Grocery stores were put in the spotlight during the pandemic. They became essential shops that had to operate in order for people to be fed in the midst of a global pandemic that closed up many other food sources like restaurants. They did the best they could to keep the shelves stocked when shipments were delayed and put regulations on bulk buying to make sure there was enough for everyone. As the world started to open back up after quarantine, grocery stores faced a new problem, finding staff.
No one wanted to go back to work, some were scared of Covid and others found new jobs working from home or doing gig jobs like Uber and GrubHub. Even with all of that, companies within the grocery market have raked in billions in the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
This helpful graph from howtocook.recipes ranks the top fifty food retailers in the US based on sales. There are big box stores like Walmart and the wholesaler they also own, Sam’s Club and mass merchandisers like Amazon who owns Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go. There are also drug stores like Walgreens and DuaneReade and dollar stores like Dollar General, and Dollar Tree which also owns Family Dollar.
Dollar General is actually the company on this list with the most store locations. Ranked 12 for sales with $33.75 billion in 2020-2021 Dollar General has 17,266 locations across the US. The Kroger company which sits at #3 on the list with sales over $132 billion has 20 different companies beneath them including Ralphs, FredMeyer and King Soopers.
The Albertsons grocery company also owns many other retailers. Safeway, Vons and Shaws helped them rake in $69.69 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
The top ten companies on the list are as follows:
Walmart $433.9
Amazon $236.28
Kroger $132.5
Costco $122.14
Walgreens $107.7
Target $92.4
CVS $91.2
Albertsons $69.69
Ahold Delhaize USA $51.84
Publix Super Markets $44.86
