Many shoppers interviewed in the parking lot of the Hyde Park Plaza Kroger were adamant: if workers strike, they would automatically do their grocery shopping elsewhere.

"I'm union," declared Eddie Edwards, a 70-year-old Kennedy Heights resident. "I don't cross picket lines because that's taking a union job and giving it to somebody who's non-union.

"I'll shop at an IGA - anywhere but at Kroger."

Vern Jenkins, 61, a cab driver, agreed with Edwards and knew exactly where he would take his grocery dollar.

"bigg's," Jenkins said. "I'll shop at bigg's."

Those sentiments were far from unanimous, however.

Marsha Simpson, 40, an Oakley resident, doubted she would change her shopping patterns in the event of a strike because the Hyde Park Plaza Kroger is "so convenient." Besides, she said, labor disputes don't have much to do with customers. "I really think that anything like that, well, it's between the employees and the company," she said.

Amy Niehaus, 39, who lives in the Mount Lookout/Columbia Tusculum area, has no plans to shift her shopping to another store.

She is an avid Kroger shopper who keeps a Kroger discount card in her wallet. She expects her shopping habits to remain unchanged if workers strike.

"They have items here that other stores don't have," Niehaus said.

Across the river at the Kroger store in Bellevue, blue-collar shoppers said they would stick with the union if pickets materialized.

"I'm union," said Bob Griffin, a 61-year-old Wilder resident. "I'll just go to Remke."

Richard Sullivan, a 41-year-old resident of Newport's West End, emphatically echoed Griffin, saying "I don't cross picket lines."

E-mail jeckerg@enquirer.com