‘These grocery stores are bigger than you think’: Gee warns Tacoma is losing more than a Fred Meyer

Tacoma is about to lose its second Fred Meyer, and KIRO host Gee Scott said the impact goes far beyond one store closing its doors.

The Fred Meyer at James Center, at 6901 S 19th Street, will close when its lease runs out on Jan. 30. The grocery workers’ union said Kroger declined to renew the lease because of rising rental costs. It’s the second Tacoma location to shut down after the store at 72nd and Pacific Avenue closed in September 2025.

“I think about seniors in communities,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I think about people without cars in those communities. I think about families that are barely making it paycheck to paycheck.”

The closures are part of Kroger’s broader plan to shutter 60 stores over 18 months. Roughly 100 employees will be affected.

“One hundred employees will be impacted by this,” Gee said. “Thousands of customers will be impacted by this. Food deserts are a real thing. So when you start talking about stores disappearing, and you start talking about the loss of convenience, that’s an impact.”

The Fred Meyer vacancy runs deeper than groceries

Even listeners who may not be directly affected, Gee said, still have connections to the people who are.

“Even if you’re listening right now, you might be fine. However, we do still have family. We do still think of people maybe that are at our church,” he said.

The loss of a grocery store strips more than food access from a neighborhood. Gee said it removes a place where people actually see each other, something technology hasn’t replaced.

“With technology and social media, we think that we’re connected. We’re losing connection here more and more,” he said. “These grocery stores that you go to, they are bigger than you think.”

He walked through what that looks like in practice. A person has a store they go to, and departments they frequent, whether it’s the meat counter, the pharmacy, or the bakery.

“Some of these folks that you’ve been knowing there for 30, 40 years,” Gee said. “So it’s a real huge impact to communities when they lose that grocery store.”

Tacoma Mayor Anders Ibsen called the closure “a gut punch” and said the city would take steps to retain existing grocers and attract new ones.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.