The landscape of brick-and-mortar retail in the United States remains dominated by a select group of industry titans that have successfully navigated the digital transformation era while maintaining extensive physical store networks. Despite widespread predictions about the demise of traditional retail in the face of e-commerce growth, these retail giants have demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability. As of 2025, the five largest brick-and-mortar retailers in America operate thousands of locations across the nation, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue while employing millions of workers and serving tens of millions of customers daily.

These retail powerhouses span diverse sectors including discount department stores, warehouse clubs, home improvement centers, and supermarket chains. Each has carved out a distinct market position through strategic differentiation, whether through everyday low pricing, membership-based models, specialized product categories, or expansive food offerings. Understanding the scale, strategies, and performance of these retail leaders provides crucial insights into consumer behavior, economic trends, and the evolving nature of American commerce as physical stores continue adapting to meet changing customer expectations in an increasingly omnichannel retail environment.

Walmart: The Undisputed Leader in American Retail

Walmart stands as the largest retailer not only in the United States but globally, maintaining an unrivaled position in brick-and-mortar retail that no competitor approaches. As of fiscal year 2024, Walmart operated 4,606 stores across the United States, comprising 3,559 Supercenters, 347 discount stores, 700 Neighborhood Markets, and additional formats. The retail behemoth generated fiscal 2024 revenue of 648 billion dollars, representing a 6 percent increase from the previous year, with 84 percent of total sales originating from United States operations. This massive scale translates to Walmart capturing approximately 10 percent of the total retail market share in America, making it the dominant force in consumer spending across multiple product categories.

Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, Walmart built its empire on a simple yet powerful value proposition: everyday low prices combined with extensive product selection. The company’s Supercenters, which account for the majority of its United States footprint, typically span 180,000 square feet and offer everything from groceries and apparel to electronics, pharmacy services, automotive care, and financial services under one roof. This one-stop shopping experience attracts an estimated 255 million customers weekly to Walmart stores globally, with the vast majority of those visits occurring at United States locations. The company’s relentless focus on cost efficiency, sophisticated supply chain management, and enormous purchasing power enable it to offer prices that competitors struggle to match while still maintaining profitability.

Walmart’s physical retail dominance extends beyond mere store count and revenue figures to encompass significant cultural and economic influence. The company employs approximately 1.6 million associates in the United States alone, making it one of the nation’s largest private employers. Nearly 90 percent of the American population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store, ensuring accessibility that few retailers can replicate. This proximity, combined with the retailer’s extensive product assortment and competitive pricing, has made Walmart the primary shopping destination for millions of American families, particularly those in suburban and rural communities where retail options may be more limited.

The retail giant has successfully integrated digital capabilities with its physical store network, developing a robust omnichannel strategy that leverages its extensive real estate footprint as a competitive advantage against pure e-commerce players. Walmart’s e-commerce operations generated 60.41 billion dollars in net sales during fiscal year 2024, representing substantial growth in online grocery pickup and delivery services that utilize stores as fulfillment centers. This approach, which turns physical locations into assets rather than liabilities in the digital age, has enabled Walmart to capture 6.4 percent of the United States retail e-commerce market, positioning it as the second-largest online retailer in America behind Amazon while maintaining its brick-and-mortar supremacy.

Costco Wholesale: The Membership Model Success Story

Costco Wholesale Corporation holds the distinction of being the third-largest retailer in the United States and ranks among the most successful warehouse club operators globally. The company operated approximately 600 warehouse locations across the United States as of 2024, with total worldwide warehouse count reaching approximately 900 stores. Costco generated total revenue of 254.453 billion dollars in fiscal year 2024, representing an 8.17 percent increase year-over-year, with United States operations accounting for 176.6 billion dollars of that total. This remarkable financial performance stems from Costco’s unique membership-based business model, which requires customers to pay annual fees for shopping privileges while offering significantly discounted prices on bulk merchandise.

