Six years ago, grocery shoppers were extremely pleased with Wegmans, ranking it best among all grocery stores on a closely-watched annual list. It was the third time the fan-favorite chain topped the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
So what happened?
The ACSI’s latest annual ranking is out, and Wegmans has plummeted six percentage points in customer satisfaction, dropping it down to the respectable but unimpressive “solidly average” portion of the list.
That’s the biggest change on this year’s list, which otherwise doesn’t differ a whole lot from last year. Across 19 major chains (and one catchall “all others” category) ranked in the survey, eight have the same customer satisfaction score as last year, while seven shifted only a single percentage point. The big winners are Trader Joe’s and Save A Lot, which showed the most improvement, while Hy-Vee and Albertsons join Wegmans as the biggest losers year-over-year.
For more than three decades, ACSI has asked tens of thousands of shoppers to evaluate their recent experiences at their local grocery stores, rating the retailers on a scale of 1-100. The grocery industry as a whole earned a score of 78 this year, down one point from last year, “as supermarkets continue to struggle amid inflationary prices and stiff competition,” the ACSI noted.
When shoppers were asked to rate their satisfaction with specific store attributes, grocers fared worst with speed of checkout. Dissatisfaction with the frequency of sales and promotions was not far behind, though both were up slightly from last year. Along with convenience of store hours and location, shoppers expressed the greatest satisfaction with online attributes – satisfaction with their store’s website, its mobile app, and the ease of the pickup process. “These patterns align with broader retail findings from 2025, which emphasized the growing importance of value, app performance, fulfillment accuracy, and seamless omnichannel execution,” the ACSI noted.
Here now are this year’s rankings, featuring a familiar name atop the list, a repeat offender at the bottom, and plenty of satisfied and dissatisfied shoppers in between:
1. Trader Joe’s (86)
Tied with Publix last year, Trader Joe’s improved two points to claim the top spot for itself this year. The grocery chain is no stranger to the upper levels of this list – it’s the seventh time in eight years it’s been tied or sitting solo at number one. As it continues to grow, with more than 600 locations across the country, “Trader Joe’s manages to maintain its hallmark customer experience,” the ACSI observed. So in this case, it appears bigger really does mean better.
2. Publix (84)
Publix held steady with the same score as last year. That was enough for second place, given Trader Joe’s improvement. While it’s usually in the top three or higher, Publix hasn’t had the top spot all to itself since 2018. But its score has consistently been 80 or above, so there’s something to be said for consistency – even if the competition is getting steeper.
3. H-E-B (83)
H-E-B was one of only three grocers to improve over last year, increasing a modest one point in the survey. The Texas-based grocery chain topped a recent dunnhumby survey of top performers, “due to its superior ability to deliver a combination of better savings, quality, experience, and assortment.” The ACSI largely agreed with that assessment, citing H-E-B’s “strong value proposition and execution as drivers of its continued success in an inflation-sensitive environment.”
4. Sam’s Club (82)
Sam’s Club slipped a point in this year’s grocery satisfaction survey, but that’s not causing the retailer to lose any sleep. Sam’s is included in both the grocery and general merchandise rankings, and it held on to the number-one spot on the general merchandise list, besting other club stores, dollar stores, department stores and big-box stores. For a retailer that sells a lot more than groceries, reaching number four on the grocery satisfaction list is as good as a win.
5. Whole Foods/Costco/ALDI (tie, 81)
This year’s list has clear winners, as seen above – and losers, yet to come. Many other grocers, however, find themselves clumped together in the middle. You probably couldn’t come up with a more unlikely trio sharing fifth place, with low-cost ALDI, high-end Whole Foods and club store Costco earning the very same satisfaction score. But different shoppers have different needs – the customer base of these three stores may not overlap much, but all of them appear to be equally satisfied.
8. Target/ShopRite/”All others” (tie, 79)
Target and ShopRite each slip one notch to tie with “all others,” otherwise known as the average score of every grocery chain too small to be listed in the rankings individually. Target is in the midst of a multi-year effort to improve its grocery business, while ShopRite is typically well-regarded in the Northeast for having good promotions and deals. But each apparently has some work to do, to distinguish them from the “others.”
11. Wegmans/Save A Lot/Meijer/Kroger/Ahold Delhaize (tie, 78)
The average score for all grocery chains is 78. Few would dispute that the likes of Kroger, Meijer and Ahold Delhaize-owned stores like Food Lion and Giant are anything other than average. For Save A Lot, though, average is an improvement, as its satisfaction gain of four points is the largest this year. “In 2025, the company expanded its loyalty program and mobile app while implementing widespread store refreshes, reopening initiatives, and layout improvements,” the ACSI noted. “These efforts seem to be contributing to a more efficient, streamlined in-store experience.” As for Wegmans? It’s gone from top tier to average. “According to ACSI data, customers are less pleased with their in-store experiences for factors such as store layout, staff courtesy, and checkout speed,” the survey-takers found. From its upstate New York base, Wegmans has grown rapidly, to more than 100 stores, expanding as far south as North Carolina. Expansion hasn’t hurt Trader Joe’s. It appears the same cannot be said for Wegmans.
16. BJ’s Wholesale Club (77)
We now find ourselves in the below-average category, where BJ’s is the first entrant. Its score stayed steady from last year, but that’s nothing to brag about, since last year’s score was the result of a five-point slide from the year before. Back then, it was in the upper tier, tied with Target, Wegmans and Whole Foods. Now it finds itself with plenty of room for improvement.
17. Hy-Vee (76)
Next to Wegmans’ six-point drop, Hy-Vee suffered one of the worst declines this year, its score slipping three points to a below-average 76. Four years ago, the Midwestern grocer announced ambitious plans to expand into four new states. So far, those plans have stalled. While expansion seems to be working for Trader Joe’s and working against Wegmans, when it comes to Hy-Vee, standing still doesn’t appear to be a winning strategy, either.
18. Walmart (75)
“We’re number 18!” That doesn’t sound like something to brag about, but it’s a definite improvement. Walmart was dead last on the ACSI list for an astounding nineteen years. Last year, it surged into second-worst place. This year, third-worst. If it continues on this trajectory, number-one just might be in reach, by the year 2043.
19. Albertsons (74)
Along with Hy-Vee, Albertsons suffered a three-point decline this year, dropping it below longtime basement-dweller Walmart for the first time. The two actually tied for last place back in 2021. So second-to-last isn’t good – but for Albertsons, it could be worse.
20. Giant Eagle (73)
Last year’s loser is this year’s loser, too. For the first time, Giant Eagle was alone in bringing up the rear last year, and it repeats that performance this time around, while declining one point in the process. “The worst of the worst,” a recent Yelp reviewer wrote. “Always busy and over priced,” another observed. A third reviewer cited “lines, cashier shortages, no one to help in self checkout when you have restricted items, bakery looks like it is always closed with no lights on, deli has slow wait times and you can hear them complaining about their job loads, rude customer service.” With reviews like that, a score of 73 might be generous.
With shoppers expressing plenty of dissatisfaction with grocery prices these days, the fact that most grocers’ satisfaction scores stayed pretty steady year-over-year is a notable achievement for the industry. Trader Joe’s is certainly pleased, while Giant Eagle is used to disappointment by now. But Wegmans has more work to do than most, as it will need to decide whether to work to reverse its slide to “fair” from “favorite” – or simply accept being average.
Image source: Wegmans
