What’s the Best Supermarket in America?
For as much as people complain about grocery shopping, there are many who show the love for food stores that get it right. We’ve heard people speak in glowing terms when they discuss particular stores including Dorothy Lane Market, Gelson’s, Harris Teeter, H-E-B’s Central Market, Lunds, Mariano’s, Nugget Markets, Publix, Rouses, Wegmans, Whole Foods and others.
A case in point is Arielle Calderon. She really likes Publix. In fact, as she writes on the BuzzFeed site, it is about the only thing she misses since moving to New York City where, alas, there are no Publix stores.
Why does Ms. Calderon think Publix is "the best grocery store to ever exist"? Her list includes the chain’s sub sandwiches, cookies, chicken tenders, store cleanliness, private label products, BOGO deals and other reasons.
Not all agree with Ms. Calderon’s decision to place Publix on a pedestal. A piece in the Miami New Times takes Publix to task for "claustrophobia-inducing aisles" at one local store, along with poor seafood practices and other shortcomings.
But the point of this piece isn’t to focus on Publix. It’s to ask, what company really does run the best grocery store in the U.S.?
Discussion Questions
What company runs the best grocery stores in the U.S.? What makes it the best, in your opinion?
Besides my own store of course, I would go with Wegmans, as they really know how to run a great store. Great selecion of quality produce, meats, deli, and bakery, plus an exceptional layout of grocery, HBA, and club packs. Great service, and they are not ashamed to make a profit. Bring your wallet, they will make you spend money when you walk in.
My personal preference is Trader Joe’s. There’s something for everyone in terms of product and experience. With a staff that engages customers TJ’s creates a sense of caring about its shoppers’ needs. The quality of the produce and meat secure the sense of upscale purchases at a value price. Finally, they overtly try to make check out waiting as painless as possible. I’m a walking testimonial. Too bad I have to go out of my way to shop there.
Wegmans — value, selection, freshness, specialty, unbelievable prepared foods (lunch crowds even in the suburbs are massive), local community focus, happy and well paid employees (at least for retail), and generally fast/short checkout lines. They have a strategy of controlled growth to get each local store right and that has allowed them to consistently deliver value to their customers and employees.
Mariano’s in Chicago. Whole Foods/Wegmans experience with near Walmart pricing. Probably not sustainable, but enjoy it while it’s there.
“Best” is such a loaded term. “Best” for whom?
In terms of pure fanatical customer devotion, I think you can’t top Wegman’s. For consistently delivering exceptionally low prices on a near-full line of name brand and PL products, Demoulas/Market Basket in the northeast is exceptional (better even than Walmart). When it comes to using digital CRM and loyalty to deliver truly relevant value to each core shopper, Kroger leads the pack.
Perhaps most vexingly, “best” isn’t just different for different people, it’s different for each person at different times. But a grocery store that doesn’t decide to be best at ONE thing will usually be best at nothing.
Over the last 3 years I have had the pleasure of personally visiting the headquarters and actual stores of over 30 national and regional supermarkets. No question, some of these grocers stand out as Best in Class for cleanliness, associate help, assortment, Private Label options and quality, fresh including meat and seafood departments.
My favorite 5 are:
Others including Ahold, Kroger, Whole Foods and Publix certainly make the top ten, but the top five really have some special features that separate them from the pack. Trader Joe’s does not make the list because they lack a fresh meat and seafood counter. If that was not part of the criteria they would certainly make the top 10. Also, I did not include low price (value) in this assessment. That would certainly impact the the list.
While not voting on the topic or providing an opinion, I do want to offer up a couple of ideas:
In no particular order, here are my top seven:
Why? In each case, it’s a different answer. For Wegmans, it’s assortment and customer service. Stew Leonard’s and Fairway both have fantastic fresh foods. H-E-B and Raley’s are great at customer service. ShopRite, Publix and H-E-B have consistently great prices, great assortment and attractive merchandising. A few things they all have—clean stores, great use of technology to ease the shopping process and well-trained staff members. This last point can’t be over-emphasized.
By the way, I really like Loblaw’s Real Canadian Superstore and Metro Plus stores up north.
With all these endorsements, I’ve just put Wegmans on my bucket list.
