A supermarket is a self-serviceshop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store 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 United States usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".
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...)
Asda Stores Limited (/ˈæzdə/), trading asAsda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place. As of August 2024, its market share in the UK is 12.6 per cent.
Besides its core supermarkets, the company also acts as a white label payment card provider offering assistance for insurance and payment services under the Asda Money brand and also has a mobile virtual network operator. (Full article...)
Hannahs operates at 70 locations around New Zealand: 34 under its main Hannahs brand, 16 under its low-price Number One Shoes brand, and 20 as combined Number One Shoes and Hannahs stores. (Full article...)
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Pie Face is an Australian food chain which predominantly sells pies, sausage rolls and coffee. It was founded in 2003 in Sydney, Australia, by Wayne Homschek. Following a period of rapid growth in Australia and overseas, the company entered administration in 2014 and the majority of the chain's stores closed. In April 2017, it was acquired by United Petroleum. Between 2018 and 2020, Pie Face opened over 200 locations across Australia. As of December 2020, Pie Face operated 240 locations. (Full article...)
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Postie, formerly Postie Plus, is a New Zealand clothing store chain. It was founded in 1909 by Thomas Dellaca. As of October 2022, Postie has 61 stores as well as an online platform. Together with Australian retailer Best & Less, it forms the Best & Less Group. (Full article...)
Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, doing business as Coles, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in the suburb of Collingwood by Sir George Coles, Coles currently operates 846 supermarkets throughout Australia, including several now re-branded Bi-Lo stores. Coles has over 120,000 employees and accounts for around 27 per cent of the Australian market.
Coles Online is the company's online shopping ('click & collect' and home delivery) service. (Full article...)
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Godfreys is an Australian retailer in the domestic and commercial floorcare and cleaning industry, headquartered in Melbourne. Founded by Godfrey Cohen in 1931, at its peak it had more than 220 company and franchise-owned stores combined across Australia and New Zealand. (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...)
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Masoutis (Greek: Μασούτης) is a supermarket chain in Greece. Its headquarters are located in Thessaloniki. The company was established in 1976 by Diamantis Masoutis, its current owner, and the first Masoutis supermarket opened the same year in Thessaloniki city center. Masoutis is the largest regional retail grocery chain in Greece, and the seventh largest supermarket chain in Greece in terms of market share. As of 2010, the company had 193 retail and 17 cash-and-carry stores, all located in Northern Greece and Northeastern Aegean. The company has no plans to expand into Southern Greece or the Greek islands as of 2023. (Full article...)
Between June 2023 and October 2024, in the grip of a financial crisis linked to its debt, the group closed or sold all of its hypermarkets in France to competitors. During this crisis, the brand is also gradually being replaced by competitors in various countries. (Full article...)
The Cope, or the Templecrone Agricultural Co-operative Society (Irish: Comharchumann Talmhaíochta agus Sóisialta Theampall Cróine), is a co-operativeretail chain indigenous to The Rosses area of County Donegal in Ireland. Founded in 1906, it has a number of normal supermarkets as well as a full department store, a builders merchants and an agricultural division.
The name comes from the inability of one of the founder shareholders to say Co-Op - as he could pronounce Cope, the name The Cope was adopted. For the same reason, some people use the term to refer to the group in the U.K. named The Co-operative Group. (Full article...)
Costco's worldwide headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington, an eastern suburb of Seattle, although its Kirkland Signature house label bears the name of its former location in Kirkland. The company opened its first warehouse (the chain's term for its retail outlets) in Seattle in 1983. Through mergers, however, Costco's corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California. As of August 2024[update], Costco operates 890 warehouses worldwide: 614 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 108 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 35 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 19 in South Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, 7 in China, 4 in Spain, 2 in France, 1 in Iceland, 1 in New Zealand, and 1 in Sweden. (Full article...)
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Maxima Grupė UAB is a Lithuanian group of retail chain companies operating in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. It is the largest Lithuanian capital company and the largest employer in the Baltic states. As of 2023[update], Maxima has 1599 stores in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. Each store offers between 3,000 and 65,000 brands, depending on the size of the store. The group employs around 40,000 people. Its main headquarters are in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Full article...)
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Arvanitidis (Greek: Αρβανιτίδης) was a regional Greeksupermarket chain situated in northern Greece. The company was established in 1950 by N. Arvanitidis initially as a wholesaler. In 1986 Arvanitidis opened its first supermarket in Veria. As of January 2012, the company has a total of 163 stores, the majority of which are located in northern Greece. Arvanitidis is the second biggest regional grocery retail chain in Greece. The company belongs to the Arvanitidis family. In 2013, a scandal broke out, bringing the retail chain to sell products that were produced in its storehouses under the name of famous brands.[citation needed] (Full article...)
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Waitomo Group is a New Zealand fuel retailing and distribution company. It is based in Hamilton and has 70 petrol stations around the country including 9 in the Auckland Region.
Waitomo sells Mobil fuel, diesel, lubricants and solvents through its branded petrol stations and to commercial clients, including businesses, agricultural contractors, roading and civil engineering contractors, forestry crews, workshops, quarries and farms. It also offers bulk fuel supply, onsite diesel supply and fuel and oil storage. (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...)
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SPAR, originally "DESPAR", styled as "DE SPAR" (Dutch pronunciation:[dəˈspɑr]), is a Dutch multinational franchise that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam. The company operates a partnership programme and has a presence in most European countries, as well as throughout Asia, Africa and Oceania. (Full article...)
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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Whitcoulls is a major New Zealand book, stationery, gift, games & toy retail chain. Formerly known as Whitcombe & Tombs, it has 54 stores nationally. Whitcombe & Tombs was founded in 1888, and Coulls Somerville Wilkie in 1871. The companies merged in 1971 to form Whitcoulls. (Full article...)
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Vêti (sometimes referred to as 'Vetimarché', short for vêtements (clothing)) is a French clothing shop, offering clothes for the family with over 150 retail outlets in France. Vêti has its own brands, nine in all, as well as national brands such as Levi's, Lee Cooper and Ober at low prices.
Vêti has also signed a partnership with former Miss France, Elodie Gossuin, for the exclusive distribution of her collection "Elodie Gossuin by Vêti" for the next three years. (Full article...)
... 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?
Three people are killed and fifteen others are injured in a mass stabbing at a supermarket in Songjiang district, Shanghai, China. Police arrest a 37-year-old man at the scene, adding that the man had come to Shanghai in order to "vent his anger due to a personal economic dispute". (Reuters)(BBC News)
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