Kroger has been in the area for at least 80 years. There's an article in the Peoria Star dated June 26, 1936 that says the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR will construct a 336' x 225' warehouse for $110,000 and lease it to Kroger Co. The location was Persimmon Street where Cast Technologies presently resides (present building may incorporate the Kroger facility, which was expanded in the late 1940s). Having established a distribution center in the area suggests the chain already had grocery stores here as well. Kroger moved its distribution center to East Peoria in 1959 and closed it, IIRC, in 2003.