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September 24, 2024
What Makes for the Best Grocery Store?
USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards has revealed the top 10 grocery stores across the United States, as chosen by a panel of experts and enthusiastic readers, that stand out for their exceptional value, diverse selection, and outstanding service.
Here are the top 10 grocery stores in the U.S. for 2024:
- Hy-Vee
- The Fresh Market
- Heinen’s Grocery Store
- Stew Leonard’s
- Gelson’s Markets
- ALDI
- Publix Super Markets
- Trader Joe’s
- Wegmans Food Markets
- Fresh Thyme Market
Interestingly enough, the biggest players in the industry did not make this list. Missing were Walmart (which may not have been considered a grocery store according to the survey), Costco, Albertsons, and Kroger.
USA TODAY briefly described each of the top 10 stores to justify their places in the list.
When it comes to the top three, Heinen’s Grocery Store was described as having a range of high-quality items and a variety of products, including prepared meals. Similar to a grocerant, this store has a large prepared foods section that offers a “menu of fully cooked, restaurant-quality prepared meals, party trays, appetizers, dips, and spreads,” along with a gourmet case that offers “a rotating menu of chef-crafted meals to go, including best-sellers like Chicken Romano and Garlic-Grilled Shrimp, and limited time seasonal creations.”
Heinen’s is also known for its friendly service and its Tasteful Rewards program. The family-owned regional chain, made up of 23 stores in Ohio and Illinois, has become a grocery shopping destination for many.
Next, The Fresh Market was originally modeled after European food markets, aiming to offer shoppers a more intimate and personalized experience compared to the warehouse-style supermarkets popular at the time. Today, The Fresh Market operates 161 stores across 22 states, emphasizing fresh produce and private label products, according to USA TODAY. Once again, this chain seems to be tapping into the grocerant trend, having secured the top spot in the “Best Grocery Store Prepared Food” category in another 10Best poll.
Finally, USA TODAY notes that employee-owned Hy-Vee embraces the slogan “a helpful smile in every aisle,” with those cheerful faces present in over 280 stores throughout the Midwest. The supermarket collaborates with local farmers to supply fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, and many locations feature food counters that boast large salad bars and a diverse menu that includes pizza, meatloaf, fried chicken, and Asian dishes.
But more than just providing good food to customers, Hy-Vee also gives back to its communities.
“We’re trying to provide 100 million meals in the nine states that we help support and that we serve. We’re up to 800 or 83,000,000 meals so far that we’ve raised in just a short little time… So we expect to hit that goal of 100 meals here in the next just a little while. Locally, we were able to provide $90,000 to the Central Illinois Food Bank as part of this program.”
Jim Blizzard, HyVee District Store Director, via The State Journal-Register
Out of all the grocery stores on the list, Hy-Vee also claimed first in the “Best Produce” category. It’s also known for proclaiming how it’s a “member-owned co-op dedicated to people and the planet.”
Raw data, however, tells a different story about which grocer is the best — at least in terms of market share.
According to Statista’s 2023 grocery market share data, it should be no surprise that Walmart led the pack with 23.6%. Following that, Kroger had 10.1%, Costco had 9.3%, Albertson’s had 6.4%, and Publix, Sam’s Club, and Ahold Delhaize followed with around 4% each. The data ends with ALDI at 3% market share and Target, H-E-B, and Dollar General at around 2% each.
Discussion Questions
How do consumer preferences for personalized shopping experiences impact the strategies of grocery retailers recognized for exceptional service and quality?
What role do community engagement and sustainability initiatives play in building brand loyalty and trust among grocery shoppers?
With major players like Walmart and Costco missing from recent rankings, what does this reveal about changing perceptions of value and quality in grocery retail?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
Sarah Pelton
Partner, Cambridge Retail Advisors
Richard Hernandez
Merchant Director
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‘Best’ is in the eye of the beholder – meaning, it really depends on the mission and priorities of the shopper. Someone wanting low prices has a different set of needs to someone doing a quick top-up trip, and their views on what constitutes ‘best’ will vary. In a bid to satisfy a mass market of people, most grocery retailers cluster round an average set of attributes, which is why in the mainstream part of the market one grocer looks very much like another.
