Low prices, fabulous products and helpful staff? Here’s where you need to get your groceries, according to thousands of happy shoppers.
New Survey: These Are the Top 10 Grocery Stores in America
Published on Mar. 11, 2025
Pop quiz: What’s your favorite grocery store? Come on, you know you have one … and you also have opinions about why it’s your fave. And how could you not? You’re likely heading there at least once a week, and you want to make the experience as painless as possible. While people may disagree about which feature is most important, we all take into account affordability, convenience, customer service and exclusive products we just can’t live without. I, for one, am only mildly ashamed to admit that I will sometimes skip a great deal at one store to shop at my favorite—and that’s saying a lot in this economy!
Now, you’re probably wondering if your preferred grocery store is really the best. Well, a survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) sheds some light on that, revealing the country’s most popular grocery store and why shoppers love it so much. Read on to learn the details—and possibly find a new go-to.
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How did the study determine the top grocery store?
The ACSI Retail and Consumer Shipping Study 2025 asked 41,850 consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with the largest companies, including grocery stores. Consumers were chosen at random and contacted by email between January and December 2024.
ACSI then analyzed the responses to determine customer satisfaction based on expectations, perceptions of quality and perceptions of value. Each store received a customer satisfaction score between zero and 100 across 18 criteria, including the convenience of store hours and location, the quality of its mobile app and the courtesy and helpfulness of staff. The store with the highest score was named the top grocery store of 2025.
Which grocery store earned the top spot?
That’s sort of a trick question because the survey didn’t find one top grocery store in America—it found two! According to the ACSI report, Trader Joe’s and Publix tied for the No. 1 spot, each scoring 84, ahead of the next grocery store on the list by 1 percentage point. According to the ACSI, customers highlighted “ease of pickup process, convenient store hours and locations, and quality mobile apps” among the top reasons for their votes.
Some interesting history: Trader Joe’s has dominated this survey in recent years, though it briefly slid into second place last year. Publix, the reigning champ of 2024 (along with Costco and H-E-B), slipped 1 percentage point this year to tie with Trader Joe’s (which remained unchanged in its satisfaction number). But hey, a win’s a win!
What makes these stores so popular?
If you’re a fan, well, you know—but it’s still good to see the reasons why your judgment is excellent. And if you’ve never shopped at these stores or you haven’t really given them a proper chance, here’s a handy cheat sheet that just may make you head to one of them on your next grocery run.
Trader Joe’s
There’s so much to love about Trader Joe’s, starting with an amazing selection of exclusive private-label products, including its famous Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend, Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups (a personal favorite) and one-of-a-kind frozen foods. Trader Joe’s also cares about what its customers think. Case in point: The chain recently hosted its 16th Annual Customer Choice Awards, asking shoppers to chime in with their favorite Trader Joe’s–exclusive products.
And then there are the low prices, which can be lowered even further by the coupons in the store’s weekly coupon guide. Customers are also in the know, staying further apprised of deals and all things Trader Joe’s with the store’s Fearless Flyer newsletter and its very own podcast.
Workers are also pretty darn happy there, and for good reason. Glassdoor scores are generally positive, indicating it’s a great place to work, and employees get excellent benefits, including medical, dental and vision coverage, not to mention 20% off store items. Of course, happier employees translates to better customer service, especially in this case!
Publix
Though Publix is found only in the Southeast, its reputation looms large. Again, low prices are a clear draw here, but customers also generally love it for its cleanliness and layout, as well as its courteous staff. One likely reason for the good vibes and the sensible store features? Publix is an employee-owned company—the largest in the United States. Employees get shares of stock in the company after working 1,000 hours in a year, and that personal stake means they’ll go the extra mile to see that Publix succeeds, including by providing excellent customer service.
Fans also call out the chain’s exclusive items, including its Pub Subs, which recently gained national fame on social media. These customizable deli sandwiches, made on the store’s fresh-baked daily sub rolls, are a hit, to say the least. Over on TikTok, you’ll find videos of people trying and rating them, with overwhelmingly positive results. Bonus: If an ingredient you want isn’t available at the deli, you can grab it from an aisle to get it put on. It doesn’t get better than that!
What other grocery stores topped the list?
- Trader Joe’s and Publix
- Sam’s Club (Walmart)
- Wegmans
- H-E-B
- Whole Foods (Amazon)
- Aldi
- Costco
- ShopRite
- Target
Notably, H-E-B and Costco, which were tied for first place with Publix last year, fell 3 and 4 percentage points, respectively, in this year’s survey. Wegmans moved up one spot from last year’s list, and Target lost two points, landing it in last place. The rest of the stores on the list remained steady year over year.
Let’s see if Trader Joe’s and Publix can keep it up for next year and how Costco’s increasingly positive public perception and rising grocery prices will affect the results moving forward. At the very least, Publix can count on at least one Pub Sub purchase in 2025—from me, of course.
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Sources:
- ACSI: “Customer Satisfaction with Online Retail Stumbles as Over Two-Thirds of Online Brands See Declines, ACSI Data Show (2024–2025)”
- Trader Joe’s: “16th Annual Customer Choice Awards Winners”
- ACSI: “Over 60% of Retailers See Customer Satisfaction Spikes, with Costco, H-E-B, and Publix Leading the Way, ASCI Data Show (2023–2024)”
- Business Insider: “I went shopping at Publix and saw why Southerners love it so much”
- CNBC: “From chatty employees to $5 wine: How Trader Joe’s turns customers into fanatics”
