EVERETT — The Everett City Council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution Wednesday night rebuking supermarket giant Kroger for its plans to close the South Everett Fred Meyer store on Evergreen Way in mid-October.
The nonbinding resolution is the latest fallout after Kroger announced plans in August to close five Fred Meyer stores in Washington state, including the one in South Everett. Mayor Cassie Franklin also voted in support of the resolution.
Scott Bader was the lone council member to vote against the resolution. Council member Ben Zarlingo was not present.
Wednesday’s resolution refers to the planned closure as “an act of corporate neglect,” a betrayal of the community’s trust and “a profound setback for working families who deserve stability, food access and respect.”
In a statement on Aug. 18, Kroger cited theft as one of the reasons for closing the Everett store. But crime statistics released by the Everett Police Department tell a different story.
The Evergreen Fred Meyer reported 12 cases of shoplifting in 2024, down from 24 in 2023. In 2020, the store reported 68 cases of shoplifting.
Through July of this year, six incidents of shoplifting were reported.
On Wednesday, Everett mayor Cassie Franklin told the council that the city had done its part by increasing police presence and reducing shoplifting incidents and other crime at the store after Kroger officials complained to the city council in October 2022.
At the council meeting, Franklin said the announcement by Kroger of the closure on Aug. 18 was “a slap in the face.”
In an email sent to council members Tuesday, T.J. Birkel, head of government relations for Fred Meyer and QFC, urged Franklin and city council members not to pass the resolution.
“It is unclear what the resolution is meant to accomplish,” Birkel wrote in the email obtained by The Daily Herald. “Have there been city council resolutions targeting other realtors that have closed stores in recent years? This resolution seems counter to a productive working relationship.”
Kroger did not respond to requests for comment.
Franklin referenced the email Wednesday, saying the city worked with the Everett store to address its concerns about crime.
Birkel acknowledged that in the email, saying he appreciated efforts from the mayor and others to reduce crime and other issues.
“Unfortunately challenges persisted at the Fred Meyer location on Evergreen Way, and we made the difficult decision to close the store,” he wrote. “Making such a decision is always a last resort and this was not something we took lightly.”
The closures come after the Cincinnati-based Kroger earned $607 million for its second quarter fiscal results for the three months ending Aug. 16, an increase of almost 31% from the same quarter the previous year.
On July 21, Kroger confirmed it was closing the QFC store in Mill Creek.
Council member Paula Rhyne, who sponsored the Kroger resolution, said the supermarket chain’s decision to shutter the South Everett store helps foster a negative impression of Everett.
“We delivered on public safety improvements,” she said. “Insinuations otherwise continues to feed an antiquated reputation of Everett of lawlessness and decay, and that’s not Everett.”
The City Council resolution also called on Kroger to act “decisively and promptly” to repurpose the Fred Meyer location.
Kroger’s sudden decision to close the store last month, Rhyne said, leaves the city in a lurch, as to what could be done with the site. She said she hoped that another supermarket might be interested.
Rhyne said the closure of Fred Meyer creates a food desert in the Casino Road area because the nearest major supermarket, a Safeway, is a mile away, inconvenient for those without cars.
Rhyne, who chairs the city council’s parks and built environment committee, said she hopes to hear from Casino Road residents about what they envision the future could hold for the Fred Meyer site. She said the meeting will be held 5 p.m. Oct. 8.
“All options are on the table,” she said, including whether funding would be possible for a subsidized food store.
At least one Fred Meyer employee and several customers attended Wednesday’s meeting and spoke out against the decision to close the store.
Tricia Warren, who worked at the Evergreen Way location for 12 years as a clerk, said the Fred Meyer there was more than a grocery store.
“There is senior housing nearby, and many of the residents come here, not just to buy groceries, but to get out and be social every day,” she said.
Warren said she had been offered a reassignment at a store in Snohomish, and she was thankful that she still had a job.
Warren said, however, the job change would mean more time away from her 11-year-old daughter.
She currently lives around the corner from the Evergreen Way store.
Warren said the workers at the Evergreen Way Store had all been part of a family. Some of them had worked there more than 40 years.
Ironically, she said, the store’s closing next month will occur 50 years from when the Fred Meyer first opened.
“The news of the closure is devastating to me and my co-workers,” Warren said.
Kroger officials have said that all employees will be offered positions at other stores.
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.
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