A supermarket is a self-serviceshop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday American English usage, however, "grocery store" is often casually used as a synonym for "supermarket". The supermarket retail format first appeared around 1930 in the United States as the culmination of almost two decades of retail innovations, and began to spread to other countries after extensive worldwide publicity in 1956.
The supermarket typically has places for fresh meat, fresh produce, dairy, deli items, baked goods, and similar foodstuffs. Shelf space is also reserved for canned and packaged goods and for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, and clothing, and some sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and seasonal items (e.g., Christmaswrapping paper, Easter eggs, school uniforms, Valentine's Day themed gifts, Mother's Day gifts, Father's Day gifts and Halloween).
A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services may include those of banks, cafés, childcare centers/creches, insurance (and other financial services), mobile phone sales, photo processing, video rentals, pharmacies, and gas stations. If the eatery in a supermarket is substantial enough, the facility may be called a "grocerant", a portmanteau of "grocery" and "restaurant".
The traditional supermarket occupies a large amount of floor space, usually on a single level. It is usually situated near a residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. The basic appeal is the availability of a broad selection of goods under a single roof, at relatively low prices. Other advantages include ease of parking and frequently the convenience of shopping hours that extend into the evening or even 24 hours of the day. Supermarkets usually allocate large budgets to advertising, typically through newspapers and television. They also present elaborate in-shop displays of products. (Full article...)
Kaufland ([ˈkaʊ̯flant]) is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as "buy-land." It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major chain in what was formerly West Germany. It operates over 1,500 stores in Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. (Full article...)
The overall size of the sector has been increasing since the end of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, with retail sales increasing by 30% between 1999 and 2005. One contributing factor was the growth of larger stores with greater buying power and economies of scale, at the cost of smaller bricks and mortar merchants. Another contributing factor was low price inflation, with the price of imported goods falling 12% during that period. (Full article...)
There were 134 stores in Hungary in February 2018. (Full article...)
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Harris Farm Markets is an Australian grocery chain with over 30 locations in New South Wales and Queensland with the majority of stores existing within the Sydney metropolitan area, the Brisbane metropolitan area, and various regional areas in New South Wales including Newcastle, Orange, Bathurst and Albury. The markets specialise in fruit, vegetables, cheeses, breads, delicatessen and gourmet grocery items.
They are Australia's biggest individual retailer of fruit and vegetables and promote 'odd-shaped' fruit called "Imperfect Picks" at lower prices in an initiative to reduce landfills. Harris Farm Markets also produce many of their products in Flemington, including yogurt, frozen goods, salads, juices and milk. (Full article...)
Bakers Delight is an Australian-owned multinational bakery franchise chain, with franchisors in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. There are over 700 stores worldwide, with Australia having over 500 stores. (Full article...)
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The Just Group owns and operates a total of seven retail brands: the clothing chains Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Portmans, Dotti, Peter Alexander Sleepwear, and the stationery chain Smiggle. The group has over 1,000 stores throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The group is part of the ASX-listed investment company Premier Investments. (Full article...)
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Michael Hill International Ltd. is a speciality retailer of jewellery. As of June 2024, it operates 300 stores in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The company employs approximately 2,600 permanent employees. Its headquarters are in Brisbane, Australia. (Full article...)
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Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. As of September 2024, Metro is operating 624 wholesale stores in 21 countries, including Europe and Pakistan.
The company was established in 1964 by Ernst Schmidt and Wilhelm Schmidt-Ruthenbeck. In 2010, it was the fourth-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues, after Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco. Until 2020, it was also active in the general retail business through the Real division, which was sold to an investor consortium. Its current incarnation was launched in 2017 as a spun-off of old Metro AG, which continued to be a consumer electronics retailer and renamed itself Ceconomy. (Full article...)
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Supercheap Auto is an Australian automotive parts and accessories retailer. It was founded in 1972, operating as a mail-order business and opened its first store in Brisbane in 1974. It now has 300 stores across Australia and New Zealand. (Full article...)
