The best grocery store is in SC, USA TODAY says. See which stores are favorites

Grocery stores aren’t just places to get food anymore.

Some businesses have made it their mission to ensure customers have a pleasant experience, from walking in through the door to leaving with a handful of groceries with a smile on their faces.

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Loyal shoppers may even sacrifice a couple of extra dollars to go to their favorite store.

To find out the most beloved grocery store chains throughout the country, USA TODAY asked its readers to vote for their favorites in its annual Best Grocery Store Reader’s Choice Awards. The result was a ranking of the 10 best grocery stores in the U.S.

Here’s how the Reader’s Choice Awards work and which grocery stores in South Carolina made it to the top:

What are the Reader’s Choice Awards?

USA TODAY created the Reader’s Choice Awards to gather its readers’ opinions and find the best of the best across varying industries, travel, and lifestyle categories.

Nominees for each award category are selected by a panel of experts, with the final set of nominees selected via editorial review by USA TODAY 10BEST editors. Once the nominees in an award category are announced, the public is invited to vote for their favorites over a period of four weeks.

A person can vote once per day, per category.

There are hundreds of Reader’s Choice Awards this year alone. You can browse all of them by clicking here.

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Best grocery store in SC

Loyal grocery store shoppers voted The Fresh Market as the best grocery chain for the second year in a row. The upscale market may cost more than your standard warehouse grocery store, but it has cultivated a legion of loyal customers who won’t shop anywhere else.

The Fresh Market was inspired by food markets in Europe, where shoppers could have a more intimate and personalized experience. The grocery store specializes in premium, gourmet food items.

They are also known for their comfortable and laid-back shopping environment. The Fresh Market has 10 store locations throughout SC.

Other grocery stores in SC that appeared on USA Today’s ranking include No. 3 Lidl, No. 4 ALDI, No. 6 Publix, and No. 10 Kroger.

10 best grocery stores in U.S.

These are the 10 grocery stores that USA Today readers said are the best in the country:

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1. The Fresh Market
2. Hy-Vee
3. Lidl
4. ALDI
5. Albertsons
6. Publix
7. Fresh Thyme Market
8. Wegmans Food Markets
9. Stew Leonard’s
10. Kroger