Walgreens And Kroger Widen Retail Partnership

With an expansion of a retail partnership between The Kroger Co. and Walgreens Boots Alliance, a Kroger Express grocery assortment and the Kroger Pickup service will come to 35 Walgreens locations in the Knoxville, Tennessee market. Also, Walgreens’ branded beauty and health products will be sold in 17 Kroger grocery stores, Supermarket News reported.

Kroger Vice President of New Business Development Jeff Talbot said in an announcement, “We continue to redefine the grocery customer experience and partner for customer value through our Restock Kroger transformation plan. Our growing relationship with Walgreens is just one more way Kroger is making life easier and better for even more customers – because everyone deserves to have affordable, easy-to-enjoy, fresh food.”

The 35 Knoxville Walgreens locations will provide customers with a selection of Kroger’s Our Brand items, such as its Simple Truth, in addition to national brand products. The assortment, which is said to vary from store to store, can encompass frozen foods, fresh meat, Home Chef meal solutions, shelf-stable products and produce as well as dairy.

In addition, a curated selection of health and beauty products from Walgreens will be available at 17 Kroger locations, including items in the personal care, beauty care, wellness and over-the-counter medicine categories. They are also said to include Walgreens Boots Alliance brands Soap & Glory and No7.

Walgreens President of Operations Richard Ashworth said in the announcement, “Working with Kroger, we’re continuing to reinvent our customer offer to meet shoppers’ evolving needs, which includes offering private-label grocery and health products at a great value, through an integrated omnichannel experience.”

The report comes as news surfaced in December of last year that The Kroger Co. and Walgreens were expanding an earlier pilot to introduce Kroger Express and Home Chef retail meal kits. Robert Clark, Kroger’s senior vice president of merchandising, said in a press release at the time, “We are redefining the customer experience in a variety of ways through Restock Kroger, including innovative partnerships like our test-and-learn pilot with Walgreens.”