If You Shop at Kroger, Get Ready for This Major Change

Kroger has made some less positive shopping changes reccently.

Earlier this month, Kroger made headlines by announcing that there would be a purchasing limit placed on baby formula. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Walmart was also enacting a purchasing limit, stating that shoppers would only be allowed to buy five containers of formula each day, as per a request from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The purchasing limit was tied to an ongoing and rapidly increasing shortage of baby formula in the U.S., according to CBS News.

Now, Kroger has made a new announcement—but shoppers will be more excited to hear about this one.

A major Kroger service is being expanded in Florida.

In an April 20 press release, the supermarket chain announced it would be launching Kroger Delivery services in the South Florida region. If you are a resident of this area, you can expect to take advantage of Kroger's in-house delivery services starting this summer. Once warmer weather sets in, shoppers can place orders online through Kroger, with groceries conveniently delivered via refrigerated vans.

"We are thrilled about the opportunity to provide fresh food and convenient services to customers throughout South Florida," Andrea Colby, eCommerce corporate affairs and communications manager at Kroger, said in the press release. "The service combines the efficiency of technology with the experience of our associates to deliver fresh, affordable groceries directly to customers' homes."

You aren't able to shop in-person at Kroger in Florida.

If you live in another region of Florida, including Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, you can already take advantage of these delivery services, the press release states. However, there are no physical Kroger stores in the state, as reported by Supermarket News.

Kroger announced the opening of an automated Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) in Groveland, Florida—about 30 miles outside of Orlando—in June 2021. The 375,000-square-foot facility is operated by Ocado Group, a grocery technology company, and works alongside locations in Tampa and Jacksonville to expand delivery ranges. In Oct. 2021, it was announced that two smaller fulfillment facilities would be introduced in South Florida to operate as additional locations, allowing Kroger to serve customers within 30 minutes.

Orders are compiled by "bots" in the centers, which hold the products for customer orders. When nearing delivery time, these bots retrieve the orders and present them at stations to be stored for delivery. While a large portion of this process is automated, Kroger plans to hire over 200 new associates to serve the South Florida area. This includes delivery drivers, as well as logistics and human resources associates, the April 2022 press release stated.

Other CFCs are located across the U.S.—with more to come.

In addition to the Florida location, another CFC currently operates in Monroe, Ohio, which is north of Cincinnati. The center was the first of Kroger's CFCs, opened in April 2021. Kroger has plans to open more of these centers across the U.S., including locations in California; Dallas, Texas; Forest Park, Georgia (outside of Atlanta); Frederick, Maryland; Phoenix, Arizona; Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; and Romulus, Michigan (outside of Detroit), according to a Dec. 2021 press release, which announced the opening of a North Carolina location. Future locations are also planned for the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, and West, but the press release did not specify exact opening dates.

RELATED: If You Shop at Walmart, Get Ready for These Major Changes.