The warehouse club format pioneered by Costco differs fundamentally from traditional retail in both presentation and economics. Costco warehouses typically exceed 140,000 square feet and feature a no-frills approach with products displayed on industrial shelving, often in their original shipping containers. This stripped-down presentation reduces labor costs while reinforcing the value proposition. The company maintains a strict limited-assortment strategy, stocking approximately 3,700 active stock keeping units compared to tens of thousands at traditional retailers. This curated selection focuses on high-velocity items and creates a treasure hunt shopping experience where desirable products may appear temporarily before disappearing, encouraging frequent visits and impulse purchases among the approximately 76 million paid members worldwide.

Costco’s financial model relies heavily on membership fee revenue, which contributed 4.83 billion dollars to the company’s bottom line in fiscal 2024. These fees accounted for approximately 1.9 percent of total revenue but represented an extraordinary 65.5 percent of Costco’s net operating income. This unique revenue structure allows Costco to operate on razor-thin merchandise margins, typically adding only 11 to 14 percent markup to product costs compared to 25 to 50 percent markups common in traditional retail. The company essentially breaks even or accepts minimal profit on product sales, instead deriving the majority of its profit from recurring membership fees. This alignment of interests between company and customer creates powerful customer loyalty, with membership renewal rates consistently exceeding 90 percent in the United States and Canada.

The membership model creates a virtuous cycle that strengthens Costco’s competitive position. Members who pay annual fees are incentivized to concentrate their spending at Costco to maximize value from their membership investment. This concentrated spending enables Costco to negotiate better prices from suppliers due to higher volume commitments, which translates to even lower prices for members, further encouraging loyalty and spending concentration. The average Costco warehouse generates approximately 250 million dollars in annual sales, with top-performing locations exceeding 500 million dollars, making Costco stores among the most productive retail spaces in the world on a per-square-foot basis.

The Home Depot: Dominating Home Improvement Retail

The Home Depot operates as the largest home improvement retailer in the world, maintaining leadership in a specialized retail category that serves both do-it-yourself consumers and professional contractors. The company operated 2,322 stores in the United States as of fiscal year 2024, with additional locations in Canada and Mexico bringing total store count to approximately 2,300 worldwide. Home Depot generated revenue of 152.669 billion dollars in fiscal year 2024, with the vast majority originating from United States operations. Despite facing temporary headwinds from elevated interest rates and cooling housing markets, Home Depot maintains dominant market share in the home improvement category, far outpacing its closest competitor Lowe’s.

Founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, Home Depot revolutionized the home improvement retail category by creating warehouse-style stores stocked with tens of thousands of products for home renovation, repair, and maintenance projects. The typical Home Depot store spans approximately 105,000 square feet of indoor retail space plus substantial outdoor garden centers, offering more than 30,000 to 40,000 different products ranging from lumber and building materials to tools, appliances, lighting, plumbing supplies, paint, flooring, and outdoor equipment. This comprehensive selection combined with knowledgeable staff assistance transformed home improvement shopping from fragmented visits to multiple specialty stores into convenient one-stop shopping experiences.

Home Depot’s customer base splits relatively evenly between professional contractors and do-it-yourself homeowners, with each segment contributing roughly half of total sales. The professional segment includes general contractors, remodelers, electricians, plumbers, painters, and other trade professionals who appreciate Home Depot’s extensive inventory, early store opening hours, specialized tools rental services, and dedicated Pro desks for expedited checkout and bulk ordering. The DIY segment comprises homeowners tackling their own projects who benefit from in-store workshops, project guides, tool rental options, and installation services for complex projects like flooring, roofing, or HVAC systems. This dual-customer strategy provides revenue diversification and stability across economic cycles.

Product categories at Home Depot reflect the comprehensive nature of home improvement needs. Indoor garden products, which include houseplants, gardening tools, seeds, fertilizers, and outdoor power equipment, generated 14.7 billion dollars in sales, making it one of the retailer’s strongest categories. Building materials including lumber, concrete, drywall, and insulation represent another major category driven largely by professional contractor purchases. Kitchen and bath products, electrical and lighting, plumbing, hardware, paint, and flooring each contribute billions in annual sales. Home Depot has also expanded into adjacent categories including appliances, home décor, smart home technology, and outdoor living products to capture a larger share of customer home improvement spending.

