"The Kroger Lady" is Retiring

Submitted by BA Dowell reader...

On May 25, 1979, a young 19 year old lady started working at our Greenville Kroger. She was just another unknown Kroger employee face amongst many others in the store we all shopped in each week (give or take). I don’t know how over the past 39 years Denise Koontz (now Koontz Dowell) has become “The Kroger Lady,” but somewhere over the years it seems that is where everyone in and around Darke County knows her from. She cannot go anywhere in Greenville (and sometimes other places in the county) without hearing someone say “Oh, aren’t you the Kroger lady,” or “Where do I know you from?” “Yes, that’s it, you are The Kroger Lady."

She started like most of the young kids at Kroger working in other departments, doing stocking, bagging, pushing carts in from the parking lot, working with produce, and eventually making her way up to the front end as a cashier where most everyone now has come to recognize her. While she is not someone working in one of the Public Safety functions of our Community, she is still one of our Home Town Hero’s for serving our Community for the past 39 years of customer service all in our Greenville Kroger Stores (both the old one and the current one).

On this Friday, May 25, 2018, Denise (The Kroger Lady) will be ringing up her last orders at our Greenville Kroger. When she clocks out at the end of her shift on Friday, she will hang up her black vest for the final time and retire 39 years to the day from when she started at Kroger.

Thank you, Denise, for your 39 years of service to the community and enjoy your retirement.

If you are in Kroger on this Friday, May 25, 2018, (between 7 am and 3 pm) please take a minute to tell Denise thank you for her service to our community and congratulations on her retirement.

On a side note, she is not going anywhere. Denise and her husband Bruce are still going to be living in Darke County, shopping at Kroger and you will still be able to see the newly “Retired Kroger Lady” around town from time to time taking it easy and enjoying not having to work.