10: Kroger
The Kroger Co. is America’s largest grocery retailer with 2,800 stores in 35 states and Washington, D.C. The company operates under more than a dozen banners like Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Mariano’s, Ralphs, Smith’s, so it’s no surprise that two of its stores: Harris Teeter and Kroger, are on our ranked list. Founded in 1883 in Cincinnati by Barney H. Kroger, the company works with more than 30,000 suppliers and manufacturers and operates a Culinary Innovation Center in its headquarters city. Murray’s Cheese, the country’s oldest cheese shop, now has more than 400 locations in Kroger stores nationwide, and Kroger recently acquired Chicago-based meal kit startup Home Chef. Online services include Kroger Ship, aship-to-home service that includes more than 50,000 itemsand is rolling out nationwide, as well as delivery and pickup options from over 1,500 store locations. The company’s largest charity initiative is Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, which aims to address food insecurity and encourage sustainability.
9: SuperTarget
Who doesn’t love a Target run? Since the first Target store opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota, the department store retailer has focused its efforts on one-stop shopping. The second largest general retailer in the U.S. with 1,850 superstores, Target also sells groceries at its SuperTarget stores, which debuted in 1995. Target’s private food labels — like Archer Farms, Market Pantry and Simply Balanced — include thousands of grocery products. Target has been a leading innovator in both retail and grocery practices, having introduced the planogram (a diagram that indicates in-store product placement) and redesigned its shopping carts with recycled plastic more than a decade ago. The company consistently gives back to communities across America through programs like the Target School Library Makeover Program, which has given more than 1 million books to schools and students, and Take Charge of Education, through which Target donated a percentage of Target store credit card purchases to eligible K-12 — totaling $460 million in donations before the program was discontinued in 2016.
8: Costco
The membership warehouse club has hundreds of locations worldwide, including 533 in 44 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and 95.4 million members as of November 2018. Not only does Costco provide a wide selection of meat, produce, and groceries in bulk in its palatial warehouse stores, it also offers alcohol as well as consumer goods and exclusive member services like a travel agency and gas stations. Costco’s business model is designed to provide value, offering national and regional brands priced below traditional wholesale or retail outlets to members, who pay a $60 annual membership fee. Costco also sells its private label, Kirkland Signature, which includes juices, cookies, coffee, housewares, luggage, clothing, and of course their famous and wildly popular $4.99 rotisserie chicken, of which they sell 60 million annually.
7: Harris Teeter
Now a smaller branch of The Kroger Co. after being purchased in 2014, Harris Teeter sprang from a 1960 merger of two North Carolina grocers founded in the 1930s. Harris Teeter currently operates more than 230 stores and 14 fuel centers in seven states (Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) and Washington, D.C. Known for tidy stores and an extensive prepared foods section, Harris Teeter also contributes to local communities through donations to food banks, youth sports and schools and takes part in broader Kroger Co. initiatives as well. Though Harris Teeter helped pioneer the plastic grocery bag in the 1980s, the chain and parent company have announced plans to phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags by 2025.
6: Whole Foods Market
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, Whole Foods Market now has stores in all but eight U.S. states. Known for stocking thousands of organic products from local and global suppliers, Whole Foods Market only sells products that meet strict quality standards and prohibits more than 100 preservatives, flavors, colors and other ingredients commonly found in food. Whole Foods Market doesn’t sell any food with hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. The meat department has similarly strict standards regarding animal welfare and the use of antibiotics and hormones, while the seafood department only sells sustainable, wild-caught or responsibly farmed seafood. Each store offers a variety of local products, restaurants, cafes, and some have in-store beer and wine bars. Whole Foods Market was the first supermarket to remove disposable plastic bags at checkout in 2008, and the company has a comprehensive food waste strategy to prevent and divert food from landfills. Staff members include certified sommeliers and cicerones, classically trained butchers and fishmongers who will prepare fresh seafood for customers at no extra cost. Since being acquired by Amazon in 2017, Whole Foods has offered additional discounts to Amazon Prime members as well as improved delivery options in 60 markets can receive deliveries via Prime Now. Continually innovating, the supermarket chain recently launched an online tool that allows customers to view in-store pricing, sales and product information and filter by various dietary preferences.
