CINCINNATI — Tanya Goetz is ready to welcome a new grocery competitor to Northern Kentucky, if and when Publix invades Kroger’s hometown with a ring of new stores in the fast-growing suburbs south of the I-275 circle freeway.
“I loved Publix,” Goetz said. “It was always nice and clean.”
Goetz shopped at Publix when she lived in Florida. Now that she lives in Taylor Mill, she estimates Kroger gets about 80% of her grocery budget, while Remke gets most of the remainder. If Publix enters the picture, she expects one of those companies will lose her business.
“Unfortunately, it will probably be Remke,” she said.
The Florida-based grocery chain is actively scouting Northern Kentucky locations for new stores that will compete head-to-head against Kroger. Although Publix has yet to confirm its plans, developers that built Publix stores in other states have proposed four grocery-anchored retail centers in Richwood, Union, Independence and Cold Spring.
It’s the first major encroachment on Kroger’s home turf since Aldi opened its first Cincinnati store in 2014. But it’s another local chain that could be the most threatened by Publix. Remke Markets, founded in 1897 by William Remke in Covington, could soon find its four Northern Kentucky stores encircled by Publix locations.
“I’m going to put them into a competition,” said Goetz, while standing in the frozen food section at Remke’s Turkeyfoot Road store. “Everybody gives you something different. Some of the items here, I can’t get at Kroger.”
We reached out to Remke’s parent company, Findlay, Ohio-based Fresh Encounter Inc. It did not return our calls.
But retail consultant Burt Flickinger said Remke could lose up to 20% of its market share in the first year following a Publix invasion.
“They may lose 12 to 20% in the grand opening year, but they typically get back 70 to 80% (of what they lost) in year two,” said Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a New York-based company that advises retailers to store locations, industry trends and operating efficiencies.
Flickinger thinks Remke will “stand its ground” against a Publix invasion by emphasizing its local roots and claiming market share from wholesale grocery operators like Costco and Sam’s Club.
“Publix is still vulnerable to that local entrepreneurship,” Flickinger said. “Remke’s sticking to a standard local store with good management, good operations, fresh product, clean, well-stocked, competitively priced, the Remke formula for a long time.”
But Flickinger does not expect Kroger to lose local market share, based on its ability to withstand past Cincinnati expansions by Walmart, Meier, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Aldi. Kroger’s 2023 market share of 47% is 14 points higher than all five of those retailers combined, according to data from Metro Market Studies, a Gastonia, N.C.-based research firm.
Remke, which ranks 10th in local market share at 1.1%, has some ardent supporters in Northern Kentucky, even if they’re not voting with their pocketbooks.
“During COVID they did not raise their prices,” Goetz said. “Kroger did in this area. And I truly respect that.”
“I think a lot of people are loyal to Remke,” said Teri Egolf, a Crescent Springs resident who now splits her grocery budget among three retail rivals.
“Kroger probably gets about 50%, Costco about 40, Remke about 10,” she said.
Like Goetz, Egolf is eager to see if the Publix experience she enjoyed in Florida will be duplicated in Northern Kentucky.
“They have a lot of buy-one, get-one,” Egolf said. “And the thing I like the best is you don’t need a loyalty card. Everybody gets the deal.”
Erlanger resident Ankica Roskovic said Kroger already claims most of her grocery budget, even though she likes Remke’s deli and produce departments.
“I will definitely check Publix because I’ve been in Publix in Florida,” she said. “If it’s little bit cheaper than Remke and Kroger, that will be my choice.”
