Everett offers 6 months of free transit to grocery stores after Fred Meyer closures

The City of Everett will provide free transit on Transit Route 12 to local grocery stores for six months as Kroger begins to close several grocery stores across the region.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin announced the free transit offerings are in response to the Fred Meyer closures affecting residents who rely on the store for groceries, according to KIRO 7.

Free transit routes to grocery stores in Everett after Fred Meyer closures

Transit Route 12 connects the Everett Mall and the Seaway Transit Center. The route will make stops near Fred Meyer, Trader Joe’s, and Walmart.

Fred Meyer pointed to repeated crime impacting the company’s overhead as a cause for closing the various locations across Washington. However, Franklin claimed crime in the area has “significantly decreased.”

“Crime is down all over in that area, but shoplifting is down by 80%, and that is a significant decrease,” Franklin told KIRO Newsradio. “We put in the effort. We made those investments, yet the store didn’t, you know, continue to invest in their facility.”

The City of Everett hopes the free transit routes will assist residents in the community who are affected by the closures to easily access local grocery stores.

Over the summer, Kroger announced the closure of six of its locations across the region. A Tacoma Fred Meyer has already closed, and the five other grocery stores in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties are scheduled to close this fall.

The store closures are included in Kroger’s June announcement, which revealed approximately 60 stores would close over the next 18 months due to poor financial performance.

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