The Kroger Company: America’s Largest Supermarket Chain

The Kroger Company operates as the largest traditional supermarket chain in the United States by revenue and store count, maintaining a dominant position in the highly competitive grocery retail sector. Kroger operated 2,719 grocery stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia as of 2024, operating under multiple banners including Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fry’s, QFC, and numerous other regional brands. The company generated revenue of approximately 150 billion dollars in fiscal year 2024, making it the fifth-largest retailer in the United States. Beyond supermarkets, Kroger’s operations include 1,642 fuel centers, 2,254 pharmacies, 33 manufacturing plants, and 225 in-store medical clinics, creating an integrated food and health ecosystem serving millions of American households weekly.

Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio as a single grocery store, the company has grown through steady expansion and strategic acquisitions to become a grocery powerhouse concentrated primarily in the South, Midwest, and Western United States. Kroger’s store formats vary to serve different market needs, including 134 multi-department stores, 2,273 combination food and drug stores, 191 marketplace stores featuring expanded general merchandise selections, and 121 price-impact warehouse stores. This format diversity allows Kroger to compete effectively across different price points and shopping occasions, from quick grocery fill-ins to major weekly shopping trips and one-stop shopping for groceries plus general merchandise.

Kroger’s competitive strategy emphasizes quality private label products, personalized customer experiences through loyalty programs, and competitive pricing enabled by operational efficiency. The company’s private label brands including Simple Truth, Private Selection, and the Kroger brand itself generate billions in annual sales while typically offering better profit margins than national brands. Kroger’s loyalty program attracts tens of millions of active members who receive personalized digital coupons, fuel points discounts, and tailored promotional offers based on purchase history. This data-driven personalization creates stickiness that helps Kroger compete against Walmart’s everyday low prices and warehouse clubs’ bulk value propositions.

The supermarket industry faces intense competitive pressure from multiple directions including Walmart Supercenters that dedicate significant floor space to groceries, warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club, German discount chains Aldi and Lidl expanding in the United States, and e-commerce players including Amazon Fresh. Kroger has responded by investing heavily in digital capabilities including online ordering with curbside pickup and home delivery, automated fulfillment centers, and partnerships with delivery services. The company’s Kroger Delivery platform, supported by automated customer fulfillment centers, aims to transform online grocery economics while maintaining the convenience that drives e-commerce adoption.

Walgreens Boots Alliance: Pharmacy and Convenience Leader

Walgreens Boots Alliance represents a unique entry among America’s largest brick-and-mortar retailers, operating primarily in the pharmacy and health services category rather than general merchandise or groceries. The company operated approximately 8,600 Walgreens-branded stores across the United States as of 2024, making it one of the most extensive retail footprints in America with locations strategically positioned in high-traffic areas including street corners, shopping centers, and residential neighborhoods. While Walgreens faced financial challenges in recent years resulting in planned store closures, it remains a dominant force in pharmaceutical retail and an important provider of healthcare services through its extensive brick-and-mortar presence.

The Walgreens store format centers on pharmacy services as the primary customer draw, with prescription medication fulfillment accounting for a substantial portion of total sales. Beyond prescriptions, Walgreens stores stock health and wellness products including over-the-counter medications, vitamins, personal care items, beauty products, and convenience goods like snacks, beverages, and household essentials. Many locations feature photo services, seasonal merchandise, and greeting cards. This product mix positions Walgreens as a convenient stop for immediate healthcare needs and quick shopping trips rather than primary grocery or general merchandise destinations.

Walgreens has evolved its store concept to emphasize health services beyond traditional pharmacy operations. Many locations now house in-store clinics staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants who provide basic healthcare services including vaccinations, minor illness treatment, health screenings, and chronic disease management. These clinics serve areas with limited access to primary care physicians and offer extended hours that accommodate working families. The integration of healthcare services with retail creates opportunities for higher-margin services revenue while driving traffic to the pharmacy and front-of-store merchandise. However, this healthcare expansion requires significant investment and faces reimbursement challenges that have pressured profitability.

