The Largest U.S. Retail Grocery Store Chains

Get Facts and Jobs Info for Kroger, Whole Foods, Safeway, and Publix

This illustration shows a dad with his two kids shopping at the grocery store in the meat and vegetables aisle.

Image by Bailey Mariner © The Balance
By
Barbara Farfan
Barbara Farfan
  • University of Georgia

Barbara Farfan is a retail industry expert with more than 20 years as a business consultant for the retail and publishing industries.

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Updated on 06/25/19

According to a global report, 32 of the 100 largest retail chains in the world are supermarket and grocery store chains. In the U.S., 20% of the retail chains that are the largest in the world are grocery store and supermarket chains. This shows the power of the supermarket and grocery store retailers in the U.S. despite the pressure that the major hypermarket and warehouse chains like Wal-Mart and Target, Costco, that are aggressively working to steal a substantial piece of the retail grocery market share.

Comparing the 2013 Largest U.S. Supermarkets and Grocery Store Chain list with the 2012 list published by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and STORES Magazine, there are a surprising number of ranking changes, and those changes are notably substantial. Some of the most notable changes with the largest U.S. supermarkets and grocery store chains include:

  • Kroger moved up one position to become the fifth largest retail chain in the world. While this may not seem like much of a significant improvement, it is no small feat to overtake Germany’s largest discount store chain and widen the lead with the Costco Wholesale chain, which also sells a significant amount of groceries and food products.
  • Whole Foods moved up nine ranking positions on the world’s largest retail list in 2012 and continued the upward trend by rising 5 spots on the 2013 largest retailers global rankings. Whole Foods is now in the top 100 of largest retail chains in the world.
  • Wegmans rose 7 positions in the global largest retail rankings and moved ahead of Winn-Dixie in the largest U.S. grocery store and supermarket chain rankings.
  • As a residual result of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Great Atlantic & Pacific fell 28 international rankings and now Hy-Vee, Casey's General Stores and The Pantry are all larger retail chains than A&P stores.
  • Save Mart SaveMart fell 31 positions in the global rankings, and the chain is now behind Wawa, Sheetz, WinCo Foods in annual sales revenue.
  • After losing 24 positions in last year’s Global Powers of Retail rankings, Albertson’s fell additional positions in the 2013 retail grocery store rankings.
  • Continuing a downward trend,​ ​Roundy’s fell 14 positions in the largest global retailer rankings.

What follows is the complete list of U.S. supermarket retail chains ranked on the 2013 Global Powers of Retailing list. According to their reported revenue figures for 2011, these supermarket chains were ranked as the "biggest" because they had the highest annual sales figures. In this complete list of the largest U.S. supermarket chains, the number in the left column is the global ranking number assigned to the company, when its revenue is compared to other top retail companies worldwide.

2013 Largest U.S. Retail Supermarket and Grocery Store Chains - Biggest and Best Food Retailers:


5      The Kroger Company

24    Safeway

35    SuperValu

36    Publix

51    H.E. Butt Grocery Company

99  Whole Foods Market

108  Giant Eagle

138  Hy-Vee

143    The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company

149  Wegmans Food Markets

176  WinCo Foods

197  Save Mart Supermarkets

211  Ruddick Corp. / Harris Teeter

234  Albertson's

239  Roundy's Supermarkets (now Kroger Company Subsidiary)

  • Investors Information for Roundy’s Supermarkets (RNDY)
  • Roundy’s Supermarkets Jobs and Careers
  • Roundy’s Supermarkets Retail Website
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