You might consider going out of your way to shop at this beloved regional grocery store
We all have a favorite grocery store. You know the one, where your go-to staples and brands are always in stock, no matter what’s on your dinner menu. Maybe it has great prices, friendly workers or a top-tier rewards program. These backbones of American life have something for everyone: Do you like bargains? Fresh produce? A great bakery? Whatever your reason for stopping in, a good grocery store won’t let you down.
What about the “best” grocery store? We all have our favorite and will defend our choice until the last aisle is explored. But when it comes to the numbers, which one reigns supreme? Is it a supermarket behemoth, like Publix or Costco, a quirkier option, like Trader Joe’s, or even a local chain no one outside your state has ever heard of? Wonder no more: Dunnhumby, a customer data science and insights firm, crunched the numbers to figure out which grocery store is the best in the country.
Coming up, we dig into Dunnhumby’s report, called the 2025 Retailer Preference Index, to bring you the definitive list of the country’s top grocery stores—and why shoppers keep coming back for more. Keep reading to see if your favorite store made the list.
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How did the report determine the best grocery store?
To drill down on the best store, Dunnhumby took a three-pronged approach. First, they surveyed 11,000 shoppers from April to October 2025, asking them to rate up to three stores where they currently shop. This produced 81 stores that went on to the next phase for further analysis.
In the second phase, the company used complex data modeling to rank customer perception of these 81 stores within five key pillars:
- Price, Promotions and Rewards
- Quality
- Digital (including apps and online shopping)
- Speed and Convenience
- Operations
This second phase was intended to determine the relative importance of customer perceptions in achieving company goals and financial success. (Financial data was provided by Flywheel.) Finally, each store was assigned a score, called a Retailer Preference Index (RPI), and ranked according to how well-positioned it is for long-term success in the grocery market.
According to Dunnhumby, a higher RPI directly correlates to better financial success for grocery stores, or, as the report sought to quantify, “who’s winning and why.”
Which grocery store earned the top spot?
For the fourth year in a row, it’s H-E-B!
This will likely come as no surprise to Texans, who track H-E-B openings like they’re going on sale. The newest San Antonio H-E-B had fans lined up at dawn, and news that Dallas-Ft. Worth will finally get an H-E-B (after 120 years!) has sent shoppers into a frenzy. The San Antonio–based regional chain, which has more than 435 stores across Texas and Mexico, has dominated Dunnhundy’s rankings for five of the last nine years.
What makes H-E-B so popular?
With so many stores concentrated in a single region, H-E-B knows its customers. If you need some brisket queso or a specific type of hot sauce for your next backyard barbecue—or even the barbecue itself—you can find it at H-E-B. The regional chain is known for its friendly employees, called Partners, who know the local communities where they work.
H-E-B is beloved for its private label products, from basics like cheese, milk and bread to high-end gourmet deli goods. Curiously, while Dunnhumby’s report found that the Price, Promotions and Rewards pillar is most associated with long-term success, H-E-B did not crack the top 10 overall there. But they ranked No. 2 within the pillar for sales and promotions, and No. 3 for the perceived value of the H-E-B private label.
What other grocery stores topped the list?
The key takeaway from Dunnhumby’s report is that customers are looking for savings and value. Grocery stores that help shoppers cut down their overall grocery bill each month are where Americans are choosing to shop, and it’s not just H-E-B that’s giving customers exactly what they want.
Here is the complete ranking of the top 15 grocery stores in America, according to Dunnhumby:
- H-E-B
- Market Basket
- Woodman’s
- Costco
- Aldi
- WinCo Foods
- Trader Joe’s
- Amazon
- Wegmans
- ShopRite
- Walmart
- Walmart Neighborhood Market
- Publix
- Sam’s Club
- Lidl
RELATED:
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Sources:
- Dunnhumby: “Ninth Annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI) for U.S. Grocery”
- CBS News: “H-E-B hype grows as North Texas welcomes more stores”
- My San Antonio: “Massive, long-anticipated H-E-B finally opens along booming growth corridor”
