- UNFI will close four more Shoppers Food stores in Maryland by Nov. 8, shrinking the chain to 13 area locations from 43 since 2018.
- Closures reflect brutal retail economics—rising costs, theft, competition, and e-commerce—leaving communities with reduced access and job disruptions.
BALTIMORE — Just weeks after shuttering four longstanding locations, the regional grocery staple Shoppers Food is set to close four more stores in Maryland by early November, the latest chapter in a drawn-out contraction for the 76-year-old chain.
The moves, announced by parent company United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), underscore the brutal economics squeezing mid-tier grocers in an era of fierce competition, rising costs, and shifting consumer habits.
The affected stores — in College Park, Laurel, Germantown, and Capitol Heights — will cease operations no later than Nov. 8, according to a statement from UNFI emailed to media outlets this week.
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This follows the October closures of locations in Essex, New Carrollton, Waldorf, and Westminster, which left local residents mourning the loss of convenient, budget-friendly shopping options.
After these latest shutdowns, Shoppers will operate just 13 stores in the greater Washington, D.C. area, down sharply from the 43 it inherited when UNFI acquired the chain from Supervalu in 2018.
For many in these working-class communities, the news hits like a gut punch.
Shoppers, once a dominant player in the Baltimore-Washington corridor with its no-frills warehouse-style format and everyday low prices on staples like USDA Choice beef and fresh produce, has been a lifeline for families stretching grocery dollars.
“It hurts because it leads to higher prices, it hurts because it limits access, availability of goods and merchandise that is surely needed,” said Pastor Bobby Williams of St. Paul Church in District Heights, commenting on broader retail challenges in a CBS Baltimore report earlier this year.
His words ring especially true now, as residents in the closing stores’ zip codes face longer drives to competitors like Giant Food, Safeway, or discount upstarts such as Aldi and Lidl.
Official Comments on the Shoppers Stores Closing
UNFI, North America’s largest grocery wholesaler, has framed the decisions as pragmatic business necessities.
“Like any other retailer, we’re constantly working to optimize our footprint, which includes investing in stores as well as closing stores where necessary so we can operate as effectively and efficiently as possible,” a company spokesperson told multiple outlets, including CBS Baltimore and Supermarket News.
The Providence, Rhode Island-based firm, which ranks No. 20 on Progressive Grocer’s list of top North American food retailers, emphasized support for displaced workers, stating:
“We are deeply grateful to our team members for their contributions and will support them through this transition,” the statement continued, noting opportunities for transfers to nearby locations.
A Trend in Grocery Chain Store Closures
These aren’t isolated incidents for Shoppers, which traces its roots to 1949 as Jumbo Food Stores before rebranding and expanding into the pharmacy business — a segment it fully exited in 2019 by selling inventories to CVS and Walgreens.
The chain shed 13 stores in 2019 alone, and further divestitures followed, including three in St. Mary’s County (California, Charlotte Hall, and Leonardtown) that closed in April 2024 due to profitability woes.
A Baltimore location in Perring Plaza went dark in July 2023, and earlier this year, the chain quietly sold off units in Baltimore’s Smith Avenue and Fairfax, Virginia’s Fair City Mall.
All told, Shoppers’ footprint has shrunk by more than 70% since the UNFI takeover, reflecting a deliberate pivot away from retail operations that have dragged on the company’s bottom line.
UNFI’s broader financial picture tells a story of uneven recovery. In its fiscal fourth quarter ending Aug. 2, 2025, retail sales dipped 3.9% year-over-year to $2.34 billion, even as the wholesale side posted modest gains.
The retail unit eked out a 1% sales bump in the prior quarter — its first positive growth since late 2024 — but analysts point to persistent headwinds like inflation, supply chain snarls, and a surge in e-commerce that’s siphoned foot traffic from brick-and-mortar spots.
“The average net profit for food retailers in 2024 is 1.7%,” notes data from the Food Industry Association, a razor-thin margin that leaves little room for underperformers. Maryland’s grocery scene is feeling the strain beyond Shoppers.
The state’s supermarket consolidations have accelerated, turning some neighborhoods into de facto food deserts where fresh produce and prescriptions are suddenly harder to come by.
Giant Food, a fellow regional heavyweight under Ahold Delhaize, closed its Edmondson Village store in late 2024, stripping Baltimore’s west side of one of its few affordable options and forcing residents like five-year local Melissa Pierre to rethink their routines:
“The Giant Food was walking distance from my house and I don’t have a car at the moment to drive to these other grocery chains.”
Safeway has shuttered select Maryland spots in recent years, including one in Rockville as part of post-merger real estate tweaks after the failed Kroger-Albertsons deal.
Giant also pulled the plug on its massive Ashburn, Virginia, flagship earlier this year, citing market oversaturation.
Retail Theft Plays a Big Part in Closures
Retail theft, a hot-button issue in the Baltimore area, looms large in these narratives, though UNFI hasn’t pinned the Shoppers closures on it directly.
Last year, two Giant stores in Baltimore rolled out youth supervision policies — barring unaccompanied teens after 6 p.m. and, at one site, banning large bags — amid a theft wave that business leaders say drives up prices and prompts exits.
A Capital One Shopping Research report pegged U.S. retailers’ theft losses at nearly $1.4 billion in 2022 alone, fueling calls from Maryland advocates for tougher laws.
Broader industry forecasts paint an even grimmer picture: Analysts predict 15,000 U.S. store closures by year’s end, more than double 2024’s tally, as chains like Pick ‘n Save and Amazon Fresh trim fat to stay afloat.
For the communities caught in the crossfire, adaptation is the new normal.
UNFI insists Shoppers remains “committed to serving our communities and our customers” through surviving stores and delivery partners, but the human toll is undeniable — job losses, disrupted routines, and a nagging sense that the corner grocer is fading into memory.
As one industry observer put it in Food Trade News, Shoppers “should have been sold long ago … to a retail operator who would maintain the dominance that the Shoppers stores once commanded.”
Whether that’s still feasible amid UNFI’s restructuring remains an open question, but for Maryland families, the immediate reality is clear: Stock up while you can.
The Shoppers stores closing are only proving that this trend in grocery chain store closures continues to grow.
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