Ralphs Grocery Company

Kroger names Michael Donnelly as merchandising VP

Donnelly, who will assume his new position this summer, is currently president of Ralph’s Grocery Co., a Los Angeles-based division of Kroger (NYSE: KR). He has worked for Kroger and its subsidiaries since 1978, according to a news release.

“(Donnelly) is well respected within our company and the industry for his merchandising excellence,” said Rodney McMullen , president and chief operating officer of Kroger, in the release. “Mike’s extensive industry experience will help Kroger continue to build and strengthen our partnerships with suppliers and vendors that are so important to Kroger’s success.”

Donnelly is a member of the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council, which conducts market research for grocery and convenience store retailers, according to the release.

Ralphs cutbacks in Inland area aren't unusual, analyst says | Simi ...

A Ralphs grocery store in Fontana will close in July and the chain is cutting jobs in its Riverside distribution center, according to notices filed with the state.

The Fontana store, at 11647 Cherry Ave. in the Southridge Plaza shopping center, is scheduled to close July 15, resulting in 61 job losses, according to the notice.

Two Ralphs stores will remain in the city, on Sierra Lakes Parkway and Baseline Avenue. The Kroger Co., the Ohio-based company that owns Ralphs and other grocery chains, also operates a Food 4 Less in Fontana on Valley Boulevard.

The Fontana store is one of five Southern California Ralphs locations being shuttered this year, filings show. Locations in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Simi Valley already have closed, and another is scheduled to close in Diamond Bar in August.

Efforts to reach representatives for Ralphs in Southern California for details on the closures were unsuccessful.

Elisa Grey, economic development manager for Fontana, said other grocers already have expressed interest in the Cherry Avenue space. The loss of Ralphs will create a void in the community, she said, so “the sooner we have a tenant in there, and preferably a grocery store tenant, the better.”

The changes follow a series of recent Albertsons closures in the Inland region. The Albertsons chain, part of Minnesota-based Supervalu, shut stores in Riverside, Menifee and Coachella in recent months and sold two others in Hesperia and Lake Elsinore to rival Stater Bros.

Ralphs also is reducing its workforce in Riverside. A series of layoff notices filed with the state indicate as many as 70 total jobs are being eliminated in the company’s large Riverside distribution complex from April through July.

New automation installed in the facility last year already had reduced employment there. A spokeswoman last year had estimated 200 to 250 jobs would be cut in Riverside and Glendale in 2010 as a result of the new technology.

Bruce Cohen, a retail strategist with Kurt Salmon in San Francisco, said the Ralphs store closures certainly will have a local impact on employees and the surrounding community, but the small number of them suggests they are part of the common course of business, not necessarily a sign of contraction. It’s not unusual for a large, well established chain like Ralphs to update its store mix, closing smaller, older or less productive ones in favor of new, larger locations in high-volume areas, he said.

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