Foodland has established itself as an well-known brand in the South Australian retail sector and directly employs over 7,000 staff and indirectly more than 1,500 South Australian staff. There were 96 stores covering South Australia and Broken Hill in 2023. (Full article...)
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E.Leclerc (informally simply Leclerc, French pronunciation:[ləklɛʁ]) is a French retailers' cooperative and hypermarket chain, headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine. E.Leclerc was established on 1 January 1948 by Édouard Leclerc in Brittany. E.Leclerc currently has more than 720 locations in France and 85 stores outside of the country, as of 2019. The chain enables semi-independent stores to operate under the Leclerc brand.
Own brand ranges come under the Marque Repère and Eco+ banners, as well as a MVNO called Réglo Mobile which uses the mobile network of SFR. Some larger hypermarkets have a separate entertainment/multimedia section, under the name of Espace Culturel. E.Leclerc operates numerous stores and services around France, some near and in cities and towns while most of them are located just outside or in the hypermarkets and shopping centres. (Full article...)
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DEKA was a nationwide chain of general merchandise stores in New Zealand. It was launched in 1988 by L.D. Nathan, which split its supermarket and general merchandise divisions. In 1992 ownership of DEKA shifted to the Farmers Trading Company, which had until then been a competitor. As a result of unsustainable financial losses, all DEKA stores were either closed or converted to Farmers stores in 2001. (Full article...)
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St Pierre's Sushi is a New Zealand-based sushi restaurant chain that was established in 1993 as a partnership between New Zealand businessman Nick Katsouli and Yoshiharu Takagi of the Tokyo Mutual Trading Company. By 2023, the chain had 70 stores across New Zealand. (Full article...)
The company is publicly listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX : GXH). It provides support to 345 Life and Unichem pharmacies throughout New Zealand, with equity in around a quarter of them. It also has a Medical Division, which provides complete family healthcare services through GP and accident and medical centers, with most operating under the brand of "The Doctors". The company has 63 medical centres throughout New Zealand. (Full article...)
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In 2003, Domino's entered the New Zealand fast food market, competing with both rival pizza chain Pizza Hut and local pizza chain Hell Pizza.
In January 2005, Domino's acquired the Australian pizza chain Pizza Haven's 35 New Zealand stores. By that stage, Domino's had 16 stores based in the North Island; with the acquisition bringing the total number of Domino's-owned stores across New Zealand to 51. Most Pizza Haven stores were given the option of converting to Domino's stores while some stores were able to stay branded under Pizza Haven. All New Zealand-based Pizza Haven stores subsequently converted Domino's. (Full article...)
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Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited, trading as Restaurant Brands, is a New Zealandfast food company. Restaurant Brands currently operates and owns the master franchising rights for the Carl's Jr., KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands in New Zealand. Restaurant Brands operates most of New Zealand's stores for the brands they own rights to and provides management and support services to New Zealand's independent franchisees of the remaining stores. (Full article...)
Pak'nSave (stylised as PAK'nSAVE) is a New Zealand discount food supermarket warehouse chain owned by the Foodstuffs cooperative. It is one of the three main supermarket chains in New Zealand, alongside Woolworths New Zealand and New World (the latter is also owned by Foodstuffs). There is a total of 58 Pak'nSave stores throughout the country.
Pak'nSave stores are large and have a no frills environment, often with unlined interiors and concrete floors. (Full article...)
... that food was left to rot outside after the supermarket Supie went out of business?
... that South African president Jacob Zuma requested a tour of a Sainsbury's supermarket during his state visit to the United Kingdom in 2010?
... that before Angeli Foods was sold this year, the first self-service grocery store in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had been owned by three generations of a single family?
... that a British supermarket uses barriers to prevent shoppers grabbing food with yellow discount stickers out of the hands of staff?
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