The Best Grocery Store of 2024 Was Just Revealed—and It Might Not Be the One You Were Expecting

When we think of the best grocery store chains in the United States, a few things come to mind: a loyal customer base, fresh food, constant rotation of new and fan-favorite seasonal items, cleanliness and customer service. Retailers like Costco and Trader Joe’s are generally who lead the pack in providing an all around satisfactory shopping experience, which is who we’d expect to find at the top of any “best of” list these days.

In light of USA Today’s recently released, annual 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, we took a deep dive into the publications ranking of 10 best grocery store chains and found quite a surprising lineup at the top of the list. USA Today employed its editors and a panel of experts to round up a list of nominees, then requested the opinions of the readers to pick their favorite chains by casting votes. The results? Well, it might not be what you were expecting.

Beating out the likes of Publix and Aldi while populating the top five—along with The Fresh Market, Heinen’s, Gelson’s Market and Stew Leonard’s—the midwest-born grocery chain Hy-Vee found itself in this year's top position. The fan-favorite employee-owned establishment successfully operates over 285 stores across eight states, and has actually ranked pretty high in previous years of the USA Today choice awards. This year is the first year Hy-Vee has secured the first place position, however, the grocer came extremely close last year with a second-place finish.

Related: We Got a Sneak Peek of Some of the Aldi German Week Groceries and Found Our New Favorite Fall Snack

Along with its coveted first place position, Hy-Vee pulled off two other note-worthy finishes on this year's list. The midwestern grocery chain was voted first in “best fresh produce” and second in “best prepared food,” respectively.

Hy-Vee is known for their homegrown produce, which is grown in conjunction with hundreds of local farms across the eight states the chain operates in. All fruits and vegetables sold at Hy-Vee are grown within 200 miles of each store, making super-fresh items the norm at each location with prices that can compete with any other grocer in the area.

In terms of prepared foods, Hy-Vee offers the likes of stuffed mushrooms, meatloaf and chicken enchilada dinners on a daily basis. The beloved grocery chain even offers a Mealtime to Go system which allows shoppers to order ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve meals online for curbside pickup. Breakfast biscuits and gravy in the morning and Asian beef and broccoli for dinner are just a couple of the delicious options made available to shoppers.

Grocers such as Fresh Thyme Market, Wegmans and Trader Joe’s populated the bottom of the list. Each of which landed right behind the southern behemoth, Publix, who ended up in a pretty shocking position itself at number six. And with national chains like Costco being left off the list entirely, it makes you wonder if the popular bulk retailer will make any changes in the future to hopefully secure a position on next year’s ranking. Check out the full top 10 ranking here to read more about your favorite grocery chains.

Up Next:

Related: Aldi Is Selling a $13 Version of a Popular Kitchen Gadget That's Nearly 7x the Price