Raleigh has 7 of the 10 best grocery chains in the US, says survey. Who’s on top?

Martha Quillin
·3 min read

A study of Google reviews has identified customers’ favorite – and least favorite – grocery stores nationwide, and the results show North Carolina shoppers have access to some of the best. And some of the worst.

Raleigh hosts seven of the 10 favorite chains, and North Carolina is home to five individual grocery stores that scored highest in customer reviews.

Some of the chains customers like least also are found here, though none of the 50 individual stores that frustrate shoppers the most are located in the state.

The study was conducted by Solitaired, part of Unwind Media, which makes card and word game apps that give players something to do while waiting in checkout lanes, for instance, and provide advertisers a way to connect with them.

“We analyzed Google reviews from 3,000 individual grocery stores across 100 cities to highlight which ones stand out in customer service, food quality, prices, and yes, even the speed of their checkout lines,” Solitaired developer Neal Taparia wrote in releasing the findings.

The study ranks chains and individual stores as overall best and worst, and on customer’s perceptions of their performance in the categories of service, food quality, price and how long shoppers have to wait to check out.

The best grocery store chains in the US

Based on those reviews, the company ranked these as the 10 overall best grocery store chains in America:

  1. Trader Joe’s

  2. Costco

  3. Wegman’s

  4. Publix

  5. Central Market

  6. H-E-B

  7. WinCo Foods

  8. Lidl

  9. ALDI

  10. The Fresh Market

On that list, only Central Market, H-E-B and WinCo Foods are missing from Raleigh’s grocery-store offerings. H-E-B and its subsidiary, Central Market, are only in Texas. WinCo is mostly in the western U.S.

The Fresh Market was founded in Greensboro and still has its headquarters there.

A new survey used reviews to identify individual grocery stores that stand out as customers’ favorites. Five of the top 50 are in North Carolina, and they’re all Trader Joe’s stores. Chase Karacostas/The Sun News File Photo
A new survey used reviews to identify individual grocery stores that stand out as customers’ favorites. Five of the top 50 are in North Carolina, and they’re all Trader Joe’s stores. Chase Karacostas/The Sun News File Photo

Best individual grocery stores in the US: NC picks

The developers also used to the reviews to identify individual stores that stand out as customers’ favorites.

Five of the top 50 are in North Carolina, and they’re all Trader Joe’s stores:

No. 4: Trader Joe’s, Arbors Drive, Charlotte

No. 15: Trader Joe’s, Wake Forest Road, Raleigh

No. 26: Trader Joe’s, Metropolitan Avenue, Charlotte

No. 33: Trader Joe’s, Stratford Road, Winston-Salem

No. 46: Trader Joe’s, Battleground Avenue, Greensboro

Trader Joe’s spokesperson was not immediately available to talk about the North Carolina stores’ appearance on the list.

The worst grocery chains in the US

Solitaired’s study found these were the 10 overall worst grocery store chains according to customer reviews:

  1. King Soopers

  2. Save A Lot

  3. Kroger

  4. Walmart

  5. Giant Eagle

  6. ACME

  7. Safeway

  8. Piggly Wiggly

  9. Jewel-Osco

  10. Fred Meyer

Of those, Save A Lot, Kroger, Walmart, Safeway and Piggly Wiggly have stores in North Carolina.

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