Most of the responses so far have been from the East Coast, as evidenced by the stores named. Living in Texas, I’m going to say that Central Market (the “higher end” of H-E-B in San Antonio) is one of the best. They have FRESH “everything.” Kroger always ranks high, because they are using the Dallas Metroplex to “experiment” with new store concepts. One such store actually has a small appliance section, along with a salsa bar (Texas, go figure). As for Trader Joe’s, contrary to what John Boccuzzi, Jr. said, our Trader Joe’s (new Store in Plano), DOES have a FRESH meat and seafood counter.
Of course, like others have pointed out, BEST is what’s “best” for you.
Assuming all elements of longevity and size are out of the mix and that this assessment is based strictly on “if I walk into the store today”—Mariano’s has to be a very strong contender. At least Top 5. They are the first grocery retailer to “get” that most consumers who want a Whole Foods perimeter experience also want a high value traditional center store experience—not a health food store. I hope they have the capital to expand.
Wegmans … selection and service levels excel, prices are acceptable.
Retail Leader, the GMA publication, recently addressed this question taking a “worldwide” viewpoint. I contributed to the article along with a number of other industry observers.
Read the article here….
Visiting Tony’s store is still on my Bucket List. Until then my personal destination store is Trader Joe’s where I love dropping in even if I don’t need anything. But locally here in AZ we have “AJ’s” where I take Canadian visitors right after I take them to Sedona. You go there if you want cheese made from grass-fed Himalayan Lama’s milk. It is a remarkable place…but easily twice the cost of a Safeway.
My first choice is Tony Orlando’s Tony O’s Supermarket & Catering. Hands down. My second choice is a tie among Publix, Trader Joe’s and Wegmans. The customer service at all is outstanding and consistent.
Any opinion will be very subjective. Urban vs suburban, brand names vs store brands, discount vs premium. Maybe the question should be, what grocery store offers the best customer experience regardless of format?
The best grocery stores in the US are those that have found a viable replacement for their plastic shopping bags….
There are a myriad of great grocery stores in the USA, but they all share one thing in common…excellent customer service. From TJ’s to Gelsons, to Whole Foods, any customer will tell you it is the way they are treated, from the time that they enter the store to the time that they leave, that makes the store great. Pricing is not always the lowest, and selection may not be as good in one area as another. However, customer service, in all of the forms that it takes, is always excellent.
Have to go along with Tony O on his choice of Wegmans (sorry, I haven’t had the pleasure of Tony’s shopping experience). My voice is not based solely on my opinion, however, it’s based on the Net Promoter Score that consumers provide to their retailers across the country.
BIGinsight provides an NPS for 52 different Retail grocers across the country. And, consumers do appreciate their grocers—overall, the average grocer receives an NPS of 32.0%. That makes the grocery category the highest of any retail group.
Wegmans enjoys an NPS of 66.2%—a figure that rivals Apple’s generous support from their followers. Kroger, Publix (59.1% NPS), and Trader Joe’s are the other leading players.
All stand out in their own customers’ minds for price, selection, location, quality, and service—with 55% of each store’s shoppers calling them out as the primary reason they shop there most often.
Wegmans takes it a step higher, as they consistently receive double digit mentions for categories like wide aisles, unique products, store layout, store appearance, trustworthy retailer, knowledgeable employees, one-stop shopping, bakery, deli, ethnic food, organic food, prepared food, and double coupons.
Wegmans is the complete deal—they keep on innovating, and in a category where the consumer takes 99+ shopping trips a year, innovation is a must to maintain loyalty, growth, and strong profitability.
The best is in the eyes of the beholder. I view this from all the stores I have visited over the years. I don’t know if I can name just one. There is a group that gets it right. This includes selection, decor, human interface, promotions, and price. The two with the most loyal following are Publix and Wegmans. Those with strong appeal include Hannaford, Schnuck’s, Harris Teeter and H-E-B.
Agree with earlier panelists that Wegmans is right up there near the top of the list.
I’d like to point out an often over-looked group of grocers that can be outstanding: the co-ops. PCC here in the Seattle area offers a great assortment in fresh and bright stores and offers all sorts of extras like free fruit for your kid everytime you come in, scrip programs for local schools and a great roster of cooking classes. Plus, shoopers know that the profits stay in the community and go to things like the Farmland Trust that is saving family farms from development.
