The Largest Grocery Retailers in the U.S. and Canada

Groceries are big business, and it may come as a surprise how many grocery retailers rank as some of the biggest retail chains in the world.

Even among home improvement stores, discount stores, drug and convenience stores, as well as apparel and shoe store chains, these grocers and superstores fall in an elite group of the top 250 largest chains on the globe in terms of revenue earned.

Gathering the Data

The top grocery retailers in the U.S. and Canada include Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Target, and Loblaw, when “top” is measured by sales volume, according to Supermarket News, which gathers information specifically on grocery stores. However, this leaves out certain types of retailers that sell groceries, such as cash and carry stores like Costco.

Each year, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu publishes its Global Powers of Retailing report, which lists the top 250 retail stores across the globe. Deloitte reports on a larger group of retailers including Walmart, Costco, and Target, although these stores sell groceries and other food items alongside a variety of other goods, including household products, toys, and clothing. The Deloitte report classifies these stores as hypermarkets or supercenters instead of grocery stores or supermarkets.

The Retail Rankings

The following list contains the rankings for the 2019 Top 250 supermarkets in the U.S. and Canada and includes listings for hypermarkets and supercenter stores if they have a significant grocery offering.

Each retailer shown is ranked based on its financial performance for 2017, collected and reviewed in June 2018. The information below also includes each chain's 5-year compound average revenue growth rate (CAGR), which is the mean annual growth rate over the 5-year period from 2012 to 2017.

The stores on the list are numbered to correspond with the list of 250 top global retailers as reported by Deloitte, which also includes retailers in several other areas such as apparel, home improvement, and drug stores.

Top Retail Chains Selling Food & Groceries

(This is out of top 250 global retail chains of all types):

#1 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

(US, Hypermarket/Supercenter/Superstore)

5-Year CAGR: 1.3%

#2 Costco Wholesale Corporation

(US, Cash & Carry/Warehouse Club)

5-Year CAGR: 5.4%

#3 The Kroger Co.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 4.2%

#12 Target Corporation

(US, Discount Department Store)

5-Year CAGR: 0%

#15 Albertsons Companies, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 74.4%

#30 Loblaw Companies Limited

(Canada, Hypermarket/Supercenter/Superstore)

5-Year CAGR: 8.1%

#31 Publix Super Markets, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 4.7%

#38 H.E. Butt Grocery Company

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 4.9%

#53 Empire Company Limited

(Canada, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 6.8%

#54 Meijer, Inc.

(US, Hypermarket/Supercenter/Superstore)

5-Year CAGR: 5.3%

#58 Whole Foods Market, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 6.5%

#101 Metro Inc.

(Canada, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 2.4%

#102 Hy-Vee, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 5.4%

#107 Southeastern Grocers, LLC

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 2.3%

#115 Giant Eagle, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: -2.1%

#118 Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 5.5%

#146 WinCo Foods LLC

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 5.7%

#195 Demoulas Super Markets, Inc. (dba Market Basket)

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 4.5%

#199 Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA)

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: -4.3%

#195 Demoulas Super Markets, Inc. (dba Market Basket)

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 4.5%

#210 Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 21%

#215 Smart & Final Stores, Inc.

(US, Cash & Carry/Warehouse Club)

5-Year CAGR: 8.5%

#218 The Save Mart Companies (formerly Save Mart)

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 0%

#222 Stater Bros. Holdings Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 2.3%

#231 Save On Foods (formerly Overwaitea Food Group)

(Canada, Hypermarket/Supercenter/Superstore)

5-Year CAGR: 8.2%

#240 Ingles Markets, Inc.

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 1.5%

#250 The Golub Corporation

(US, Supermarket)

5-Year CAGR: 1.2%