For me, the best grocery store is Marks & Spencer. Why? Because my mission is usually centered on finding great quality, very tasty food, that is inspiring and interesting. And I like it to be sold in a good-looking store. M&S squarely matches my needs. Waitrose comes in a close second.
I agree with you. I think HEB not in this list is a travesty. They are and have been a pioneer in developing private label products, in multiple brand tiers, for the Texas customer, for the value customer. They are always innovating and never sit on their laurels for very long. Nothing wrong with the list put out- each of the retailers on the list have their plusses. Finally, I concur with your M&S assessment. While i normally cook my meals while visiting the UK, spots like Burrough Market is where I pick most of the fresh product I cook with, but there is always an M&S in a busy rail station that I pick up the other ingredients that I need. I have always found new and innovative products when I shop there. They have constantly thought out of the box and I have never bought anything there that wasn’t packaged thoughtfully or tasted great.
We’re on the same page. Part of the brand loyalty created by leading grocers (i.e. Wegmans’ & Trader Joe’s’s devoted customer base) isn’t always reflected in these surveys. Hard for me to understand any grocer dropping from rankings (i.e. Lidl from 2023 to 2024 or Market Basket from 2022 to 2023).
As Neil stated, the best grocer depends on what individuals value most. If you look at the grocers that topped the list, it is a combination of personalized and friendly experience, quality product, localized assortment and value. The massive grocery chains may offer one or two of these attributes, but it is hard to check all the boxes. Niche and regional grocers can be laser focused on multiple key attributes and that is how they compete without relying solely on price.
With a few exceptions, most of the winners do not have a national presence. You may or may not be a fan of Costco or Kroger — not to mention Whole Foods — but they bring their own strengths to the marketplace. These kinds of surveys always make me wonder about the methodology.
If you want local adaptation and innovation, dealing heavily and adeptly with regional farmers and tastes, you wouldn’t be looking to Walmart or Kroger in any case. And that suggests there are real limits to how big a grocery operation really ought to be (even Hy-Vee could be getting too big for its britches.) But yes, how does this survey line up a Lunds or Wegmans against a Publix or HEB when most participants have only shopped at a handful of chains?
“Best” can be very subjective when it comes to grocery stores. Personally, I enjoy shopping at Trader Joe’s for the product selection, vibe, and great customer service. But when life gets busy, I turn to places like Shaws or Walmart that offer online ordering and curbside pickup for convenience. The key takeaway is that there’s room in the market for different grocery chains and price points. No matter the model, what matters most is maintaining product quality and excellent customer service.
A “best of” list commonly includes cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles in the rankings. In other words, apples to oranges, and maybe bananas and pineapples – some fresh, some frozen, some just canned. There are some with national brands and some with only private labels.
It’s hard to compare Heinen’s to ALDI or Publix to Stew Leonard’s. It would be like ranking independent five-star restaurants with Pizza Hut and Nathan’s Famous. Despite being food, they are all vastly different.
Grocery stores are different types of businesses, with different kinds of assortments, consumer bases, and purposes.
Besides geography, brand recognition, and the number of stores, surveys are tainted by other variables as well. Kroger is familiar to thousands more consumers than Schnucks, which serves only one market.
With that in mind, I would define “best” as follows:
A) What is the effectiveness of a given “grocery store” (or chain) in serving their specific channels, purposes, and models?
b) What is the level of innovation within a retailer’s specific channel?
c) How well is the company managed? What is the profitability? What is our growth rate?
I work with almost every retail chain in the nation, including most supermarket chains, regardless of their size or location. Nationally, I think ALDI does the best in its type and category. Trader Joe’s is the best at what it does. Among regional grocery stores, I like Publix, and locally, I like Heinen’s and Hy-Vee.
The analysis of ‘best’ is extremely subjective without solid metrics, and as many in the BrainTrust have already said, it’s heavily dependent on shopper intention. Now, throwing all of that out of the window, I’m surprised HEB is not on the list. They consistently outperform and customers love shopping at their stores. Regionally, in the Southeast where I live, I think Publix does an incredible job (who doesn’t like a Pub Sub) and you can’t beat Trader Joe’s pre-packaged take home meals.