Key Success Factors for Leading Brick-and-Mortar Retailers

The sustained success of America’s largest brick-and-mortar retailers stems from several common strategic elements despite their different retail categories and business models. Understanding these success factors provides insight into how physical retail continues thriving in the digital age:

Scale advantages and purchasing power: The enormous size of these retailers enables negotiating leverage with suppliers that smaller competitors cannot match. Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Kroger each purchase billions of dollars of merchandise annually, allowing them to demand lower costs that translate to competitive customer prices. This scale advantage creates virtuous cycles where lower prices drive higher sales volumes, which enable even better supplier terms. Smaller retailers struggle to compete on price against these purchasing powerhouses, forcing differentiation through service, selection, or specialization rather than attempting to match prices.
Sophisticated supply chain and logistics systems: Leading retailers have invested billions in distribution networks, inventory management systems, and logistics capabilities that maximize efficiency and minimize costs. Walmart operates a proprietary fleet of trucks and sophisticated distribution centers that can replenish store inventory quickly based on real-time sales data. Home Depot’s supply chain accommodates both high-volume commodity items like lumber and specialized products with limited demand. These logistics investments represent significant barriers to entry that protect incumbent retailers from new competition while enabling the customer service levels that drive satisfaction and loyalty.
Real estate as strategic asset: Rather than viewing physical stores as liabilities in the e-commerce era, successful brick-and-mortar retailers have transformed locations into omnichannel assets. Stores serve as showrooms where customers can see and touch products, as fulfillment centers for online orders picked up curbside or delivered locally, and as distribution points that reduce last-mile delivery costs. Walmart’s store proximity to 90 percent of Americans becomes a competitive advantage for same-day delivery. Home Depot’s stores enable customers to immediately obtain products needed for time-sensitive projects rather than waiting for delivery. This physical presence creates value that pure e-commerce players struggle to replicate economically.
Customer data and personalization capabilities: Leading retailers increasingly leverage customer purchase history, browsing behavior, and preference data to personalize marketing messages, product recommendations, and promotional offers. Kroger’s loyalty program generates rich data enabling targeted digital coupons that drive visit frequency and basket size. Costco’s membership model provides comprehensive purchase tracking that informs inventory decisions and merchandising strategies. This data-driven approach improves marketing return on investment while enhancing customer experiences through relevant personalization that feels helpful rather than intrusive.
Private label development: Many leading retailers have developed robust private label brands that offer better profit margins than national brands while providing customers with value alternatives. Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand generated 86 billion dollars in revenue in 2024, representing nearly one-third of company sales. Kroger’s Simple Truth natural and organic line competes effectively against national brands at lower prices. These private labels build customer loyalty, differentiate retailers from competitors selling identical national brands, and improve profitability through higher gross margins.

Adapting to E-Commerce Competition and Changing Consumer Behavior

The rise of e-commerce, particularly Amazon’s dominance in online retail, forced brick-and-mortar retailers to adapt or face declining relevance. The largest physical retailers have responded by developing integrated omnichannel strategies that blur distinctions between online and offline shopping. Walmart invested heavily in e-commerce capabilities including acquiring specialty online retailers, developing marketplace platforms, and building delivery networks. The company’s online grocery business, which allows customers to order online for curbside pickup or home delivery, has become a significant growth driver leveraging stores as fulfillment assets.

Costco’s approach to e-commerce differs from competitors by maintaining discipline around merchandise selection and pricing even online. The warehouse club expanded its website to include additional items not available in physical warehouses due to space constraints, particularly in categories like furniture, electronics, and appliances. However, Costco resisted pressure to match Amazon’s extensive selection or delivery speed, instead focusing on the treasure hunt experience and value proposition that drives membership loyalty. The company’s e-commerce sales increased steadily but remain a modest percentage of total revenue compared to the core warehouse business.

Home Depot built robust online ordering systems that leverage stores for fulfillment, enabling same-day pickup for the vast majority of products. Professional contractors can order online and pickup at dedicated Pro desks, saving time on project sites. The buy-online-pickup-in-store model aligns with home improvement shopping behavior where customers often need products immediately to continue projects. Home Depot also offers installation services booked online but performed by local professionals, bridging digital convenience with physical execution for complex projects beyond typical DIY capabilities.

