5 Grocery Store Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

•

Updated: July 24th, 2023

Start A Grocery Store

A grocery store sells a wide variety of food products, fresh or packaged, and other household & personal care items. The grocery store industry is the largest retail channel that makes $682 billion in the United States.

To start a basic grocery store, you can expect to spend a minimum of $50,000. Ideally, the bigger expense would be the rent, equipment, labor cost, cash registers/POS systems, and software. Some of these are recurring monthly fees. However, the location, size of the store, competitors, and local customers will significantly impact the business. A new grocer should sell more items for a lower price to make a more significant profit.

A new grocer can also save costs by buying the items from local distributors. The distributor is the middleman between the manufacturer and the grocery store selling it. Once the store cost and location are decided, the next step is to obtain a seller license. In most states, a grocer's license is required to run a grocery store.

Thus an average grocery store has a profit margin of 3% to 5%. The profit rates depend on the store's location, size, and popularity. On average, a small to medium grocery store can make a profit of up to $300,000 annually if all the profit factors are considered.

Another way to make your business more profitable is to diversify your store and add amenities like a coffee shop or stocking up the front of the store with magazines, batteries, etc., as these items can cross a margin of up to 70%. As a rule of thumb, offering lower prices on higher purchases will ultimately win more customers and increase profitability.

Here are some real life success stories of starting a grocery store:

Learn more about starting a grocery store:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a grocery store?
-> Pros and cons of a grocery store

Need inspiration?

-> Examples of established grocery store
-> Marketing ideas for a grocery store
-> Grocery store Instagram bios

Other resources

Part of

Starting A Grocery Store: Everything You Need To Know

‹

›

3. Kroger

Check Phone, Address, Reviews, Complaints, Compliments and Similar Businesses to Kroger - Retail Store - Kroger - Retail Store - Nashville - 456 E Saint Louis St

Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Website traffic: 33M/month

4. BigBasket

The best online grocery store in India. bigbasket is an online supermarket for all your daily needs. Online shopping now made easy with a wide range of groceries and home needs.

How much they make:
Current team size: 7051
Website traffic: 12.8M/month

5. Publix Super Markets

Welcome to Publix Super Markets. We are the largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the United States. We are successful because we are committed to making shopping a pleasure at our stores while striving to be the premier quality food retailer in the world. This site provides a wide range of information and special features dedicated to delivering exceptional value to our online community of customers and visitors.

Where they're located: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Website traffic: 14.1M/month