Robbie and I have a confession to make. We're in a really bad relationship.......it's a true "love-hate" relationship with Kroger. That's right, a grocery store. When we met, we both lived in cities that had Kroger grocery stores. Not only that, but there was a Kroger close to each of our respective houses. Kroger is a wonderland of a grocery store and we absolutely love it. They have a huge, always-fresh produce section, a bakery with everything you could imagine, sushi wrapped right in front of you, a deli that spans the gamut of delights, Kroger-brand items at substantial savings (yet equal or better quality), the gas savings on the Kroger card; all right, I'm going on and on, but you get the picture.
In August 2015, we moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. We were very excited to be moving to "the Coast", and truly are loving it. Except for one thing: there is no Kroger. We knew that, going in, but we hadn't had the true chance to shop at the available places week after week. There is Rouse's, out of New Orleans, a nice store that usually has some fresh shrimp and other seafood. It's one of our "standbys", as is the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, which has the freshest produce. There are also a couple of Winn-Dixies; I go there if I want to feel sad.
Kroger pulled out of the Mississippi Coast around 1995. I never really found out why, I just know that our Kroger on Highway 49 in Orange Grove became an Albertsons - and it was a fairly painless change at first. I moved away from the Coast in 1996, back in 2001 and never saw another Kroger. Never saw one, that is, until moving to Houston in 2006. Houston suburbs are the grocery store mecca. Kroger Selects, Randalls, and H.E.B. all trying to outdo one another. You can get really spoiled, grocery-wise, in Houston. When I met Robbie, we agreed that Kroger was our favorite. He had one only a couple miles from his house in Byram, outside Jackson, Mississippi. That Kroger in Byram is the one that made us realize what we were missing once we moved to Biloxi.
We didn't sell the house in Byram until a year after we bought the house in Biloxi. There were many, many trips the three hours north, to visit family and prepare the house to be on the market. In between those trips, we were living - and grocery shopping in Gulfport/Biloxi. That experience cemented the contrast between what we have on the Coast and what are lacking.
Every time we walked into Kroger in Byram, we would feel an elation in just looking around that lasted about thirty seconds. The elation would immediately turn to sighs of sadness. All of the sudden we were two wide-eyed kids in the Disneyworld of grocery stores, looking around, knowing that we could only visit briefly, never stay.
I don't know why Kroger doesn't want to invest in any properties on the Mississippi Coast. Or - maybe I do, that other K-name in 2005 left too many scars for some to ever take a chance again. We just wish Kroger were braver, kinder, were able to tough it out and give us our amazing grocery experience. If any of you out there have any pull with the Kroger company, put in a good word for the Coast. We deserve it.
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