Economic Impact and Employment Contributions

The five largest brick-and-mortar retailers collectively employ millions of Americans, making them among the most significant contributors to United States employment. Walmart alone employs approximately 1.6 million associates domestically, while Costco, Home Depot, Kroger, and Walgreens each employ hundreds of thousands. These jobs span various skill levels and functions including store operations, distribution center logistics, corporate management, technology development, and healthcare services. The entry-level nature of many retail positions makes these companies important first employers for young workers gaining workforce experience.

Wage policies and employee benefits at major retailers receive significant public attention given the large workforce impact. Costco has built a reputation for paying above-market wages and providing comprehensive benefits including health insurance for part-time employees, generous paid time off, and retirement contributions. This employee-friendly approach has resulted in industry-leading retention rates exceeding 90 percent after the first year, reducing turnover costs while building experienced workforces that deliver superior customer service. Home Depot similarly emphasizes competitive compensation and advancement opportunities, with many senior executives having started in entry-level store positions decades earlier.

Critics of major retailers, particularly Walmart, have argued that wages remain insufficient for workers to support families despite full-time employment. Some Walmart and Kroger workers report relying on government assistance programs to supplement wages, effectively transferring labor costs to taxpayers. These companies counter that they provide millions of jobs, offer advancement opportunities, and have increased wages significantly in recent years. The debate over appropriate retail wages continues shaping corporate policies, with most major retailers raising starting wages above federal minimum wage levels to attract workers in tight labor markets.

Sustainability Initiatives and Corporate Responsibility

Major brick-and-mortar retailers face increasing pressure from customers, investors, and regulators to reduce environmental impacts and demonstrate corporate social responsibility. Walmart has committed to achieving zero emissions by 2040 across global operations, regenerating natural resources, and eliminating waste. These ambitious goals require transforming energy consumption, supply chain practices, packaging, and product sourcing. The company’s scale means even modest efficiency improvements generate significant environmental benefits while often reducing costs, creating alignment between sustainability and profitability.

Home Depot has focused sustainability efforts on responsible wood sourcing, energy-efficient product offerings, and reducing packaging waste. The retailer committed to avoiding products sourced from illegally logged wood and has developed programs helping customers identify energy-efficient appliances, HVAC systems, windows, and insulation that reduce home energy consumption. By making sustainable products more accessible and affordable, Home Depot influences customer choices at scale given millions of annual transactions.

Costco’s sustainability approach emphasizes reducing packaging waste, sourcing sustainable seafood, supporting organic agriculture through extensive organic product offerings, and improving energy efficiency in warehouse operations. The company’s bulk-focused model inherently reduces packaging per unit compared to traditional retail, though critics note that bulk purchasing can encourage overconsumption and food waste among households. Costco has also faced criticism regarding labor practices at international suppliers, prompting increased supply chain transparency and monitoring efforts.

Conclusion

The five largest brick-and-mortar retailers in the United States have demonstrated that physical retail remains viable and vital in the digital age through strategic adaptation, operational excellence, and leveraging physical presence as competitive advantage. Walmart’s unmatched scale and everyday low prices, Costco’s innovative membership model and treasure hunt experience, Home Depot’s specialized home improvement focus, Kroger’s grocery leadership, and Walgreens’s pharmacy and health services create differentiated value propositions that continue attracting hundreds of millions of customer visits annually despite e-commerce growth.

These retail giants have evolved from viewing online sales as threats to developing integrated omnichannel strategies that treat physical stores as assets enabling capabilities pure e-commerce players struggle to replicate economically. Same-day pickup, immediate product availability, personalized service, and physical experiences examining products before purchase represent enduring advantages of brick-and-mortar retail when combined with digital convenience. The most successful retailers have invested billions integrating online ordering, inventory visibility, mobile apps, and fulfillment capabilities with extensive store networks.

Looking ahead, these retailers face continued challenges from evolving consumer preferences, economic uncertainties, competitive pressures, and operational costs. Labor expenses, real estate costs, and supply chain complexities create ongoing pressure requiring constant efficiency improvements. However, the resilience demonstrated by leading brick-and-mortar retailers suggests that physical retail will remain central to American commerce for decades to come, continuing to employ millions, serve communities nationwide, and generate hundreds of billions in annual sales while adapting to whatever changes the future brings.