New Bosses Running the Stores

John Burgon, a grocery retail veteran who has been president of King Soopers in Denver, was named president of the Ralphs Supermarkets (Los Angeles). Ralphs is a subsidiary of Fred Meyer Inc. (Portland, Ore.), which is a division of The Kroger Co. (Cincinnati), the nation's largest supermarket retailer ($45 billion in annual sales) and the second-largest retail organization in the country. Burgon replaces Sam Duncan, who was named president of the Fred Meyer division.

Burgon has been president of King Soopers since 1997. He started there as a produce clerk in 1973. Duncan returns to Fred Meyer, where he spent six years in a variety of senior management positions. He became president of Ralphs Supermarkets since 1998, when Fred Meyer acquired it. Fred Meyer was in turn acquired by Kroger in 1999. Ralphs expanded into Central and Northern California in 1999, during Duncan's tenure.

Ralphs currently operates 345 conventional supermarkets under the Ralphs banner throughout California, and Cala Foods and Bell Markets in the San Francisco area. Fred Meyer operates more than 1250 stores, mostly in the West, under a number of banners, including: Fred Meyer (140 multi-department stores offering groceries and general merchandise), Smith's Food & Drug Centers (more than 115 supermarkets in seven western states), QFC (about 90 Seattle-area stores), and Fry's (some 90 supermarkets in Arizona), plus Ralphs (and, through Ralphs, several warehouse chains, including Food 4 Less).

The Kroger Co. has about 3500 stores coast-to-coast (including 2319 supermarkets). Its own namesake stores are mainly in the South and Midwest. Its Dillon Cos. subsidiary operates more than 200 stores under three names in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri, and it also runs about 800 convenience stores under the Quik Stop and Kwik Shop banners, among others.