5: Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s has stores in 41 states and the District of Columbia and inspires customer loyalty largely by carefully curating Trader Joe’s branded products. This helps keep prices down, as Trader Joe’s doesn’t offer special promotions, coupons, discounts or sales, though it does produce the Fearless Flyer, a catalogue, newsletter, and comic book with product information, eight times per year. Some products are bought in limited supply and sold only for a short time while others have a cult-like following and have become staples like the Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend, frozen chicken tikka masala, Speculoos Cookie Butter, and Joe-Joe’s Chocolate Vanilla Crème Cookies. The friendly “Crew” members who work in the stores are easy to spot thanks to their bright Hawaiian T-shirts worn to style store staff as “traders on the culinary seas.” Owned by one branch of German supermarket giant Aldi, Trader Joe’s is considered by some to be the absolute best place to buy certain grocery items
4: Lidl
Making its debut on our list this year, Lidl has 62 stores in the U.S. in nine states (Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia) with four more stores launching in early 2019 on the East Coast (Lidl recently opened in Staten Island, New York, and its first three Atlanta stores will open soon). A family-owned company, Lidlopened its first store in 1973 in Ludwigshafen, Germany, but opened its first 10 U.S. stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia only in 2017. The German supermarket is famous for its high-quality fresh produce and meat, in-store bakery, and low prices. (One 2018 academic study even identified a “Lidl Effect” — the result of which grocery retailers located near Lidl stores significantly lowered their own prices.) Wine and flowers are also standout staples at Lidl; Lidl is the only grocer in the U.S. with a dedicated Master of Wine, who is responsible for hand-selecting every bottle on store shelves, and Lidl has a 7 Day Freshness Guarantee on fresh cut roses.
3: Aldi
More than 40 million customers shop at Aldi each month. Founded by the Albrecht family in 1961, the German grocer operates more than 1,800 U.S. stores in 35 states (the first store opened in Iowa in 1976). The first discounter in the world, the no-frills supermarket — there are only four or five aisles stocked with the essentials — sells frequently purchased grocery and household items from small kitchen appliances to outdoor furniture and gardening tools, primarily under its exclusive brands. About 90 percent of the products in each store are Aldi’s brand, which are taste-tested in the Aldi Test Kitchen to ensure quality competitive with national brands. These products are backed by the supermarket’s Twice as Nice Guarantee, which includes replacing the product and offering a full refund. ALDI also partners with local growers and farmers to offer fresh produce, including organic fruits and vegetables, and USDA meats.
2: Wegmans
Founded in 1916 in Rochester, New York, Wegmans has 98 stores in six states (Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia), with its first store in North Carolina and its first store in New York City opening later this year. The aisles are stocked with an abundance of choices in beautiful stores. Wegmans offers restaurant-quality prepared foods with oven-safe packaging, cold-pressed juices, zoodles and cauliflower rice. The supermarket’s commitment to sourcing the highest-quality produce can be found at the Wegmans Organic Farm and Orchard in Canandaigua, New York, where different growing techniques are tested; the facility even includes cheese caves built to mimic those in Europe. The seamless shopping experience, from delivery powered by Instacart to curbside pickup at select locations to the Wegmans app, digital coupons, and online catering and cake orders, round out the offerings. It’s not only a great place to shop — the chain has been named one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by Fortune magazine for 21 consecutive years and ranked No. 2 in 2018.
1: Publix
The largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the U.S., Publix was founded by George W. Jenkins in 1930 in Winter Haven, Florida. Now one of the 10 largest-volume supermarket chains in the country, Publix reported retail sales of $34.6 billion in 2017. The company has 1,211 stores in seven states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) with the majority — 799 stores — in Florida. Jenkins mortgaged an orange grove for a down payment on the first Publix, and the proprietor’s dream store was innovative, featuring many never-before-seen features in a grocery store — like air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, frozen food cases, piped-in music and in-store doughnut and flower shops. Commentators have heralded Publix as the best supermarket for many reasons, including Plato the Publixaurus (the supermarket’s mascot), the free cookies given to children at the in-store Publix Bakery (just stop by and ask), its Public Aprons Cooking School, the “Publix Promise” of transparent pricing, and the legendary sub sandwiches from the Publix Deli — which fans may argue are better than many of the best sandwiches in every state.
