85 Grocery Stores That Accept WIC (+ the Stores That Don’t)

Sonya Bateman headshot Sonya Bateman
Verified & Updated Jan 24, 2019

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Proper nutrition is vital, particularly for expectant moms, infants, and children. Thankfully, the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) exists to provide the assistance needed to stay healthy. This federal program is offered in every state, and most regional and national grocery stores participate in the program by accepting WIC benefits. Want to know if your favorite grocery store accepts WIC? Continue on to find out.

Table of Contents

What Is WIC?

WIC is a federal assistance program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The WIC program provides supplemental food for pregnant women, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five, as well as nutrition education, counseling, and service referrals for mothers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds the WIC program, dispensing funds at the state level, thereby allowing each state to operate their own WIC programs. All states participate in the WIC program.

Like most government assistance programs, eligibility for WIC benefits depends on your income. You can use the USDA’s WIC pre-screening tool to find out if you’re eligible. You can also find out more about WIC eligibility requirements.

Unlike Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which can be used to buy nearly any type of food, WIC benefits only allow for the purchase of certain foods in specific amounts each month. Staple foods provided by the WIC program include infant formula (although WIC encourages mothers to breastfeed for as long as possible), juice, milk, cheese, eggs, breakfast cereal, bread and whole-grain items, peanut butter, dry or canned legumes, and select fruits and vegetables. In addition, WIC provides some medically necessary foods such as tofu and soy milk for women and children with food allergies and certain medical conditions.

The list of WIC-approved foods can vary by state. You can find out which foods your state allows on WIC by visiting the USDA website.

WIC benefits are issued by either paper food checks or an EBT card. (The USDA plans to phase out paper checks and move the system entirely to EBT cards by 2020.) You can use your WIC benefits only at stores that have been approved by your state WIC agency.

Note: In order to become WIC approved, stores must apply and be approved at the state level. This means that while a popular chain store, such as Safeway, may be approved to accept WIC in one state, it may not be approved in another.

The List of Grocery Stores That Accept WIC

The majority of major grocery stores and chain stores in the United States accept WIC as a form of payment. Here is the list of the most popular grocery stores that accept WIC, along with the states you can find these stores in.

Acme Markets

Albertsons

  • Locations: AR, AZ, CA, CO, ID, LA, MT, NV, NM, ND, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY
  • Find an Albertsons

Bashas’

Big M Supermarkets

Big Y Foods

Brookshires, Super 1 Foods

Carrs-Safeway

Coborn’s

Compare Foods Supermarket

CVS

Food Depot

Food Lion

Foodland, Foodland Farms, Sack ’N Save

Foodland Supermarkets

Market Basket

Fareway

Festival Foods

Food Bazaar Supermarkets

Foodtown

Fred Meyer

Giant Eagle

Giant Food Stores (including Giant-Carlisle and Giant-Landover)

Great Valu Markets

Haggen Food & Pharmacy

Harps Foods

Harvest Foods

Homeland

Houchens Markets (including Buehler’s Buy-Low, Food Giant, and Hank’s Market)

Hugo’s

Hy-Vee

Kroger

Note: Kroger brands include Baker’s Supermarkets, City Market, Dillons Supermarkets, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, Fry’s Food & Drug, Gerbes Super Markets, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, Owen’s Pay Less Super Markets, QFC, Ralphs, Roundy’s, Ruler Foods, Scott’s, and Smith’s.

  • Locations: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NC, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
  • Find a Kroger

Ingles Markets, Sav-Mor Foods

Jewel-Osco

K-VA-T Food Stores (including Food City and Super Dollar Discount Foods)

Key Food

Lidl

Lowes Foods

Lowe’s Markets

Mac’s Fresh Market

Magruder’s

Market Basket

Martin’s Foods

Martin’s Super Markets

Meijer

Learn more in our dedicated article.

Met Foodmarkets

Natural Grocers

Piggly Wiggly

Price Chopper

PriceRite Marketplace

Publix

Quality Foods

Raley’s

Ramey’s Marketplace

Ray’s Food Place

Red Apple Markets

Redner’s Markets

Ridley’s Family Markets

Rite Aid

  • Locations: AL, CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, ID, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MS, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV
  • Find a Rite Aid

Rosauers Supermarkets

Rouses Supermarket

Safeway

  • Locations: AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, LA, MT, NV, NM, ND, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY
  • Find a Safeway

Save Mart Supermarkets (including Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky, and FoodMaxx)

Schnucks

Shaw’s Supermarket

Sheetz

ShopRite

Southeastern Grocers (including BI-LO, Harveys, Winn-Dixie, and Fresco y Más)

SpartanNash (including Family Fare Supermarkets, VG’s Food and Pharmacy, D&W Fresh Market, SunMart, and Family Fresh Market)

Stop & Shop

Sun Fresh Market

SUPERVALU (including Save-A-Lot, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, and Shoppers)

Target

Note: WIC accepted at SuperTarget and select Target stores

The Fresh Grocer

Thriftway

Tops Friendly Markets

United Grocery Outlet

Vons

Walgreens

Note: WIC accepted at select stores only; contact your local store for details

Walmart

Note: Walmart does not currently accept WIC for online grocery pickup. However, you can get $10 off your first Walmart grocery pickup of $50 or more by using our referral link.

Wegmans

Weis Markets

Wesselman’s Supermarkets

Whole Foods

WinCo Foods

Woodman’s Market

Grocery Stores That Don’t Accept WIC

While most retail grocery stores in the United States accept WIC, a few regional and national chains do not accept it. These include:

  • ALDI
  • BJ’s Wholesale Club
  • Costco
  • Sam’s Club
  • Trader Joe’s

 In Summary

The WIC program provides excellent benefits and nutritional incentives for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children. No matter what state you live in, you’re likely to find a grocery store near you that accepts WIC payments.

(Note: We assembled the following information using the lists of approved vendors found on state WIC websites. Find your state’s page on the WIC website.)

For information on WIC-only grocery stores, see our article.

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