Fry’s Food, which is a part of the larger Kroger Company, has announced plans to build a modern fulfillment warehouse facility in metro Phoenix.
Although the exact location of the planned warehouse has not yet been released, the facility is expected to cost roughly $89 million to build and will measure nearly 223,000 square feet.
As planned, the warehouse will be equipped with artificial intelligence robots, an increasingly visible component for many of the nation’s largest fulfillment center operations.
The project will be done in a partnership with the Hatfield, England-based Ocado Solutions, which specializes in fulfillment center technology.
In a statement, Gabriel Arreaga, chief supply chain officer for Kroger, said the new fulfillment center is of a piece with Kroger’s effort to “accelerate the expansion of our national network to redefine the customer experience.”
The new Phoenix facility is one of nearly two dozen such warehouses that Kroger is planning to build nationally in the next several years.
Work on the Kroger/Fry’s Food facility is expected to begin later this year with a likely late 2022 or early 2023 completion date.
As a division of Kroger, Fry’s Food is headquartered in Tolleson, Arizona, and has a particularly strong presence in the state with up to fifty locations.
By Garry Boulard
