Quality products, affordable prices, and a variety of choices are the cornerstones of what makes a grocery store better than its competitors. WinCo and Walmart are two of the most popular grocery retailers in the country, serving hundreds of thousands of customers.
Walmart is a better grocery store than WinCo. They offer a larger variety of products and have more affordable prices across most categories. WinCo offers better quality for certain items, but you’ll save money and time shopping at Walmart.
Are you debating whether to stop by WinCo or Walmart during your next weekly shopping trip? You’ve come to the right place! We’re going to discuss each store in detail and answer some pressing comparison questions so you can see why Walmart is the better grocery store.
What’s the Difference Between WinCo and Walmart?
There is one very notable difference between WinCo and Walmart. WinCo is technically a supermarket, while Walmart is considered a hypermarket. Supermarkets specialize in the sale of food, beverages, and household goods.
Hypermarkets provide a one-stop shopping experience for most retail items and usually sell their products for discounted rates. Supermarkets are more likely to sell their products at market price. This means you’re more likely to find a wider selection of products at more affordable prices when you visit a hypermarket like Walmart. However, since supermarkets focus on fewer items and sell for a higher price point, they’re more likely to have higher quality products.
Walmart
The first Walmart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas, on July 2, 1962. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, wanted to create a chain of stores with an unbreakable foundation. His dream was to offer the lowest prices in their stores, regardless of the region they were located in. Walmart has grown to be one of the nation’s top grocery retailers and has nearly 5,000 stores across the US.
What Types of Products Does Walmart Sell?
The interesting thing about Walmart is there are three different types of Walmart locations. There are the general Walmart stores, Walmart Neighborhood Markets, and Walmart Supercenters. Each of these stores contains different products and departments.
A Walmart Neighborhood Market primarily focuses on selling food and beverages. You’ll also find a small pharmacy, beauty, and personal care department. Walmart Neighborhood Markets also sell impulse buy items that change seasonally, such as flip-flops in the summer or gloves in the winter.
The general Walmart stores (often referred to as Walmart Discount Stores) operate much like average supermarkets but are generally smaller. These stores sell a variety of food and beverage items and have several other departments, including home goods, gardening, beauty, paper goods, etc.
The Walmart Supercenters carry the largest number of products. Despite the name, Walmart Supercenters are actually considered hypermarkets because they have so many departments that they’re considered an excellent one-stop place to shop.
A Walmart Supercenter will have all the usual departments of a supermarket, along with an automotive, home repair, electronics, toys, apparel, and gardening department. Some Walmart Supercenters have even more departments than that!
WinCo
The original WinCo store opened in 1967. Ralph Ward and Bud Williams opened a discount store called Waremart in Boise, Illinois. It was a no-frills warehouse-style grocery store focusing on offering the lowest prices possible.
Waremart grew into a small chain of grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest throughout the 1970s and evolved into a chain of supermarkets known for their low prices. After the death of the remaining founder of the company, the employees of the then 17 stores banded together to form the WinCo Foods’ Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and each employee bought a controlling stake in the company.
The company took on the name WinCo in 1999 and began expanding to other areas of the US. As of today, there are 138 WinCo stores across the nation.
What Types of Products Does WinCo Sell?
Winco is a classic supermarket that sells food, beverages, and household goods. Most WinCo stores also have a seasonal aisle where they sell products for upcoming and current holidays, winter or summer gear, and recreational products like books and magazines. Most WinCo stores sell other general merchandise, but their primary focus is on food and beverages.
Let’s Compare WinCo vs Walmart:
Is WinCo Cheaper Than Walmart?
Price is one of the biggest deciding factors for shoppers, and customers praise both WinCo and Walmart for their lower-than-average prices. We decided to compare the most popular categories to see which store offers the lowest prices based on their stores’ brands.
| Category | WinCo Brand | Walmart Brand |
| Bakery | ✔ | |
| Frozen | ✔ | |
| Produce | ✔ | ✔ |
| Meat | ✔ | |
| Deli | ✔ |
Walmart has the lowest prices across most categories, but WinCo’s brand offers the most affordable prices for frozen products. These two stores are tied for produce as many of their items are priced within a cent or two of each other. In most instances, you’ll save money when shopping at Walmart.
Is WinCo Better Quality Than Walmart?
Quality is just as important as price and variety for many shoppers. Walmart and WinCo both advertise having great quality products, but there’s a sure way to determine which offers the best products.
We took a look at how many recalls WinCo and Walmart had in 2022 to determine which store provides the highest quality products. Here’s what we discovered.
| Category | WinCo Recalls | Walmart Recalls |
| Medical Devices | 0 | 1 |
| Food & Beverages | 1 | 8 |
| Dietary Supplements | 0 | 1 |
| Drugs | 0 | 3 |
As you can see, Walmart experienced several times more recalls than WinCo did. Walmart has nearly 5,000 stores while WinCo has less than 200, so it’s possible some of the recalls Walmart experienced were due to a misstep in their quality-control process. Regardless, it’s clear that WinCo generally has better quality products than Walmart.
Does WinCo Offer More Variety Than Walmart?
Walmart consistently offers more variety than WinCo. The Walmart Supercenters are hypermarkets and have several more departments than WinCo. The Walmart Discount stores also have more departments than WinCo stores.
The Walmart Neighborhood Market locations are closest in product variety to WinCo stores, but even the Neighborhood Markets tend to have more products. Most Walmart Neighborhood Markets carry cosmetics, personal care items, and impulse merchandise you won’t find at a WinCo.
The Verdict– What’s the Better Grocery Store?
When deciding between Walmart and WinCo, most shoppers have three main factors they consider. Affordable prices, good quality products, and a wide variety of products are the cornerstones of what makes a grocery store better than it’s competitors. Walmart beats WinCo on two of these three categories, and it also has several times more locations across the US than WinCo does, making it more likely for you to find a Walmart near you than a WinCo. If you’re looking for an affordable one-stop place to shop, you should give your local Walmart a try!