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Fry's parent company's sales soar beyond heightened forecasts during coronavirus outbreak

Posted at 11:36 AM, Apr 02, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-02 14:36:43-04

CINCINNATI, OH — Fry's Food Stores parent company's sales soared at a pace of about 30% in March due to a surge in coronavirus-related shopper demand.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, said in its annual Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that consumers stocked up on sanitizer, cleaning products, water, paper products, boxed meal solutions and health-related products beginning in February. That activity accelerated in March, sending sales skyrocketing.

"Sales sharply accelerated in March with identical retail supermarket sales without fuel trending approximately 30 percent.," Kroger said. “This was driven by dramatically heightened demand in the middle of the month as customers were stockpiling, which then tapered, but remained higher than normal in the final week, as customer behavior transitioned to the next phase, where they are adjusting to new restrictions on work and travel. The demand has been broad based across grocery and fresh departments. It is still too soon to understand what the impact will be in future periods.”

Click here for the full story from the Phoenix Business Journal.