1 day Ago By [email protected] (Jay Wilson)
It's a hard time to be a grocery store. Over the last few years, grocery chains have had to battle a perfect storm of post-pandemic changes in customer behavior, rising prices from the cost of living crisis and the potential for tariffs, and advances in technology which have left physical stores more and more obsolete. This meant that 2024 saw the highest number of grocery stores closing since 2020, with folks turning to ordering groceries online to replace it.
"Not only do they want the best prices, but they also have no patience for stores that are constantly disorganized, out of stock, and that deliver poor customer service," says Deborah Weinswig, the CEO of Coresight Research, a firm which led analysis into current and future store closures across the U.S., via Business Wire .
Unfortunately, things are only going to get worse from here. Coresight Research also issued a grave prediction that 2025 is set to see even more closures, with as many as 15,000 stores closing its doors this year. Grocery stores are set to take a particular hit, and some of your favorites may be more in trouble than you think.
Giants like Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons are set to close several stores in 2025, and others are following suit. Let's take a look at some of the major chains set to shut some of their doors. 1.
Walmart On the surface, it seems like Walmart is untouchable. The world's largest company by revenue, it has approximately 4,600 stores across the United States of America, with thousands more across the world. However, even a business as mammoth as Walmart hasn't been immune to the economic shocks that have been ravaging retailers across the country, and as a result the normally affordable supermarket has had to raise its prices, with its eggs taking a particular hit.
This may well have left customers going elsewhere for their weekly grocery shopping, and certain stores in Walmart's line-up have suffered the consequences. The retail giant is closing a number of its stores in California throughout 2025, with others in Georgia and Ohio shutting up shop. It's also going through a reconfiguration on a higher level, with its North Carolina office closing, resulting in some job losses.
This is part of a broader move by the retailer to bolster its main hubs in California and Arkansas, but it's still not the best look for the company. If you're worried about Walmart going out of business any time soon, though, we wouldn't be. Over the next few years, Walmart is aiming to build or convert 150 additional stores, and remodel a large chunk of its existing locations.
The retailer states that this will see more jobs being created, which is welcome news. Now if they could just do something about those Walmart groceries that are gonna see a price jump , we'd be fine. 2.
Albertsons There's a lot of change happening when you shop at Albertsons . The massive grocery chain announced in 2022 that it would be acquired by Kroger, which would have allowed both companies to team up and take on their gargantuan competitors like Walmart and Costco more capably. The deal, however, ended up making its way to the courts, where judges disputed the claim that companies like Walmart were direct competitors for Albertsons and Kroger, and flagged concerns that the joining of the two would lead to market domination in certain areas.
As a consequence, the merger was blocked — and Albertsons has had to shoulder the consequences. In an earnings call in January 2025, Albertsons' leaders stated that they would be looking to close some stores over the coming year as part of a streamlining effort. The company had reached the conclusion that its portfolio of stores was outsized in some areas, while also pointing out that it would be looking to open stores elsewhere.
Albertsons didn't specify which stores would be closing (and it also pointed out that the closure process could extend to several years), but we wouldn't be too surprised if your local supermarket was a little worried. 3. Kroger Although Kroger has had a tough couple years, with its acquisition of Albertsons being scuppered before it got to the finish line and some food recalls it probably wants to forget , it's still managed to hold onto almost 2,800 stores across the country.
Sadly, though, it's looking as though a few of those will be closing pretty soon — and those doors have already started shutting. In late January, Kroger announced the closure of its Belle Meade Plaza store in Nashville. It was one of several businesses that has been affected by redevelopment plans in the area, with retail and residential units planned to be built in its place.
Kroger will also see its Sterling Ridge location close in The Woodlands, Texas, with a planned final operation date of May 6. Although its other stores in the area will stay active, this particular Kroger location has suffered from a change in shopping habits in the immediate area. The way people buy their groceries has quite simply changed, and low foot traffic has rendered this store obsolete.
The employees who currently work at the store will go through a reassignment process to hopefully work at other locations. 4. Winn-Dixie There's something cosy and vaguely nostalgic about Winn-Dixie, the Southeastern grocery chain that operates across five different states.
Perhaps that partly comes from its local feel, and partly from the fact that it's never been a massive chain that has made it to other parts of the country. Unfortunately, that's also made it a threat for the bigger sharks in the supermarket ocean. In 2023, Winn-Dixie was acquired by Aldi, giving the German retailer the ability to make big moves across the Southeastern market and the potential to shut and convert stores at its will.
Aldi also acquired Harvey's, another Southeastern favorite that may soon disappear from view completely. It looks like it's pressing on with its plans pretty quickly. Reports of Winn-Dixie stores closing or being converted are springing up regularly in 2025.
Two stores in Columbus and Phenix City have announced their closures in April and May, while others in Fort Lauderdale, Jackson, and Orlando have begun the conversion process into Aldis. In total, roughly 50 Winn-Dixie and Harvey's stores are due to be converted in the next 12 months or so. To be honest, we'd be surprised if any locations still existed at all by the end of the decade.
