This grocery chain dominates the Triangle market, new report shows
North Carolina grocery stores have real followings.
These are not the shoppers who just stop into whichever market is nearest them for one or two things.
These are the Trader Joe’s fans who swear by the store’s house-brand versions of popular name-brand products, the Costco customers so devoted to the Kirkland brand that it generates more revenue than Nike or Coca-Cola, the Aldi shoppers who share their latest “aisle of shame” hauls on social media.
Talk to one of those superfans, and they may say there’s a clear answer as to which grocery store is the best.
Objectively, though, it’s harder to say which retailer is the best. What is possible is to compare how much money shoppers are spending at stores in the Triangle.
A recent report from Chain Store Guide, a sales-tracking firm that works directly with grocery stores to determine which ones have the highest market share, shows which grocery chain has the highest market share.
Top grocery stores in Raleigh area
The three chains with the highest market shares in Raleigh’s core-based statistical area (which includes Wake, Franklin and Johnston counties), remained the same from the previous report, which was based on 2023 sales.
- For the third year in a row, Walmart had the highest market share in the Raleigh CBSA. In 2024, the Arkansas-based company had a 20.97% market share, with $1.34 million in sales across its stores in the Raleigh CBSA.
- Harris Teeter had a 15.78% market share last year. Chain Store Guide, which produced the report, incorrectly labels some Harris Teeter stores as Kroger locations; in 2018, North Carolina-based Harris Teeter took over several Kroger locations across the Triangle, and there are no longer any Kroger stores in North Carolina.
- The No. 3 rank went to Food Lion, a North Carolina-based retailer, with a 14.91% market share. Food Lion operates the most stores of any company in the Raleigh CBSA, with more than 60 locations.
Top grocery stores in Durham/Chapel Hill area
The top three grocery stores in the Durham-Chapel Hill CBSA, which includes Durham, Orange, Chatham and Person counties, are the same as for the rest of the Triangle: Walmart, Harris Teeter and Food Lion, in that order.
- Walmart had a 21.27% market share, and Harris Teeter had a 20.27% market share in 2024. These two stores switched places since 2023, with Harris Teeter’s market share dropping from 24.82% and Walmart’s increasing from 20.27%.
- Food Lion’s market share was 15.87% in 2024, a slight increase from 2023.
