He allowed customers to enter his stores, shop with prices clearly marked on every item, and take the merchandise home themselves instead of waiting for a delivery.

When the owners later refused to make Kroger a partner, he invested his life savings of $372 with a friend, Irish immigrant B.A.

Wanting greater control over his efforts, Kroger asked partner Branagan to buy his share in the partnership for $1,000.

[2] Kroger is credited with the creation of the successful low-cost, self-service grocery chain model that persists today.

Kroger's innovations include creating the first grocery to mark the sale price on every individual item and starting the practice of giving a premium to every customer who bought coffee or tea.

Kroger purchased a fleet of 75 Ford Model Ts, replacing 200 horses and delivery wagons in Cincinnati.

[12] Kroger's innovative ads featured extensive lists of items for sale by categories and always included "money-saving prices" as well as descriptions of the articles being offered.

[13] By 1897, Kroger’s advertisements appeared regularly in Cincinnati’s numerous newspapers and often filled entire pages, a marketing effort unknown up to that point.

[2] Seeking to control the cost and quality of the goods he sold, Kroger sought economies of scale through purchasing as well as manufacturing his own private label products.

[14] The new factory was designed with enough space to also accommodate moving the existing Kroger cracker production inside the new building located at Pendleton and Hunt streets in Cincinnati.

[15] Kroger was the first grocer with an internal quality control lab founded in 1921 and the first to introduce scientific consumer research.

Even with coal selling at double cost to us per loaf would be inconsiderable... but at present I see no reason for charging our customers more than they are now paying".

The purchase gave Kroger 11 additional grocery stores and stands as well as meat slaughtering, butchering and refrigeration operations that covered "several acres" in Camp Washington, a suburb of Cincinnati.

[21] Kroger's novel idea of including a convenient fresh meat department in his grocery stores drove consumer demand.

For example, advertising in 1905 said, "On Saturday only, we will sell ... loin steaks ... chuck roasts ... and sugar-cured, smoked [ham] shoulders".

Kroger advertising told homeowners that if they provided their phone number they would "take pleasure in calling [them] up every morning for [their] order".

In the four years since the first stock offering, Kroger had added 96 stores for a total of 136 locations and boasted the company's "warehouse, bakery, preserving and candy factory ... was the largest of its kind in the United States".

[31] In 1911, Provident acquired the assets of the Cincinnati Trust Company, depriving former director George B. Cox control over that bank's financial clout.

Kroger was appointed a director of the Cincinnati branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and served in that capacity until 1936.

Kroger built the 17-mile inter-urban electric commuter railroad and roadway between Cincinnati's Erie Avenue near Red Bank Road and the west side of Milford.

[39] The Hamilton County Republican committee agreed and started a grassroots campaign to nominate Kroger as the party's gubernatorial candidate.

[40] Kroger said if nominated, he would accept and make the bid for governor because "the conditions in the state of Ohio are ripe for a business administration of its affairs".

Then former Ohio lieutenant governor Warren G. Harding nominated dark horse candidate Judge Edmond B. Dillon from the convention floor.

[42][43] Kroger was also involved in many charitable ventures, including the opening of parks, donations to zoos, and medical research.

[5] Cincinnati Post columnist Al Segal said Kroger said to him, "You meet a great many people who need help.

1911 Kroger was elected president of the Cincinnati Welfare Association of the Blind during an organizational meeting held at the St. Nicholas Hotel.

Kroger noticed a request for "a fine cow, preferably Holstein, for the babies" in the hospital's 1929 newsletter and sent a "generous check".

[51] Having suffered ill health for several years,[5] Kroger died of a heart attack on July 21, 1938, at his summer home at Wianno Historic District, Cape Cod, Massachusetts,[52] at the age of 78.