Walmart and Amazon are major presences in the world of American retail. Both are places where you seem to be able to get pretty much anything, so it came as no surprise to learn that they were first and second, respectively, in Kantar Consulting's ranking of the top 50 U.S. retailers of 2018. What was surprising, though, was the identity of the third-place winner. America's third-biggest retailer is a grocery store—and not even the grocery store with the best reputation in America.

The third biggest retailer in the United States is Kroger! If you don't have the pleasure of having one of these stores near you, Kroger, whose headquarters are in Cincinnati, is a low-priced grocery store that's most popular in midwestern, mid-Atlantic, and southeastern states. You'll also find lots of Krogers in some western states, like California, Washington, and Colorado. Altogether in the United States, you'll find 4,064 Kroger locations in 42 states. It's a top destination for organic food, meat and seafood, and these other things you should always buy at Kroger.

© Paul Sancya/AP/Shutterstock

The data, which was released in late 2018, assessed the retailers' sales throughout the beginning of the year, the sales estimates for the rest of the year, and projected sales through 2023. Kroger's estimated total sales for all of 2018 was a whopping $123 billion dollars. Not only does this top Costco, whose estimated 2018 sales were $101.5 billion, but it's only just trailing the second-place winner, Amazon, which had $125.5 billion. In fact, Kroger was in second place in last year's ranking; Amazon only passing it for the first time in 2018. So if you don't shop at Kroger, it may be time to find out why Americans love it more than Costco! Or, if there's not a Kroger near you, you can try checking out the best supermarket in every state.

Related video: The Best and Worst Olive Oil from the Grocery Store (Provided by My Recipes)