Market Force: Wegmans is country's favorite grocery

• Research firm asking roughly 10,00 shoppers to rate their experience put Wegmans on top of list.

A Colorado-based research firm asking shoppers to rate their overall grocery store experience has found that Wegmans Food Markets is the country’s favorite grocery retailer.

Market Force released on Wednesday the findings of its online study, conducted in February, of 10,025 consumers ages 18 and older across the United States.

Wegmans earned the highest overall Composite Loyalty Index of 76 percent, pushing Trader Joe's off the top spot for the first time in four years. Other grocers operating in the Rochester area making the Top 10 of the list include Aldi (No. 5) and Costco (No. 6).

Wegmans, founded in 1916, did not make the ranking last year after failing to garner enough votes. Florida-based Publix Super Markets ranked second for the fourth year in a row with a score of 75 percent.

Market Force said Wegmans is known for its fresh produce, reasonable prices and massive stores, and through modest expansion is steadily "winning over more devoted customers along the way."

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The chain has publicly released details on 13 new sites that it’s working to build in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts. Wegmans posted sales of $7.9 billion last year.

The locally based chain has said that roughly 4,000 people from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Canada contacted Wegmans last year requesting a new store in their area.

Wegmans also received high marks for cleanliness, availability and ease of finding items, its specialty service departments and fast checkouts. It ranked eighth in overall value and did not register in the top 10 in the sales and promotions category, according to Market Force’s report.

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Aldi, which has several stores in the Rochester area, was ranked as best value for the money and was second best for fast checkouts. Trader Joe's was listed tops for cashier courtesy. ShopRite, another area operator, was tops for sales and promotions.

TCLAUSEN@Gannett.com