Theoretically, people could step out of their apartment, walk a couple feet to the elevator, get out of the elevator, walk a few feet again, and they're inside the store, in their pajamas, or underwear.
Kroger can rot in hell - I'm a FORMER customer and I've reached the absolute end of the line with these weasels. Today another announcement for another Kroger store in Dayton, Ohio was announced. Well, get the hell out of my town if you don't want to do business here! Kroger has permanently laid off so many people here over the years. Now Kroger plans to put in many more self-check-outs and eliminate more cashier positions! As bloody customer I have to fight with Kroger staff shopping for lazy bums doing pick-up in self check-out lanes and crowded aisles with merchandise that keeps moving and ever shrinking variety.
It really is sad about the Needmore Kroger - of course sales are down, a tornado hit the neighborhood!!! You'd think they could have waited a few more months to see if sales would pick back up.
Sad for the customers and employees alike there. They say the employees can transfer, but i'm sure dept. heads are screwed, and that store has been open for years... just really sad to see it go, and i wonder what this means for the rest of us. This company is going down in flames i'm telling you.
Kroger can rot in hell - I'm a FORMER customer and I've reached the absolute end of the line with these weasels. Today another announcement for another Kroger store in Dayton, Ohio was announced. Well, get the hell out of my town if you don't want to do business here! Kroger has permanently laid off so many people here over the years. Now Kroger plans to put in many more self-check-outs and eliminate more cashier positions! As bloody customer I have to fight with Kroger staff shopping for lazy bums doing pick-up in self check-out lanes and crowded aisles with merchandise that keeps moving and ever shrinking variety.
Good bye forever Kroger!
Understandable. We have so many freaking shippers/displays/side stacks of product that management INSISTS we clutter up the aisles with - and our aisles are more narrow now as it is after our remodel, so even as an employee, it's a STRUGGLE navigating much of the store because of how much product management wants crammed in and along the aisles.
Also now that we have eighteen self check-outs, the other day we had just two (of eight, that's all we have left now after they gutted the front end again in favor of more self check-outs) registers open - both of which where four/five customers deep while maybe three or four of the self check-out robots were being used by customers. The rest were open, but not in use by any customers.
After cutting hours for regular employees in the departments over the years, Kroger has now slashed hundreds of salaried management positions, so yeah, customers are gonna continue to see a decreased presence in store of employees - be it hourly or salary.
All $$$$ is going to be invested in transforming the shopping experience = larger earning to report to Wall Street, Brokers will give the company a higher rating. High rating = Higher Stock Price = Financial Firm making $$$ = Job Security for Higher Raking Company Officials
