Kroger’s longest-tenured associate to retire

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Kroger’s longest-tenured employee is ready to pass on that mantel. Larry Arnold, 79, a Kroger associate for 63 years, will retire at the end of February.

Arnold, currently a dairy clerk at Pickerington Marketplace in Ohio, started with the company in 1953, when a week before his 16th birthday he accepted a job as a clerk at the former Market Street store in Zanesville, Ohio.

Arnold decided in December to retire. "It's just a feeling everybody gets," he said. "They always said you know when you're done, and I knew when I was done."

"Kroger is grateful to Larry for his decades of service to the company and its customers," said Kroger Columbus Division President Joe Grieshaber. "All of us with Kroger congratulate him and his family on a tremendous career, and wish him all the best in retirement."

Since Arnold made the decision, he has been enjoying some time away from work, but on a visit to the store earlier this month, he confessed leaving won't be easy. "I will miss the people — you'll always miss the people — and I'll miss the customers, we have nice customers up here."