This Popular American Grocery Chain Doesn't Take Credit Cards — Yet Shoppers Keep Coming Back

The modern American supermarket is the epitome of convenience. These strip-mall wonders stock food from all over the world, so you can grab your whole shopping list of items without too much thought. Rolling your cart up to the register and tapping your credit card makes checkout a breeze — unless you're at WinCo Foods, the regional grocery store that doesn't accept credit cards.

WinCo, which has locations in the western portion of the United States, only accepts cash, debit cards (with a PIN), and checks (along with benefits like WIC and EBT). WinCo is a warehouse chain, like Costco and Sam's Club, but without the membership. It's also one of the cheapest food stores in the country. WinCo's reason for not taking credit cards is to avoid the processing fees incurred when customers use them. Instead of raising prices to make up for those fees, the chain bypasses credit cards entirely. The decision hasn't hurt its popularity. In Newsweek's 2025 list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America, WinCo ranked number one in the grocery segment. 

Still, it's unusual. According to the Federal Reserve, 82% of Americans had credit cards in 2025. Capital One Shopping reports that 71% of money spent on retail goods in the United States comes from credit card purchases. In a world where credit card usage is all but ubiquitous, WinCo's policy may seem surprising, but it speaks to the ethics behind the chain's business practices.

A commitment to efficiency and affordability means WinCo is often categorized as one of the stores that are similar to Aldi, where no-nonsense pricing is the main draw. WinCo's unwillingness to take on the costs associated with credit card transactions, or worse, pass them on to the consumer, helps keep prices low — but has this always been the company's policy? 

WinCo stores in the Oklahoma City area previously accepted credit cards, but that ended in 2022, bringing those stores in line with the rest of the chain. "The rates we pay on every credit card transaction are drastically higher than the rates for debit cards," WinCo said at the time, adding, "With rising costs of inflation, it has become extremely difficult to absorb that added expense while staying true to our mission of being the area's supermarket low price leader" (via The Oklahoman).

In other industries, it's become common for businesses to charge credit card fees. When you fill up your tank at the gas station, the credit price is almost always 10 cents higher than the cash price. That practice hasn't caught on in retail stores, but certain states do allow it (with the stipulation that the price difference is posted clearly). Very few grocery chains limit their credit card acceptance the way WinCo has, though some, like Costco, place restrictions on the types of credit cards that can be used.