This Is America's Best Grocery Store In 2024—and It May Come as a Surprise
America's best grocery store was just unveiled in a brand-new ranking for 2024. But rather than going to a company with national name recognition such as Walmart or Kroger, the crown was awarded to a regional grocery chain that most Americans may not be familiar with.
Newsweek just released its third annual ranking of America's Best Retailers in partnership with the market data platform Statista. The ranking was based on surveys of more than 7,000 shoppers who were asked for their opinions on retailers across a variety of categories, including supermarkets, apparel, and home goods. The retailers were then assigned a score out of 100 based on the survey responses, with a higher score indicating a higher level of customer satisfaction.
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The chain that took the #1 spot in the competitive supermarket category is one that can only be found in certain parts of the country: Great Wall Supermarket. This Asian American grocer—known for its selection of Chinese products—was founded in 2003 and currently operates 22 stores across New York, Massachusetts, California, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C.
Despite its relatively small footprint compared to other chains, Great Wall Supermarket evidently has no shortage of popularity. It scored a whopping 92.69 points in the America's Best Retailers ranking, higher than any other brand in the supermarket category.
Great Wall's 2024 win is particularly impressive considering that it wasn't even included in the ranking in 2023. The East Coast chain Wegmans led the supermarket category last year with 92.01 points, followed by Publix (90.88), Natural Grocers (88.41), Earth Fare (88.35), Sprouts Farmers Market (87.97), The Fresh Market (87.89), Weis Markets (87.25), Whole Foods (87.15), Key Food (86.65), and Harps Food Stores (86.16).
In 2024, Wegmans fell to second place in the supermarket category with a score of 90.89. Publix (89.83), The Fresh Market (88.88), Sprouts (88.6), Natural Grocers (87.71), Whole Foods (87.09), Seafood City (85.03), Albertsons (85.01), and Kroger (84.4) made up the rest of the top 10, respectively.
Great Wall Supermarket's victory over its fellow supermarkets wasn't the only interesting takeaway from the latest America's Best Retailer's ranking. Trader Joe's stole the crown in the best discount grocery chain category in 2024 with a score of 89.14, a few points ahead of WinCo Foods (86.76) and Aldi (85.26). Costco swept the superstore and warehouse club category with a score of 88.06, followed by Sam's Club (87.01), Target (86.43), BJ's Wholesale Club (85.72, and Meijer (85.27). Consumers can check out the full list of America's Best Retailers in 2024 on Newsweek's website.
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