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BUSINESS

Kroger plans to hire 14,000 nationwide, 800 here

Alexander Coolidge
acoolidge@enquirer.com
Workers, like Barb Lane, were busy putting on finishing touches at the new Oakley Kroger Marketplace.

Kroger plans to hire 14,000 new workers nationwide, including 800 in Greater Cincinnati.

The nation's largest supermarket chain said Tuesday it will hold open interviews in its stores across 35 states on Saturday to begin filling the positions. The new jobs range from full-time department heads and assistant store managers to part-time courtesy clerks and cashiers.

The latest hiring push announced Tuesday comes on top of the 9,000 new jobs created in 2015, excluding temporary construction positions and workers joining Kroger's payroll through acquisitions. That includes 7,000 veterans hired last year.

Kroger's $800 million acquisition of Milwaukee-based Roundy's Inc. in December also added 22,000 workers to Kroger's ranks.

The grocer employs 431,000 at its nearly 2,800 stores. In the last eight years, Kroger has created more than 74,000 new jobs.

Based in Downtown, Kroger is the U.S. third-largest employer among publicly-traded companies, behind Walmart, which employs 2.3 million and UPS, which employs 444,000. Kroger's swelling payroll trumps other marquee retailers, such as McDonald's, Home Depot and Target, which employ 420,000, 385,000 and 341,000, respectively.

Worldwide among public companies, Kroger is the 12th-largest employer, according to Bloomberg.

Most of the new jobs are in the company's stores or at nearby supermarket divisions. But it's a point of company pride that CEO Rodney McMullen and several top executives started as stock clerks or cashiers.

Interested candidates can apply online at jobs.kroger.com and return to a store on Saturday, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

"We are looking for people who are passionate about making a difference for customers and communities," said Tim Massa, Kroger's group vice president of human resources and labor relations.