The National Retail Federation’s annual report on the Top 100 Retailers is based on sales for the most recently completed fiscal year. The Power Player charts look at retailers with 2019 U.S. sales equal to or greater than 10 percent of sales of the category leader.
View NRF's complete Top 100 Retailers List.
The third time was a charm for Albertsons, as the Boise-based grocer launched an initial public offering of common stock in May, in the process enriching the private equity insiders who owned the company by about $2 billion. Previous unsuccessful attempts to go public were made in 2015 and again in 2018; this time, Albertsons was riding the wave that boosted supermarket sales during the coronavirus crisis. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Albertsons said it had seen “a significant increase in sales as a result of consumer response to the COVID-19 outbreak and has not experienced any disruption in its operating activities.”
Albertsons saw “a significant increase in sales as a result of consumer response to the COVID-19 outbreak and has not experienced any disruption in its operating activities.”
Albertsons operates 20 banners in 34 states and the District of Columbia, including Vons, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Safeway and the eponymous Albertsons. Among the many initiatives it has undertaken is one designed to make the store shopping experience more pleasant, enjoyable and quicker for customers by making checkout faster and in-store navigation easier.
Albertsons also has an extensive array of private label products; its USDA-certified O Organics and three other private labels generate annual sales in excess of $1 billion.
In its IPO prospectus, Albertson noted that in fiscal year 2019, it achieved adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $2.8 billion, free cash flow of $1.5 billion, and enjoyed “nine consecutive quarters of positive identical [store] sales growth.” In the last five years, Albertsons spent $6.8 billion on capital projects, more than half remodeling and opening stores. Last year alone it spent $375 million on digital and technology projects.
View the top Power Players in the supermarkets category from NRF's Top 100 Retailers list below, or explore the full Top 100 Retailers list.
