PHOENIX — Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), the country’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, is laying off hundreds of store managers and it appears the cuts could include Arizona.

Fry’s Food Stores Inc., Kroger’s brand of stores in Arizona, appears to be trimming the middle-management ranks, according to a report in the Cincinnati Business Courier, an affiliated publication of Phoenix Business Journal.

In a statement to the Business Journal from its corporate spokesperson, Kroger said that “many store operating divisions are evaluating middle-management roles and team structures with an eye toward keeping resources close to the customer.”

Kroger said its store divisions operate independently. Fry’s corporate affairs manager Pam Giannonatti told the Business Journal in an email that “we generally do not comment on personnel matters related to the Kroger family of companies.”

For the full story from the Phoenix Business Journal, click here.