Best Stores in America 2026: USA TODAY’s top retailers ranked
Roxanne DownerDespite economic uncertainty, retail spending continues to grow. Total U.S. retail sales in 2025 increased about 3.5% year over year, reflecting continued consumer spending across both physical stores and online marketplaces. At the same time, digital shopping continues to expand: U.S. e-commerce sales reached about $1.23 trillion in 2025, accounting for roughly 16% of total retail sales and highlighting how shoppers increasingly move between online and in-store experiences.
With thousands of retailers competing for those dollars, choosing where to shop has become more complex than ever. "America’s Best Stores 2026" highlights the retailers that customers trust most.
The ranking identifies retailers that deliver the most satisfying shopping experiences in the U.S., both online and in-store, according to a study conducted by USA TODAY and its research partner Plant-A Insights Group.
From national chains to digital-first brands, retailers compete on more than price; convenience, service and trust play an increasingly important role. The companies recognized in this year’s ranking stood out for meeting — and often exceeding — customer expectations across the modern shopping experience.
The rankings are based on a large-scale confidential survey of U.S. shoppers, online reviews and publicly available data, analyzed using Plant-A’s proprietary scoring model. Researchers began with more than 7,500 U.S. retailers identified through research and Similarweb data, narrowing the list to 2,500 e-commerce retailers and 1,200 physical stores for deeper evaluation.
More than 24,000 U.S. consumers were surveyed between September and October 2025, rating retailers they had purchased from or contacted within the past three years. Online reviews were also analyzed to capture broader customer sentiment. Retailers with the best 'in-store' designation were recognized for the quality of customers’ in-person shopping experience, not for a set number of physical locations. Store counts range widely, although most companies operate on a massive scale, and total counts fluctuate with openings and closings.
To protect the integrity of the rankings, retailers tied to consumer data protection incidents or publicly reported employment-related allegations within the past two years were excluded using Onclusive’s Critical Mention media monitoring platform.
Results were then validated through a joint review by the Plant-A research team and USA TODAY’s editorial team. The companies that rose to the top earned a place on the list of America’s Best Stores 2026.