Crime stats show theft dropping at Kent East Hill Fred Meyer

Ohio-based Kroger will close the Fred Meyer on the East Hill in Kent Oct. 17 for reasons the company partially blamed on “a steady rise in theft.”

The actual statistics, however, show a significant decrease in crime incidents and thefts at the store, 10201 SE 240th St., over the last four years.

The number of crime incidents dropped 38% (158 to 98) from 2022 to 2024, according to Kent Police case reports obtained by the Kent Reporter through a public records request. The number of thefts dropped 48% (62 to 32) over the same period.

Crime incidents also decreased from 2022 to 2023 and are on a lower trend so far in 2025 compared to 2024.

“Unfortunately, due to a steady rise in theft and a challenging regulatory environment that adds significant costs, we can no longer make the store at 10201 SE 240th in Kent financially viable,” according to a Kroger statement released about the closing. “Despite doubling our safety and security investment over the past years, these challenges remain.”

When asked for comment about the Kent Police stats that show thefts have dropped by almost half over the last few years, a Fred Meyer spokesperson in a Sept. 2 email released the following statement:

“At Fred Meyer, we prioritize the safety of our associates and customers,” according to a spokesperson. “Despite an impactful partnership with local law enforcement, theft and regulatory pressures still remain significant challenges at this location. We have increased our safety investment by nearly 50% and are hopeful that, in partnership with the city, we will continue to see positive momentum at our other store locations in the area.”

A spokesperson for Seattle-based United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 (UFCW 3000), the union for grocery workers in Washington state, doubted theft at stores had much to do with store closures. Kroger also has announced recent closures at stores in Everett, Seattle, Mill Creek, Redmond and Tacoma and across the nation.

“Kroger’s statements to reporters blaming closures on ‘a challenging regulatory environment’ and ‘a steady rise in theft’ do not appear to comport with reality, so far as we can tell,” according to a Sept. 2 email from UFCW 3000 spokesperson Rich Smith. “The company plans to close 60 stores across the country — they’re closing five stores in Georgia, a handful of stores in Tennessee, and also stores in other states with the lowest possible minimum wage in the country, so that excuse seems thin.”

Bryan Gilderoy, a produce clerk for 15 years at the Fred Meyer East Hill location, said in a recent Kent Reporter interview that he has noticed theft go down after several steps were taken by Kroger, including locking up liquor in a cabinet a couple of years ago after years of just using security caps that were easy to remove.

“There was a huge surge in theft when the company didn’t want to invest (in security measures),” said Gilderoy, who added he would see people walk out of the store with liquor. “They didn’t want to invest in a liquor cabinet because it would deter sales but it also deters theft.”

Gilderoy said Kroger also added uniformed security, receipt checkers and new entrance and exit gates inside the store.

West Hill store crime stats

Meanwhile, Kroger plans to keep open the Fred Meyer Redondo location on Kent’s West Hill, 25254 Pacific Highway S., despite very similar crime numbers to the East Hill store.

The East Hill location had 676 crime incidents and 251 thefts from 2020 through Aug. 20, 2025, according to police statistics. The West Hill store had 662 crime incidents and 248 thefts during the same period, so just 14 fewer crime incidents and three fewer thefts.

The highest annual numbers for crime incidents and thefts from 2020 to 2024 were each at the West Hill/Redondo store, with 214 crime incidents in 2021 and 94 thefts in 2021, according to police statistics.

Crime incidents include all cases filed by Kent Police for a variety of crimes.

In 2021, the most reported incidents after theft (94) at the West Hill store were trespass warning (30), trespass (15), malicious mischief (13), warrant (9), vehicle theft (8) and assault (7).

In 2022, the highest number of incidents (158) during the five-year period at the East Hill store after thefts (62) were vehicle theft (18), trespass warning (12), assault (8), fraud (7) and hit-and-run property damage (5).

County task force

In response to Kroger partially blaming crime for store closures, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci announced Aug. 21 in Kent that she wants to use a portion of new sales tax revenue to form a retail theft task force in an effort to reduce crime at stores such as Fred Meyer, which is closing county locations in Kent, Redmond and Seattle.

Balducci plans to propose the measure as part of the county’s 2026 budget discussions this fall with a goal of starting the task force in January 2026. The task force would include two King County Sheriff’s Office detectives and a prosecutor from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. She estimated the cost at $600,000 per year.

“It would be a permanent retail crime task force to address the causes of retail theft. …with the goal to dramatically reduce retail theft in King County,” Balducci said during a press conference in Kent outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center.

Reasons for closures

Smith, the union spokesperson, shared the reasons UFCW 3000 believes are behind the store closure in Kent and elsewhere.

“Kroger’s closures are part of a strategy that the company’s CEO announced on an earnings call in June of this year,” Smith said. “They ‘paused’ routine store closure review as they blew one billion dollars trying and failing to merge with their rival, Albertsons, between 2022 and 2024.

“As they ramp that process back up, they’re planning to close ‘low performing’ stores and open new ones where they think they can make more profit.”

Smith said the union didn’t know exactly where Kroger will open those new stores, but three out of the four stores they closed in this region serve working class neighborhoods.

“This all comes after years of Kroger starving our neighborhood stores to feed Wall Street shareholders billions of dollars,” said Smith, who added between 2018 and 2022, the company spent $9.2 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, and just last year they announced another $7.5 billion buyback. “At the same time, they cut labor hours by more than 14% per store since 2019, creating a 21% staffing shortfall across operations.”

Smith said Kroger has been losing money on a failing pivot to ecommerce, as detailed in section 8 of a 2025 report from the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research organization based in Los Angeles. Ecommerce involves selling groceries to customers online or through an app and they drive to the store where workers filled their orders and then load up the groceries.

Gilderoy said that service has “not gone very well” at the East Hill Fred Meyer. He said as many as three employees have jobs to fill orders during the day but often don’t have very many orders to fill.

Smith has heard similar stories about other stores.

“Kroger would see better profits if the company invested in workers and communities,” Smith said.

Everett crime stats

Similar to Kent, a report by the Herald newspaper in Everett noted that thefts had gone down over the last few years at the Fred Meyer store, 8530 Evergreen Way, despite Kroger saying theft as one of the reasons it is closing that location, announced the same date (Aug. 18) as the Kent store closure.

The Evergreen Fred Meyer reported 12 cases of shoplifting in 2024, down from 24 in 2023, according to statistics released by the Everett Police Department. In 2020, the store reported 68 cases of shoplifting. Through July of this year, six incidents of shoplifting were reported.

KENT CRIME INCIDENTS

Fred Meyer Redondo

25254 Pacific Highway S.

2025: 31*

2024: 57

2023: 73

2022: 107

2021: 214

2020: 180

Total: 662

Fred Meyer East Hill

10201 SE 240th St.

2025: 40*

2024: 98

2023: 135

2022: 158

2021: 113

2020: 132

Total: 676

THEFTS

Fred Meyer Redondo

25254 Pacific Highway S.

2025: 7*

2024: 16

2023: 13

2022: 33

2021: 94

2020: 85

Total: 248

Fred Meyer East Hill

10201 SE 240th St.

2025: 22*

2024: 34

2023: 36

2022: 62

2021: 41

2020: 56

Total: 251

* Through Aug. 20, 2025

Source: Kent Police Department