My first reaction: where did they take this survey, Des Moines?
Where in the heck is H-E-B? They’re beloved and innovative and dominate their markets, much like HyVee does. I am also having trouble getting my head around Wegmans below Aldi. That’s not even an apples-to-apples comparison.
Grocers all have different value propositions. I usually think of their roles on the spectrum of quality, gourmet, service, vs. low price, and fast turns. These different value propositions make it very difficult, in my mind, to make a real comparison with consistent metrics. Given that many consumers are likely to cherry-pick some items at HyVee and others at Aldi on the same shopping trip, this seems to support this argument.
I find myself more interested in trying to understand the methodology of the survey; call me confused.
All of the large chains (WalMart, Kroger, Aldi, etc.) are stale and boring to shop in, with a higher focus on packaged foods supplemented by lower quality produce. Which serves many people very effectively. It is not very radical to suggest or observe that the more “interesting” stores are stores that cater to higher income levels.
I suspect the people participating in this survey were not Aldi or Kroger shoppers. Without parameters set up in the survey (was price part of the evaluation criteria?) the results are suspect.
The article states that the respondents are editors and readers, but I’d still like to know more about the sample. The fact that a regional store that’s only in two states made it into the top three is interesting to me. Overall, I think it’s about balancing value and aesthetics. When grocery is merchandised poorly, it feels unsanitary and unappetizing.
I admire many of the stores on the list but this list is bunk. From the USA Today site…
These 10 grocery stores have been selected by an expert panel and voted by readers as the best in the U.S. for their value, selection, and great service.
The panel of experts decides the chain nominees. The panel consists of nine, mainly freelance journalists with limited geographic diversity. I saw none linked to Texas. That should explain why HEB is missing as a nominee.
USA Today Readers can then vote once per day per category.
Fun. Not material in any way.
Reminds me of MLB/NBA all-star voting.
Setting aside any illusion that this is a statistically valid survey, I like all the companies on this list, but for widely different reasons.
And I concur with the folks here who scratch their heads at the dis-inclusion of HEB and a few other regional stand-outs. But it’s just another top-10 list, so…
As for what makes a great supermarket, this conversation does trigger a few thoughts. Local market sensitivity is a big factor in my mind. So is the retailer’s service culture, which can be a reflection of management philosophy, employee ownership, and intentional links to their communities.
Those are some “it” factors that extend beyond fundamental SCAMP requirements: Service, Convenience, Ambiance, Merchandising, and Price.
The large national operators mostly have SCAMP down pat, but they suffer from The Paradox of Scale: “The larger the entity, the further it is from its customers.” Possibly a reason why Walmart, Costco, Kroger and maybe even power regionals like Publix and H-E-B weren’t celebrated in this particular list.
This survey is deeply flawed for several reasons already mentioned by my colleagues.
Our local paper, owned by USA Today, uses surveys to sell advertising. Everybody wants to be ‘crowned’ as the best or a ‘finalist,’ regardless of how useless the designation may be. Naturally, a good print salesperson uses the ‘award’ as a reason for the chosen firms to advertise.
Voting for the ‘best’ of anything requires exposure to everything. Anything less is subjective and meaningless; including this survey.
Being named ‘best’ is really a matter of whether customers feel the promises made by a grocer are delivered on a daily basis. It’s not who owns the largest marketshare or advertises the most in radio and print. If you’re a grocer promising better quality, greater variety and selection, customer service, or low-prices – simply delivering well on those each day results in earned customer counts and brand loyalty, and in every community.
The list generated by USA Today readers are a snapshot of good stores, some being very good, but far from a comprehensive and true list of the best all around the country.
As noted by others, “best” is an extremely non defining term & subject to the personal preferences of the survey participants. It appears that value, selection & service where the defining variables. However, it is possible to win on one or two & not all three. Value would encompass the dollar stores & the supercenters. Selection would capture HyVee, Wegmans & Publix. Service would again be reflected by the previous three. Missing are the big middle retailers who struggle to position themselves as the best.
Nice….. Good post