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...)
In 1998, American Stores, the corporate parent of the original Lucky chain, was taken over by Albertsons, and by 1999 the Lucky brand had been retired. (Full article...)
Salling is a Danish retail chain that operates two department stores located in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Aalborg. The company used to be known as F. Salling Stormagasin A/S.
As of January 2022, the company was owned by the Salling Group (before 2018, known as Dansk Supermarked) which was in turn 81% owned by F. Salling Invest A/S and F. Salling Holding A/S (known as the Salling Companies) and 19% owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. (Full article...)
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Boost Juice Bars is an Australian multinational retail outlet owned by parent company Retail Zoo that specialise in fruit juice and smoothies. Boost Juice Bars was formed in 2000 with the first store located in Adelaide, South Australia. The company has expanded internationally with stores in Asia, Europe, South America, and the United Kingdom through franchising. (Full article...)
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Briscoe Group Limited is a major New Zealand retail company operating 92 stores nationwide under the Briscoes Homeware (48 stores) and Rebel Sport (44 stores) brands. Established in Dunedin in 1861, the company originally supplied goods to gold miners during the Otago gold rush. Today, Briscoe Group employs around 2,300 staff and remains one of New Zealand's most prominent retail businesses, reporting a net profit of $88.4 million in 2022. (Full article...)
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Dotti is a chain of fashion stores in Australia and New Zealand, selling apparel and accessories. It was acquired by the Just Group in 2004. It markets itself as a fast fashion brand. Their target group is young female adults aged 18 to 28. (Full article...)
Casino Group is the source of many innovations, such as the first distributor's brand in 1901, the first self-service store in 1948, or even the display of a sell-by date on consumer products in 1959. (Full article...)
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Donut King is an Australian multinational doughnut company and quick service restaurant. It specialises in Australian-style doughnuts and coffee. Signature menu items include hot cinnamon donuts, quakeshakes, thickshakes, milkshakes and barista-made DK Coffee Blend. (Full article...)
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The Paper Plus Group is a group of three brands in New Zealand. The group is a three brand co-operative franchise business model.
Two of the stores, Paper Plus and Take Note, sell books, stationery, cards, magazines and giftware, while Office Spot focuses on home office and business supplies. (Full article...)
Rodd & Gunn (Rodd and Gunn) is a New Zealand manufacturer of clothing, footwear and accessories. It was founded in 1946 in New Zealand by Jim Jarvis. By 1995, the label had been acquired by the Australian firm Action Downunder. The firm outfitted the New Zealand national team participating in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
In 2024, the company began a five-year expansion plan to open 40 new stores in the UK. As of December, Rodd & Gunn operates over 240 retail stores around the world, including in New Zealand, Australia, United States, and the United Kingdom. They also operate outlet locations in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. They are also stocked in Canada, Ireland and France. That year, the company leased space to open its third New York City store, on 5th Avenue. (Full article...)
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Accent Group Limited is an Australian and New Zealand footwear and clothing retail, wholesaling and distribution company. It has more than 900 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.
føtex is a Danish chain of supermarkets. The business was established in 1960 as the first supermarket in Denmark and later gave rise to Salling Group (previously Dansk Supermarked Group).
The name "føtex" is a mix of the Danish words "Fødevarer" (daily groceries) and "Textil" (textiles). (Full article...)
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NPD, short for Nelson Petroleum Distributors, is a New Zealand family-owned budget fuel distributor. It distributes Mobil fuels and Castrol lubricants, and started business in the 1960s. It is based in Nelson. As of August 2021[update], NPD has 96 petrol stations, most being in the South Island. According to a study from the Commerce Commission, NPD "appeared to have the most impact on the oil majors' prices". As of May 2020[update] it has 150 staff.
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. (Full article...)
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Independent Timber Merchants or the Independent Timber Merchants Society (usually shortened as ITM) is a New Zealand co-operative of independent building supplies and hardware retailers. Its stores sell a range of products to both tradespeople and consumers, including building supplies, power tools, kitchens and paint.
The co-operative is the largest group of independent trade merchants in New Zealand. It is the second largest supplier of timber to the New Zealand building industry after Fletcher Building subsidiary PlaceMakers. There are 95 ITM member stores around New Zealand, including 16 in Auckland. (Full article...)
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Plus was a German multinational discount supermarket chain founded in 1972. It operated 2,840 stores in Germany with an approximate 27,000 employees and about 1,200 stores in several other European countries. The retail model was to sell low-cost groceries with no expense incurred for display or marketing of products. Groceries were stored in the shipping cartons they came in, rather than being stacked on shelves. In German advertising, the name "Plus" was used as a backronym for "Prima leben und sparen" (approximately "top-notch living and saving"), featuring animated "little prices" (also sold as plush puppets) as their mascot. (Full article...)
Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins eventually became subsidiaries of Dunkin' Brands, headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, in 2004, until being purchased by Inspire Brands on December 15, 2020. The chain began rebranding as a "beverage-led company", and was renamed Dunkin', in January 2019; while stores in the U.S. began using the new name, the company intends to roll out the rebranding to all of its international stores eventually. It is also sometimes known locally in the Northeast as Dunkie's. (Full article...)
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Mace is a convenience shopsymbol group operating as two separate entities with different ownerships in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It previously had stores in Great Britain. The shops are independently owned and join the groups, paying a fee for marketing and branding support and purchasing their stock from the brand owners. (Full article...)
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Plus was a German multinational discount supermarket chain founded in 1972. It operated 2,840 stores in Germany with an approximate 27,000 employees and about 1,200 stores in several other European countries. The retail model was to sell low-cost groceries with no expense incurred for display or marketing of products. Groceries were stored in the shipping cartons they came in, rather than being stacked on shelves. In German advertising, the name "Plus" was used as a backronym for "Prima leben und sparen" (approximately "top-notch living and saving"), featuring animated "little prices" (also sold as plush puppets) as their mascot. (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...)
The stores are operated under franchise agreements with Wholesale Distributors Ltd (WDL), a division of Woolworths New Zealand, one of New Zealand's largest retail and distribution companies. (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 when Mexia Supermarket was abandoned because of its owners' bankruptcy, all of the food inside was left to rot for more than three months?
... 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?
BritishsupermarketchainMorrisons announces that it will permanently close 52 cafés and 17 stores as part of cost-cutting measures, with the loss of at least 365 jobs expected. (BBC News)
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