Kroger Begins Accepting Apple Pay at All Ralphs Grocery Stores in California

[MacRumors]

Southern California grocery store chain Ralphs today began accepting Apple Pay at all of its 184 locations across the state, according to a company spokesperson, allowing customers to easily pay with an iPhone or Apple Watch at checkout.

Ralphs accepting Apple Pay is notable given that the chain's parent company Kroger has largely refused to accept the payment method since it launched in 2014, despite frequent customer requests. The company instead offers its own service called Kroger Pay, which allows customers to scan a QR code at checkout to pay with a card stored in the Kroger app. The only other Kroger subsidiary to accept Apple Pay is QFC in the Northwest.

In a press release earlier this year, Apple said that Apple Pay is accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers, with some major holdouts including Walmart, The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Kroger. We've reached out to Kroger to see if the company has any plans to expand Apple Pay acceptance to other grocery store banners within its portfolio and we will update this story if we receive any additional information.

Update: Kroger has also started accepting Apple Pay at its King Soopers locations in Colorado and Wyoming, according to a spokesperson.

(Thanks, Corey Kielan!)

Article Link: Kroger Begins Accepting Apple Pay at All Ralphs Grocery Stores in California

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Awesome

I go to Kroger a lot when I travel to National Parks out west

We don’t have Kroger grocery stores here in the Greater Boston area but I’m glad that I’ll be able to use Apple Pay the next time that I go to a Ralphs in California

Hopefully Kroger sees how successful this is and eventually adds Apple Pay to all of their grocery stores in the future

 

[Alan Wynn]

Well, I can go back to shopping there. Had been using only CostCo, Sprouts, Target and Vons. Now if either Home Depot or Lowes would add it, I would not have carry my wallet any where I go regularly.

 

[WilliApple]

They said they would eventually do this.

Hope they bring it all Kroger chains like King Soopers.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I always thought QFC never accepted Apple Pay, good to know.

 

[Coffee50]

Finally!!! They can finally take down the “No Apple Pay” signs at the registers!

 

[walstib]

I'll go back to shopping at Kroger's Fred Meyer chain if they start accepting Apple Pay.

 

[BEC60]

I do shop at Fred Meyer, and have found the lack of Apple Pay more than a little irritating since Safeway/Albertsons does take it. I hope Kroger as a whole gets with the program.

(and then, as mentioned above, Lowe's and/or Home Depot need to get with it)

 

[lovehateapple]

'bout time!

 

[black_knight]

Get it going in AZ now!!

 

[CaliAzian]

Get it going in AZ now!!

Yep, need them at Fry's!

 

[bradl]

Yep, need them at Fry's!

There aren't many Fry's open, if at all now, because they went out of business in February 2021.

BL.

 

[orangeadrenaline]

I don’t mind Kroger Pay. It applies my loyalty card and payment at one time. Force Touch the app > Kroger Pay for quick access.

 

[btrach144]

Kroger and Home Depot I feel like are my two major last hold outs.

Amazon would be another one but that’s self explanatory as to why we would never see it.

 

[Born Again]

Remember when Macrumors users wouldn’t shop at stores without Apple Pay but still shop at stores without applepay?

Pepperidge Farms remembers..

 

[NY Guitarist]

Resistance is futile. 🌎

 

[darthgreen]

Why it takes these big stores so long go implement such technologies for the convenience of their customers and others, could’ve helped a lot. Its so obvious and easy to see this

 

[zapmymac]

There aren't many Fry's open, if at all now, because they went out of business in February 2021.

BL.

RIP 😢 I loved their stores back in the day

 

[zecanard]

There aren't many Fry's open, if at all now, because they went out of business in February 2021.

That’s Fry’s Electronics. Fry’s, on the other hand, is alive and well.

 

[zapmymac]

I just last week asked a manager if/when Pay was ever going to be institute, he said, “no plans.”
woot! 🥳

 

[dms_91]

I genuinely believe this has to do with their acquisition of Albertsons/Safeway stores like Pavilions & Vons in California, as those stores already accepted Apple Pay.

 

[topdrawer]

Tapping my credit card is way more convenient. Also soon none of us will have a choice in not shpping at a kroggers owned market in ca.

 

[ariusbb]

.... Europeans looking at this puzzled ....

 

[oldMacGenius]

Why not just do this at all California Kroger-owned properties? No Ralph’s in the San Francisco Bay Area… but if Kroger could get around to adding Pay to FoodsCo at some point in the near future, we’ll have all California’s stores covered. The Albertson’s owned stores - Safeway and Vons - have had Pay for years now.

Pay is great for those times when I fail to bring cash with me. I only use electronic payments if I must, as I don’t like to be a trail of analytics data for a bank to mine continuously. Data-wise, the bare minimum is still too much to share even with Pay - where I shop, what day and time, what I spend, how frequently. If they want this information they need to pay me for it!

 

[bousozoku]

Why not just do this at all California Kroger-owned properties? No Ralph’s in the San Francisco Bay Area… but if Kroger could get around to adding Pay to FoodsCo at some point in the near future, we’ll have all California’s stores covered. The Albertson’s owned stores - Safeway and Vons - have had Pay for years now.

Pay is great for those times when I fail to bring cash with me. I only use electronic payments if I must, as I don’t like to be a trail of analytics data for a bank to mine continuously. Data-wise, the bare minimum is still too much to share even with Pay - where I shop, what day and time, what I spend, how frequently. If they want this information they need to pay me for it!

I haven't been to QuikStop for a while, but I'm wondering if they and Food4Less are using Apple Pay. I've been surprised that Kroger didn't have a Ralphs-style supermarket in NorCal, even though Food4Less is here. Now that Kroger is buying Albertsons that owns Safeway, I suppose that's been accomplished.