10 Major Grocery Chains That Closed Dozens of Locations in 2023
There are few places more essential to our weekly routine than the grocery store—and it's fair to say we all have a go-to spot. Maybe it's the most convenient supermarket. Perhaps it's the grocer with the best prices. Or it could simply be the local one-stop-shop warehouse club that offers products for just about all your household needs.
Regardless of what drives us to our favorite food retailer, these essential stores have earned a special place on our to-do list, and perhaps even our hearts. That being said, hearing that a store is about to be gone for good can shake up people's weekly routines.
As numerous shoppers have come to learn, 2023 has been a year filled with various retailers closing down. While some supermarkets have shut their doors due to financial underperformance, others have left customers with no explanation. Here are 10 major grocery chains that have shuttered locations this year.
Walmart
America's largest retailer said goodbye to two dozen locations in 2023. The first round of closures kicked off in February when Walmart announced it would be closing six stores across four states—Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Florida. The company cited poor financial performance as a reason behind the shutdowns, adding, "There is no single cause for why a store closes and our decision is based on several factors."
As the year progressed, the closures racked up, with Walmart shutting the doors of four additional Chicago locations. "The simplest explanation is that collectively our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago—these stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years," the retailer said in a statement.
By November, Walmart hit 24 closures across 15 states and Washington D.C., most recently shutting down a store in Norwalk, Conn, last month. While Target is expected to take over the lot, there has been "no further action" since plans were announced in April, according to The Hour.
Target
Speaking of Target, this retail chain faced several store closures in 2023, as well. In March, Target announced the shutdown of four small-format stores, citing declining foot traffic as the impetus. The affected locations included one store in Philadelphia, one in Minneapolis, and two near Washington D.C., all of which closed on May 13.
A few months later, Target announced in a statement that it would be closing nine locations on Oct. 21. These locations included one store in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, two locations in Seattle, three stores in the San Francisco-Oakland area, and three in Portland, Oregon. Target cited theft and organized crime as the causes of the closures.
Kroger
It would be an understatement to say America's largest supermarket chain has been undergoing some major changes over the last year. For instance, the retailer recently announced that it will be divesting 413 locations to C&S Wholesale Grocers for $2 billion as part of its controversial proposed merger with Albertsons.
Before this news, Kroger closed two Ohio stores—one in East Dayton and another in Riverside. However, this didn't leave the Dayton, Ohio, area without a Kroger. The grocery chain opened another Riverside location just one day after these closures.
In terms of in-store operations, at the end of November, Kitchen United, a ghost kitchen operator, confirmed that it will be closing all seven food halls located inside Kroger. The company said it's looking to focus on its software business and didn't cite any additional reasons behind the ghost kitchen closures.
Sprouts Farmers Market
Despite its plans to open 30 new locations by the end of 2023, this Phoenix-based grocery chain had to close multiple locations along the way. In March, Sprouts announced that it would be shuttering 11 locations in Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, and Washington. According to Dan Sanders, chief store operations officer at Sprouts, these stores were about 30% larger than the grocer's current prototype and "often underperformed."
The supermarket chain originally planned to close these stores in 2020 while the company started to focus on a "smaller, more productive" store prototype. However, Sprouts ultimately decided not to close those stores when the pandemic hit to provide customers with access to fresh, healthy groceries.
Whole Foods
After operating for just one year, Whole Foods closed its Trinity Place location in San Francisco this past April. According to a company statement published by SFGATE, Whole Foods made this decision to "to ensure the safety of [its] Team members."
The grocery chain didn't provide additional information about its employee safety concerns, though The San Francisco Standard previously reported that "the company cited deteriorating street conditions around drug use and crime near the grocery store," according to a City Hall source. Then, in October, Whole Foods closed stores in Toledo, Ohio, and Midtown Houston, Texas.
Amazon Go
After Amazon shared it would pull back from some brick-and-mortar locations, the company announced that it would close eight existing Amazon Go locations, including two in Seattle, two in New York, and four in San Francisco. The closures took place on April 1.
"Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. "We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.
Then in June, Amazon closed its ninth Go store in downtown Seattle. First opened in 2018, this location was the second Amazon Go store. The company did not provide a reason for the closure, adding that no other stores will be affected. Despite its pause on expansion, Amazon opened a new Go store near Pallyup, Wash., in September.
Aldi
While Aldi is, in fact, the fastest-growing grocery chain in America, the discount retailer did lose a few locations this year. In February, Aldi shuttered two stores—one in North Minneapolis and another in Fort Worth, Texas.
As reported by The Star Tribune, Aldi closed its North Minneapolis store "due to the inability to accommodate [its] larger product range" and because the company's lease term was expiring. Meanwhile, Aldi didn't provide a reason behind the closure of the Fort Worth, Texas, location.
A few weeks later, Aldi went on to close another store in the Pittsburgh suburb of Lower Burrell on March 21 only to be replaced with a new store in nearby Kensington, Pa. Following these closures, Aldi also shut the doors of locations in Canton, Ohio; Rockford, Ill.; and Bethlehem Township, Pa.
Lidl
German retailer Lidl opened its first U.S. store in 2017 and has since expanded to around 170 locations. However, these store additions haven't gone without some cuts. In mid-July, the European grocery chain shared that it would be closing 11 locations across North and South Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
A Lidl spokesperson told Winsight Grocery Business that these were "underperforming locations," adding that the closures enable the company to focus on stores that are closer and more convenient for customers, as well as where they are "seeing significant growth."
Stop & Shop
At the beginning of the year, Stop & Shop closed its Flatbush, Brooklyn, location—and several closures followed. The northeastern regional grocery chain went on to shutter a Highland, Park, N.J., store in March because it was "underperforming relative to financial expectation," according to New Jersey 101.5. Similarly, in April, Stop & Shop closed a store in the Glennville neighborhood of Greenwich, Conn., because it "was not meeting financial expectations."
ShopRite
This northeastern supermarket cooperative shuttered more than a handful of locations in 2023. In July, the retailer closed a store in East Norrinton, Pa., a location that was ultimately replaced by a new Acme store. Then in December, ShopRite closed five stores in the Capital Region surrounding Albany, N.Y. The affected stores included Albany, Colonie, Niskayuna, Slingerlands, and North Greenbush.
According to the company, these stores were underperforming, and ShopRite hasn't been able to "sustain the level of sales needed to keep the stores operating today."
Going forward, the grocery chain plans to close yet another New York location—one in Ellenville in Oct. 2024. Like the other recent New York closures, ShopRite said it doesn't have "sufficient sales" to continue running this store.
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