William LipovskyShort Answer
Due to the company’s higher transaction fees, American Express credit cards remain the least widely accepted in the nation. However, many retailers, travel companies, and restaurants do accept American Express. Below we’ve listed over 100 places that take American Express.
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The List of Places That Accept American Express
The number of sites and stores that take American Express has grown dramatically over the last several years. It is also worth noting that American Express gift cards are usually accepted everywhere that American Express credit cards are accepted. Below, we list more than 100 brands that accept American Express, divided by category. We viewed the brand websites and spoke to customer service representatives to confirm this information.
Travel Booking
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Amtrak
- Delta Air Lines
- Frontier Airlines
- Greyhound Lines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- United Airlines
Department Stores, Apparel Shops, Discount Stores, and Wholesale Clubs
- Amazon (Note: Amazon’s third-party sellers set their own payment policies. For some sellers, only Visa and Mastercard are accepted.)
- Athleta
- Banana Republic
- Bed, Bath & Beyond
- BJ’s Wholesale Club
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Crate and Barrel/CB2
- Dollar General
- Dollar Tree
- Gap
- H&M
- HomeGoods
- IKEA
- JCPenney
- Kmart
- Kohl’s
- Macy’s
- Marshalls
- Neiman Marcus
- Nordstrom
- Old Navy
- Pottery Barn
- Ross
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Sam’s Club
- Sears
- Target
- T.J. Maxx
- Victoria’s Secret
- Walmart
- West Elm
- Williams Sonoma
Gas Stations and Convenience Stores
- 7-Eleven
- ExxonMobil
- Gulf Oil
- Shell
- Speedway
Hardware and Auto Parts Stores
- Ace Hardware
- Advance Auto Parts
- AutoZone
- Hardware Hank (Note: Hardware Hank stores are independently owned and operated; payment policies may vary by store.)
- The Home Depot
- Lowe’s
- Menards
- O’Reilly Auto Parts
- True Value
Office Supply and Electronics Stores
- Apple
- AT&T Wireless
- Best Buy
- FedEx
- Office Depot/OfficeMax
- Staples
- UPS
- Verizon Wireless
- Xfinity
Restaurants
- Applebee’s
- Arby’s
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Burger King
- Chick-fil-A (See our related research on the methods of payment Chick-Fil-A accepts)
- Chili’s
- Chipotle
- Cracker Barrel
- Domino’s
- Dunkin’ Donuts
- Jack in the Box
- McDonald’s
- Olive Garden
- Panera Bread
- Papa John’s
- Sonic
- Starbucks
- Subway
- Taco Bell
- Wendy’s
Supermarkets and Pharmacies
- ALDI
- Albertsons
- Compare Foods
- CVS
- Fareway Stores
- Food Lion
- Fresh Thyme
- Giant Eagle
- Giant Food
- Harps Food
- HealthMart Pharmacy (Note: HealthMart is a collective of independently owned stores; policies may vary by store.)
- Hy-Vee
- Ingles Markets
- Jewel-Osco
- Key Food
- Kroger
- Market 32
- Meijer
- Met Foodmarkets
- Natural Grocers
- Piggly Wiggly (Note: Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated; policies may vary by store.)
- Price Chopper
- Price Rite
- Publix
- Ralphs
- Rite Aid
- Roundy’s
- Safeway
- Schnucks
- Shaw’s
- ShopRite (Note: ShopRite is a collective of independently-owned stores, so policies may vary by store.)
- Sprouts
- Stop & Shop
- Super 1 Foods
- Supervalu/UNFI (Note: Supervalu/UNFI is a collective of independently-owned stores; policies may vary by store.)
- The Fresh Market
- Trader Joe’s
- Vons
- Walgreens
- Weis Markets
- Wegmans
- Whole Foods Market
- Winn-Dixie
Specialty Stores
- Barnes and Noble
- Dick’s Sporting Goods
- EB Games/GameStop
- The North Face
- Petco
- PetSmart
- REI
Places That Don’t Accept American Express
- Costco (Costco used to have a partnership with American Express, but it ended in 2016. All Costco credit cards are now affiliated with Visa.)
- British Telecommunications companies based in the UK, such as BT Communications and Virgin Media
- Small Businesses and Mom-and-Pop Shops
Loren Eaton
Joseph Cho
Kait Scirri
Lindsey Desmet
Brenna Swanston
Erika Crawford
Cathy Desmet
Maria R. Riegger, Esq.
I called the Sears store in Pensacola fl, and was told they did not accept American Express gift cards. on 17 July 2017
Hi Walter,
You may want to contact that store again to verify, as the Sears’ website shows that they continue to accept American Express as a form of payment.
Someday it would be nice to be able to pay a car note, business leases etc. until this happens Amex remains a department store card and limited. Hopefully this will soon change.
Change in Amex’s rates has been slow to fall historically, though they have been falling. Back in the 80s, the rate they charged merchants on transactions was around 4%. It will probably be some time before Amex rates match levels of other major cards.