5. Safeway Someone needs to check on Safeway — we're not sure if it's alright. 2025 looks to be an incredibly tough year for the supermarket chain, with its stores closing across the country at warp speed.
In February, Safeway had to shut its Webster Street store in San Francisco, citing customer safety concerns and persistent occurrences of theft. The city itself has been roundly criticized for not thinking of a plan that can cover this store's closure, which has left its residents without any full-service grocery stores in the immediate area. Given that Safeway took its pharmacy with it, many people have been left without easy access to medication.
Elsewhere, Safeway's fortunes aren't looking much better. The retailer is set to close its Rockville Pike, Maryland store in April, although this information was revealed by the employees of the store itself and not a press release. Another store in the Bay Area is due to shut in mid-April, with safety concerns again cited by Safeway as the reason, although it did also mention financial pressures as a driver for ceasing operations.
Curiously, all of this has been done without any clear blow to Safeway's overall finances. In Q3 of 2024, it reported higher identical and digital sales, and for all intents and purposes appears to be a healthy company. Perhaps things are a bit more complicated than they appear, though.
6. Shaw's Part of the appeal of Shaw's is that it's always been a big fish in a relatively small pond, which has given it a sense of familiarity. The retailer operates its 125 stores exclusively in the New England region, and while it may not have the footprint of Walmart, it has a local feel that's a bit more cosy.
Unfortunately, that may not be lasting much longer. Shaw's recently announced that it was closing two of its stores in New England in 2025, and it could be the case that more are to follow. The Shaw's store closures in Gloucester, Massachusetts and Concord, New Hampshire were announced in mid-March, with employees being relocated to nearby locations.
"Like all retailers, we're constantly evaluating the performance of our stores," the retailer said in a statement seen via Boston.com . "Closing a location is always a tough decision, but we're focused on continuing to provide the products and services our customers value most.
" The good news is that there are dozens of locations in both states that are still operating, but it's never a good sign when a supermarket seems to be shutting up shop. 7. Amazon Fresh You would think that with the unstoppable march of Amazon taking over all our lives, and the frankly wild amount of money the company makes, its brick-and-mortar grocery concept Amazon Fresh would be able to get an immediate foothold on the market.
Well, interestingly, that hasn't quite been the case. In March 2025, the chain announced the closure of two of its stores California and Virginia, with the Virginia branch to close pretty much immediately and the California one to shut at the end of April. The branches had only been in operation for a couple years before they had to close, which raised question marks about whether Amazon Fresh's pitch of "frictionless" technology, where you can just walk out without having to scan anything, was appealing to customers.
People have already started dubbing them zombie stores , after all. However, Amazon was very keen to make the point that it was still committed to Amazon Fresh and figuring out exactly what works for customers. Perhaps it was just these few stores that didn't quite hit the mark, and we'd be surprised if it disappears completely any time soon.
However, we could be seeing the beginnings of a rare misstep for Amazon. 8. Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly has to take the award for the grocery chain with the most charming name.
However, even that can't save it from having to close its stores. 2025 will see several of its branches closing, and while its presence in the South is still pretty strong, it's made us question how long this iconic brand can last. It all started going awry in January, when the Piggly Wiggly in Lanett, Alabama announced that it was closing.
The closure put an end to the long presence that Piggly Wiggly had in the community. Things got even worse from there on in, with a beloved Piggly Wiggly in Columbia, South Carolina announcing that it was shutting its doors for the final time in March. Nicknamed "The Social Pig," the store was a favorite of locals and university students alike, and was well-known as being a fixture in Columbia.
"Our lease has expired, and being unable to effectuate another that would continue the store as Piggly Wiggly, it is my sad duty to announce that our iconic Pig on Devine — the 'Social Pig' — is closing," said operator Darrell Miller in a post on Facebook . "I submit our sincere thanks to the residents of the surrounding communities and the Greater Columbia area for your steadfast and generous support over the past fifty years. You have blessed us.
" The post was flooded with comments in tribute to the store. These places matter, folks. 9.
Dollar General Dollar General may be a discount store, but it takes its income and profit margins very seriously. The chain, which sells discount groceries as well as a host of other goods, operates thousands of stores around the country, and it's not afraid to make bold moves when some of them aren't working. This was proven in a Q4 2024 investor call, in which Dollar General announced that it had conducted a "store portfolio optimization review.
" This is intense corporate talk for "we checked how much money our stores were making, and some of them need to go." As a result, Dollar General told investors that it was to close 96 of its stores by the start of 2026. It also noted that it was going to convert six of its pOpshelf stores to Dollar General outlets in the same period, and close pOpshelf stores as well.
This is a pretty dramatic move from the chain, and could see plenty of folks without a local Dollar General to buy cut-price goods from — which, at a time like this, isn't great news. The store didn't indicate which stores were going to be closed, but we should expect further announcements very soon..
