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New Report: This Is America’s Most Trusted Grocery Store in 2026

Raise your hand if you’ve ever left the grocery store, looked at your receipt and thought, Wait … I spent HOW much?! Same. With grocery bills taking a serious bite out of our budgets, we want to know the store we’re shopping at has quality food, fair prices and products we can feel good about feeding our families. (Is that really too much to ask?)

So, which grocery store has earned shoppers’ trust the most? With so many options—from major chains like Aldi, Costco, Trader Joe’s and one of my personal go-to’s, Whole Foods—choosing where to fill your cart isn’t always easy. Luckily, there’s a new ranking that helps narrow it down.

Newsweek and the research firm BrandSpark International teamed up to reveal the results of the 2026 BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, an annual ranking recognizing the brands Americans trust most. When it comes to grocery stores, one retailer came out on top.

Read on to find out America’s most trusted grocery store for 2026—and why shoppers keep putting their trust in it.

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How did this report determine the most trusted grocery stores of 2026?

Newsweek and BrandSpark went straight to the people who know grocery stores best: the folks actually shopping in them. They surveyed a whopping 35,215 American shoppers to find out which brands—including grocery stores—they trust most across different categories and regions. (Because if anyone knows whether a supermarket deserves our hard-earned grocery money, it’s us!)

And this isn’t some brand-new survey, either. BrandSpark’s annual consumer study has been running continuously since 2013, meaning shoppers have had a chance to weigh in on the names they use and trust for 13 years and counting.

So what is the most trusted grocery store right now?

Walmart takes the crown, and it didn’t exactly squeak by.

In the 2026 BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, shoppers put Walmart at the top in a seriously impressive range of grocery categories. It also dominated the superstore category across all four U.S. regions.

Here’s where Walmart ranked No. 1:

  • Conventional supermarket: South region
  • Discount supermarket (tie): West region, tied with Grocery Outlet
  • Grocery store for customer service: Overall winner
  • Grocery store for low prices/affordability: South and West regions
  • Grocery store for store-brand/private-label products: Overall winner
  • Supermarket for quick and easy shopping: Overall winner
  • Supermarket for sales and promotions: Overall winner
  • Superstore/hypermarket: Midwest, Northeast, South and West regions
  • Grocery pickup and delivery: Overall winner

Walmart also showed up near the top in plenty of other grocery categories, including No. 2 for conventional supermarkets in the Midwest, Northeast and West, as well as No. 2 for low prices in the Midwest and Northeast. It even tied for No. 2 in natural and organic foods.

Which other grocery stores earned top honors?

Walmart wasn’t the only grocer collecting bragging rights. Here are the other familiar supermarket names that took top honors.

  • Aldi: The discount darling secured the second-highest number of wins overall and dominated categories tied to affordability and convenient, smaller-format shopping. Aldi ranked No. 1 for discount supermarket in the Midwest, Northeast and South; No. 1 for low prices/affordability in the Midwest and Northeast; and No. 1 for small-format grocery store across the Midwest, Northeast and South.
  • Kroger: Loyalty paid off for Kroger, which earned the No. 1 grocery loyalty program spot and was also named the No. 1 conventional supermarket (non-discount) in the Midwest.
  • Whole Foods: For shoppers who prioritize organic and natural foods, Whole Foods came out on top as the No. 1 grocery store for natural/organic foods.
  • Trader Joe’s: The fan-favorite grocer, Trader Joe’s proved that good things can come in smaller packages, earning the No. 1 spot for small-format grocery store in the West.
  • ShopRite: A Northeast staple, ShopRite ranked No. 1 for conventional supermarket (non-discount) in the Northeast.
  • Safeway: Out West, Safeway took the crown as the No. 1 conventional supermarket (non-discount).
  • Grocery Outlet: Grocery Outlet tied with Walmart for the No. 1 discount supermarket in the West.

Were there any big surprises here?

Plenty! Walmart delivered the biggest plot twists, knocking some longtime favorites out of the top spots, while discount grocers continued gaining ground. Here are some of the most shocking changes from 2025.

  • Walmart won more categories: Walmart jumped from eight wins to twelve. Most surprisingly, it took the No. 1 spot for store-brand/private-label products from H-E-B and the No. 1 spot for customer service from Publix, which has long been known for its standout service.
  • Walmart shook up the South: Walmart also overtook Kroger and Publix in conventional supermarkets.
  • Aldi strengthened its dominance: It ranked No. 1 for low prices in the Midwest and Northeast and No. 1 for discount and small-format grocery stores in the Midwest, Northeast and South.
  • The study got bigger: 35,215 shoppers participated in 2026, up from 29,420 in 2025.

Sources:

What's the Cheapest Grocery Store in the U.S.?

The Real Reason Grocery Stores Play Music

The Truth About Cold Air in Grocery Stores

The post New Report: This Is America’s Most Trusted Grocery Store in 2026 appeared first on Reader's Digest.



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