America’s grocery shoppers have spoken, and they’ve said they like their regional chains. In Consumer Reports’ latest grocery store ratings of 96 chains, five regional grocers shared top marks for customer satisfaction. They are Texas-based Central Market; mid-Atlantic brand Wegmans; Heinen’s, located in Ohio and Chicagoland; Southern California-based Gelson’s Markets; and Market Basket in the Northeast. Trader Joe’s is the only national chain to earn a top overall satisfaction score.
The findings are based on survey responses from more than 75,000 Consumer Reports members, who provided ratings of the one or two supermarkets they visit most often. Consumer Reports asked members to judge supermarkets, warehouse clubs, and supercenters—mass merchandizers with on-premises groceries—on 13 grocery-store attributes, including cleanliness, price, food quality and variety, checkout speed and staff helpfulness, selection of healthy options and locally produced foods, and variety of international and multicultural foods.
Those surveyed said their top reason for shopping at a grocer was low prices. Among members who quit shopping at a particular store because they were dissatisfied, one of the most common reasons stated was that it was too expensive. Trader Joe’s and Market Basket, both among the top six highest-rated markets, gleaned top marks on competitive pricing.
Yet at the same time participants said they prized low prices, they placed several chains with higher-than-average prices at the top of the ratings. Gelson’s Markets, a 27-store California-based chain, for instance, was given the lowest mark for overall price competitiveness, and had a disappointing score for prices on organic options. Yet it was among the top-rated markets.
Despite being rated favorably in nearly every category—and getting a top mark for meats and poultry quality—Whole Foods earned a mediocre score for overall satisfaction. The reason? Perceived high prices. Participants gave it our bottom score, a red chevron, for competitiveness of prices, and an orange chevron for prices on organic options.
After price, produce quality and the variety of goods a store carried were among the most important reasons members chose to shop where they do. Central Market and Wegmans were the only stores in the ratings to excel not only in produce quality, but also in produce variety, selection of healthy options, selection of locally produced products, and variety of international products or multicultural foods.