What grocery store is most popular in Illinois? See which 5 retailers are most visited

At more than 20 million visits to Illinois stores in the past two years, Walmart leads grocery retailers in the state for popularity.

The superstore, with 161 locations in Illinois, tallied more than 20.6 million visits from March 2020 through February 2022, according to sample foot traffic data.

The sample visitation data, provided by SafeGraph, shows foot traffic among five retailers offering groceries in Illinois – ALDI, Costco, Jewel-Osco, Meijer and Walmart. A stay at the location for more than 4 minutes was considered a visit.

The traffic counts may come as little surprise as Walmart Inc., while offering much more than groceries, remains the nation’s biggest food retailer. During the pandemic, it saw sales soar, including a 74% increase in online sales during the first months of coronavirus-related shutdowns. Total revenue for Walmart’s fiscal 2022 year came to $572.8 billion, up 2.4% over the prior year, the company reported in an earnings release Feb. 17.

Jewel-Osco proved the second most popular grocery location in the state by foot traffic, according to SafeGraph sample data, with more than 6 million visits over the same period. That chain has 183 stores across the state.

With Illinois shoppers generally clocking around 1.4 million monthly visits across the five retailers listed, traffic spiked considerably in December 2021. Of the more than 3 million grocery visits recorded that month, trips to Walmart accounted for nearly two-thirds of them.

Note: This graphic will automatically update as new data become available.

This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.