Dorothy Lane Market—local market that strives to be different, sell the most unique offerings and provide the highest levels of customer service, even from its teens that work there. They expect nothing short of excellence. From a shopping experience perspective, it is the best I have ever seen.
Trader Joe’s, without question is the best!
I’d have to go along with the response of “Best for whom?”
Like most anythingm it is location, location, location. Or, just like politics—”All politics are local.”
Sure, what are the best in the U.S. are all covered in many of the comments, but few if any of those mentioned have a broad national penetration. For those near Tony’s in Ohio, you bet it’s probably the best. Yet, if I was in the Dayton, OH area, I’d be saying the same about Dorothy Lane.
Moreover, most consumers today are not shopping just one grocer or one retailer for food. The shopping experience and variety stores offer makes them the choice for consumers for different products.
One of the more intriguing factors in today’s food shopping evolution is that “grocery” or “supermarkets” have lost and continue to lose basket size or the total of the consumers food dollars. Why is that? Consumers today are shopping many sources and for many reasons. So, what makes these multiple choices the best option for the consumer?
In our own household alone there are at least five different sources or retailers that we regularly shop for “groceries.” Each we think to be the best for this or the best for that. At least one of them may not be the best for the reasons most would enumerate, but it is the best for this or that.
Would consumers today even like to have their ‘best’ be their single source? I’m not so sure. Just like in the days when there was a butcher, a baker, and you know the rest, I think consumers like the hunt. Everything circles back.
Back to the question of what makes them the best. The answer lies likely in location. It is the retailer where they live that provides the best of this—but likely not that. Yet, they are a retailer that gives them a REASON to shop there.
Consumers want a REASON. Most of the potential reasons have been mentioned and that is what it is all about. Even so, it remains a primarily local experience. It is also one that any major internet retailer has not penetrated in a significant way as they have with most all other consumer goods. The best is whoever you think gives you the best reason locally.
As some of the posts suggest, it all depends. If you’ve lived without a neighborhood supermarket for several years and get one, then that new replacement supermarket is the best. If it’s all about price, value, and fresh produce in a small footprint, then the top five EDLP formats would be Aldi, Bottom Dollar, Price Rite, Good Cents and not for much longer, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.
Wegmans – Great product selection (though my wife thinks they are going too heavy on PL at the expense of brands she prefers), knowledgeable/customer-focused staff in fresh departments, creative “meal solutions” and a smart user of loyalty card data for marketing/communicating to their customers.
Wegmans is a great store. They draw people from crazy distances and until I visited a few locations I had no idea why. When I went about 30 miles out of my way on the last day of my trip east to have one last visit, well, yeah.
Most people I know will typically make their shopping decision based on location and/or price. And then it comes down to finding what they need, and being happy with the quality of the goods purchased.
Some chains do a particularly bad job on price, quality, mix, in-stock, and freshness, mostly smaller regionals that are obviously just gasping for life, or some larger regionals like Save Mart, and as a result you see people driving past those to get to some other store even if is the most convenient location.
The best grocer is the one that uses its scope and scale to try to understand what is important to the customer and its needs. And the grocer that understands a customer in different neighborhoods, perhaps even in the same town, has completely different wants and needs. This has been something few operators have been good at. For large chains Kroger does a good job, and seems to continue to evolve in some ways through continuing to support different formats (Marketplace, F4L, Ruler). But in the end I’m not sure how out of the way people would go to shop these stores.
Overall, I MUST say that the BEST Grocer in America—hands down—IS Publix. There are many great grocers: Kroger, Whole Foods, Wegmans, but when you consider EVERYTHING all wrapped up in one package, there is NO competition. Publix is SUPERB. Clean, nice layouts, CLEAN bright immaculate stores, Incredible specialty offerings considering store size and scope, wonderful special services, GREAT private label offerings. great sale offerings, terrific meat departments and deli, great fresh produce, wide SELECTION on everything…all topped off by a staff that is generally friendly and fairly happy, AND happy to help you!!! There IS NO other choice—Publix—where shopping TRULY is a pleasure!