Santa Catarina broke into the ranking of Brazil's largest supermarkets with two chains that gross billions and now challenge giants that had dominated the top alone for years.

Two supermarket chains from Santa Catarina reached the top 10 of the Abras 2026 Ranking: Grupo Pereira occupies the 7th position with revenues of R$ 17.53 billion and Grupo Koch is in 8th with R$ 12.92 billion, an advance that consolidates Santa Catarina as a powerhouse in the food retail sector, which moved R$ 1.145 trillion.

Santa Catarina placed two chains among the ten largest supermarkets in the country and now competes for space with giants that have dominated the top of Brazilian food retail for years without significant regional competition. The Abras 2026 Ranking, released this week by the Brazilian Supermarket Association in partnership with NielsenIQ, places Grupo Pereira in 7th position and Grupo Koch in 8th among the 40 largest companies in the sector, a result that marks Santa Catarina’s rise in a market traditionally controlled by national chains such as Carrefour, Assaí, and Grupo Mateus, which continue to occupy the top three positions. Grupo Pereira recorded revenues of R$ 17.53 billion in 2025, a significant advance considering that in the previous year it occupied the tenth position, while Grupo Koch reached R$ 12.92 billion in revenue during the same period.

The scenario these numbers paint is one of a transforming supermarket market. Brazilian food retail moved R$ 1.145 trillion in 2025, with a nominal growth of 7.32% and a real advance of 3.68%, and within this trillion-dollar universe, Santa Catarina’s chains are gaining an increasingly larger share by combining aggressive regional expansion with store formats that cater to consumers looking for wholesale-retail (atacarejo) as well as those who prefer the traditional supermarket model with differentiated service. The presence of two companies from Santa Catarina in the top 10 is no accident: it is the result of decades of investment in expansion and diversification that now translates into a prominent national position.

How Santa Catarina supermarkets climbed the national ranking

Grupo Pereira’s trajectory illustrates how regional supermarket chains can grow to challenge national leaders. The company operates banners such as Fort Atacadista and Comper, a combination that serves two distinct segments of food retail: wholesale-retail (atacarejo), where consumers and small businesses buy in volume at lower prices, and the conventional supermarket, which prioritizes product variety and shopping experience. The jump from tenth to seventh position in just one year indicates that Grupo Pereira is not only growing organically but gaining market share that previously belonged to competitors positioned above it in the supermarket ranking.

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What the ranking numbers reveal about the supermarket market in Brazil

The Abras 2026 Ranking, in its 49th edition, offers a detailed portrait of a sector that employs millions and represents a significant portion of the economy. Food retail accounts for 9.02% of Brazil’s GDP and brings together approximately 439.7 thousand stores in operation across the country, an infrastructure that generates about 9 million direct and indirect jobs and places supermarkets among Brazil’s largest private employers. The sector’s dimension explains why the entry of Santa Catarina chains into the top 10 is a relevant event: competing for space in a trillion-dollar market requires scale, efficiency, and investment capacity that few regional companies can sustain.

The distribution of revenue by store format is also revealing. The self-service model, the classic supermarket format where consumers walk through aisles and choose products on their own, accounts for 49% of the sector’s total revenue, while wholesale-retail (atacarejo) accounts for 29%, a share that has grown rapidly in recent years driven by Brazilians’ search for lower prices. Micro and small supermarket businesses represent 15% of the market, a number that highlights the diversity of formats and the capillarity that food retail maintains even with increasing concentration at the top of the ranking.

Why Santa Catarina became a cradle of powerhouses in the supermarket sector

The strength of Santa Catarina’s networks in the national supermarket ranking has roots in the state’s economy. Santa Catarina combines per capita income above the national average, a less unequal income distribution than other states, and a population concentrated in medium-sized cities that offer a consistent consumer market for regional chains that know local habits better than national competitors. Grupo Pereira and Grupo Koch grew by serving communities that value proximity, variety of regional products, and a relationship of trust with the establishment, competitive advantages that large supermarket chains headquartered in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro would find difficult to replicate.

Santa Catarina’s business culture also contributes. The state that houses Havan, WEG, Weg, and dozens of nationally prominent companies produces a business environment where aggressive but sustainable growth is the norm, not the exception. Grupo Pereira and Grupo Koch supermarkets apply this mentality to the food sector: they expand when conditions allow, diversify formats to serve different audiences, and reinvest revenue in operations that generate more revenue, a virtuous cycle that led them from local chains to national powerhouses.

What Santa Catarina’s presence in the top 10 means for the future of supermarkets in Brazil

The simultaneous entry of two Santa Catarina chains into the top ten signals that the supermarket market in Brazil is decentralizing. The historical dominance of three or four large national groups at the top of the ranking is beginning to be challenged by regional companies that grow faster, know their markets better, and can operate with efficiency that compensates for the absence of continental scale. If Grupo Pereira jumped from tenth to seventh position in one year, the trend suggests that even higher positions are achievable in future rankings, a scenario that pressures Carrefour, Assaí, and Grupo Mateus to respond with strategies that consider competition from below.

For consumers, the competition between national and regional supermarkets is positive. More competitors vying for the same market means more options in terms of price, format, and location, and the presence of Santa Catarina chains at the top of the ranking demonstrates that it is possible to offer a competitive alternative to the giants without sacrificing the regional identity that connects the supermarket to the community it serves. Santa Catarina proved that earning billions in food retail does not require a headquarters in São Paulo: it requires understanding what the customer wants and consistently delivering it, store after store, year after year.

And you, do you shop at Grupo Pereira or Grupo Koch supermarkets? Do you think regional chains can surpass national giants? Leave your opinion in the comments.

Santa Catarina broke into the ranking of Brazil’s largest supermarkets with two chains that gross billions and now challenge giants that had dominated the top alone for years.

How Santa Catarina supermarkets climbed the national ranking

What the ranking numbers reveal about the supermarket market in Brazil

Why Santa Catarina became a cradle of powerhouses in the supermarket sector

What Santa Catarina’s presence in the top 10 means for the future of supermarkets in Brazil

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Santa Catarina broke into the ranking of Brazil’s largest supermarkets with two chains that gross billions and now challenge giants that had dominated the top alone for years.

How Santa Catarina supermarkets climbed the national ranking

What the ranking numbers reveal about the supermarket market in Brazil

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What Santa Catarina’s presence in the top 10 means for the future of supermarkets in Brazil

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Discovery in Africa scares even scientists: a study published on April 23 reveals that the crust in Turkana has become so thin that it could pave the way for the continent’s division and the emergence of an ocean in the future, in a gigantic geological transformation.

A German architect built a cylindrical house in 1994 that rotates to follow the sun throughout the day, generates 5 times more energy than it consumes, and was the world’s first energy-positive house.

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Brazil spent R$ 1.9 billion on a giant bridge to Paraguay, and it is already finished, but no one can use it properly because the access points are not ready, and traffic remains blocked months later.

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