What is the most popular grocery store in NC? These are the 5 places shoppers love most

Out of five major grocery store chains in North Carolina, one saw millions more visits than its competitors over the last two years.

From February 2020 to this January, North Carolinians made more than 23 million trips to Walmart – far more than any other store in the state.

Data complied from SafeGraph shows grocery store foot traffic at five grocery store chains in N.C.: Walmart, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Ingles Markets and ALDI.

Food Lion was the second-most visited store at around 9.5 million visits, followed by Harris Teeter, Ingles and ALDI.

Here are some takeaways from the data:

• Grocery store visits spiked in December, as shoppers stepped up their holiday purchases.
• Visits slightly declined from March 2020 to April 2020, when stores adjusted their hours in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Nearly 3 million trips were made to Walmart, Harris Teeter and Ingles in January as people stocked up for snow storms.

This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 6:34 PM.

Evan Moore

The Charlotte Observer

Evan Moore is a service journalism reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He grew up in Denver, North Carolina, where he previously worked as a reporter for the Denver Citizen, and is a UNC Charlotte graduate.