"With more than 4,600 stores nationwide and roughly $264 billion in grocery sales in 2023, this retail giant defines mass-market grocery shopping through an “Every Day Low Prices” model. Recently it has worked to broaden its image by curating higher-end and on-trend food offerings, courting indie and national specialty brands and using those assortments to attract more affluent shoppers. The company dedicates a team to support emerging brands with tailored merchandising (from on-shelf displays to in-store signage), digital advertising via its app and platform, and a single point of contact to help with pricing, logistics and scaling. That combination of distribution scale, marketing support and operational guidance lets smaller brands push into new markets and reach customers who previously had little access to niche products, while the chain benefits from borrowing some of the brands’ cultural cachet." - Amy McCarthy