Laid off from Fred Meyer.

What Fred Meyer layoffs have meant for employees

Kroger owns Fred Meyer, and the chain's recent record reads as one stretch of store closings. Six stores in Oregon and Washington landed on state notices in 2025. At Gateway, Tacoma's South End and Everett, the company said workers would have the opportunity to work at another store, KOIN, The News Tribune and the Herald reported. That offer changes what the count means. The 1,231 jobs on those notices are positions at closing stores, which is why OPB updated its Gateway story to say not all 250 jobs there would be lost.

In Puget Sound, seniority is what turned that offer into a specific job. UFCW 3000 told members in a closure FAQ that its grocery contracts require placement in other nearby stores based on seniority, and the King and Snohomish County grocery contract spells out the mechanics. Workers are considered laid off when a store closes, and they keep their seniority for 120 days unless they fail to use it at the first opportunity, refuse recall or take a job with a purchaser. Someone reduced at a store can also displace the most junior employee in the same classification, if qualifications and ability are equal. If that contract covers your job, those 120 days are the clock worth tracking, since passing on a first opportunity can end your seniority sooner. Gateway's workers were represented by UFCW Local 555 and BCTGM Local 114, and South End workers by UFCW Local 367, with BCTGM Local 9 also listed in that filing, so those terms sit in other agreements.

A transfer could still cost something. Tricia Warren, a clerk for 12 years at the Everett store, told the city council she'd been offered a reassignment in Snohomish and that it would mean more time away from her 11-year-old daughter. Moving between Kroger's own chains took a negotiated deal, too. QFC workers ratified a letter of understanding in September 2025 so displaced Fred Meyer members could keep seniority and benefits in open QFC jobs under those contracts, while grocery members going to a Teamsters 38 QFC in Snohomish County could transfer without seniority rights. If you're offered another store, it's worth weighing the commute, the schedule and whether your seniority moves too, alongside the pay.

Fred Meyer gave different reasons for different stores. In July, a month after Kroger announced a plan for 60 closures nationwide over 18 months, it called the Portland and Tacoma closings part of a decision to run more efficiently. For Kent it cited rising theft and a costly regulatory environment, and the numbers drew pushback. Police case reports the Kent Reporter obtained showed thefts at the East Hill store falling from 62 in 2022 to 32 in 2024, and the Redondo store Kroger planned to keep open had 248 thefts from 2020 into August 2025 against East Hill's 251. Everett police counted 12 shoplifting cases at the Evergreen Way store in 2024, down from 68 in 2020. Fred Meyer answered that theft and regulatory pressures remained significant at Kent, and the union argued Kroger was closing low-performing stores and opening new ones where it expected more profit. For anyone sizing up their own store, those two Kent stores had nearly equal police theft totals, and case counts don't measure the losses Kroger described.

Leases have set the end date too. The Spokesman-Review tied the 2012 Spokane closing to failed lease talks, and KIRO 7 reported the union's account that rising rental costs ended James Center's lease. In the King and Snohomish contract, the 30 days of notice to the union applies whenever practical, and lease contingencies are named among the reasons it may not be. If you're a UFCW 3000 member close to five years of work, the timing of a layoff can matter for your pension, since the union says its plan generally requires five years of work before you can draw on it in retirement.

A sourced history of Fred Meyer layoffs

• August 2026, James Center store in Tacoma

  The closing, Tacoma's second in about a year, covers about 100 workers, KIRO 7 reported. The union said Kroger declined to renew the lease over rising rental costs, and the report put its end at Jan. 30, 2027.

• October 2025, Everett, Kent, Lake City and Redmond closings

  Kroger set Kent's closing for Oct. 17, citing theft and regulation, the Kent Reporter reported. State notices listed layoffs on Oct. 17 and 18, with 201 jobs at Lake City, named in a union notice, 194 at Redmond, 189 at Everett and 172 at Kent. At Everett, Kroger said employees would be offered other stores, per the Herald.

• August 2025, Portland corporate office

  About 100 people were laid off at the Portland office, part of nearly 1,000 across Kroger, KATU reported, crediting Bloomberg for the national count. A Kroger spokesperson said the aim was to simplify and shift resources to customers.

• July 2025, South End store in Tacoma

  Fred Meyer's filing covered 226 workers and anticipated closing no sooner than the 14-day period from Sept. 27, The News Tribune reported. The company cited efficiency and said each associate would get the opportunity to transfer.

• July 2025, Gateway store in northeast Portland

  Oregon's notice said 249 layoffs and listed Sept. 20, a date Fred Meyer said could move, and the company confirmed each worker would get a chance at another store, KOIN reported.

• October 2012, East Francis Avenue store in Spokane

  Fred Meyer told 167 employees it would close the store on Jan. 31 after failing to renegotiate its lease, and a spokeswoman told The Spokesman-Review they'd be absorbed into jobs at four other stores in the region.

What to do if you're laid off from Fred Meyer

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Fred Meyer's biggest hubs: Oregon, Washington. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Fred Meyer's hub states run: Oregon, Washington, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.