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...)
On July 26, 2018, SuperValu announced that it had agreed to be purchased by Providence, RI-based United Natural Foods Inc., the largest distributor to Whole Foods Market and other natural foods stores. UNFI would pay $1.3 billion in cash and assume another $1.6 billion in SuperValu debt and liabilities. UNFI said it expects the deal to result in roughly $175 million in savings over three years and that it would divest itself of SuperValu's grocery stores. (Full article...)
Cora is a chain of hypermarkets owned by Louis Delhaize Group in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the French overseas territory of Mayotte. Cora was founded in 1974 by the supermarket holding Louis Delhaize Group after taking over three Carrefour hypermarkets located in Belgium. These three were originally established around 1969 as a joint venture franchise between two other companies: the Carrefour Group and the Delhaize Group.
The Trusts are a group of two community-owned organisations (licensing trusts) with a near monopoly on the sale of alcohol in West Auckland. They are one of the largest alcohol retailers in New Zealand.
Tesco has expanded globally since the early 1990s, with operations in 11 other countries in the world. The company pulled out of the US in 2013, but continues to see growth elsewhere. Since the 1960s, Tesco has diversified into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, toys, petrol, software, financial services, telecoms and internet services. In the 1990s, Tesco re-positioned itself from being a downmarket high-volume low-cost retailer, attempting to attract a range of social groups with its low-cost "Tesco Value" range (launched 1993) and premium "Tesco Finest" range. (Full article...)
Before its reintroduction, the original 'Woolworths' brand was phased-out in the late 2000s. All but one store were rebranded as Countdown by 2011, with the exception in Mount Maunganui. (Full article...)
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Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill, referred to simply as Mad Mex, is an Australian-based multinational chain of fast-food restaurants based in Sydney, that purveys Mexican cuisine, while the Mad Group own the master franchise for the restaurant in New Zealand.
Mad Mex Fresh Mexican is Lucha libre-themed and was voted the best Mexican restaurant nationwide in the Lifestyle Food Awards. (Full article...)
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Retail Apparel Group is an Australian and New Zealand clothing retail company, wholly owned by the Foschini Group. The company operates stores under the Tarocash, Connor, yd., Johnny Bigg, Rockwear and AXL+Co brands. (Full article...)
Noodle Box is Australia's largest franchised noodle restaurant chain, with a network of over 70 restaurants across the country. (Full article...)
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McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and in 1961 bought out the McDonald brothers. Previously headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, it moved to nearby Chicago in June 2018. McDonald's is also a real estate company through its ownership of around 70% of restaurant buildings and 45% of the underlying land (which it leases to its franchisees).
McDonald's is the world's largest fast food restaurant chain, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries in more than 40,000 outlets as of 2021. McDonald's is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, although their menu also includes other items like chicken, fish, fruit, and salads. Their bestselling licensed item are their french fries, followed by the Big Mac. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees), the majority of whom work in the restaurant's franchises. , McDonald's has the sixth-highest global brand valuation. (Full article...)
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Pita Pit is a Canadian quick-service restaurant franchise serving pita sandwiches with fresh vegetables, grilled meat and sauces. Its Canadian and global headquarters are in Kingston, Ontario. Its United States headquarters are in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. As of September 2021, it is owned by Foodtastic. (Full article...)
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Accent Group is an Australian and New Zealand footwear and clothing retail, wholesaling and distribution company. It has more than 800 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.
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. , 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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The hospitality industry in New Zealand is a major industry operating around the country. It is one of the largest employment sectors in the country, contributing about 1.7% of GDP, equivalent to NZ$5 billion annually.
Businesses in the sector can be divided into four broad categories: Quick Service Restaurants; Takeaways; Pubs, Taverns and Bars; and Cafes and Restaurants. More than half of the sector's workforce work in cafes and restaurants, and more than half of sales occur in the Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington regions. (Full article...)
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Australian Liquor Marketers is the liquor arm of Metcash. It distributes liquor to businesses around Australia and New Zealand, and runs a franchise of almost 2900 liquor stores operating as The Bottle-O, Cellarbrations, IGA Liquor, Duncans, Thirsty Camel, Big Bargain, Porters and Merchants Liquor.
The company has 13 distribution centres across every state and territory of Australia, and a distribution centre in New Zealand. It is Australia's largest supplier of liquor to independently owned liquor retailers and largest broad-range liquor wholesaler, supplying to 12,000 liquor customers. (Full article...)
The chain has over 234 stores around Australia. (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, and consists of 13,996 stores in 48 countries. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam. The company operates a partnership programme and has a presence in most European countries, as well as many others throughout Asia, Africa and Oceania. (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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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...)
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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...)
It owns the trademarks Hyper U, Super U, Marché U and Utile, which are used by its members. It had a pre-tax turnover of 12.7 billion euros in 2002 and 13.8 billion in 2003, rising to 15.6 billion euros in 2007; this makes the company the sixth largest retail group in France. (Full article...)
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Rewe (stylized as REWE; German pronunciation:[ˈʁeːvə]) is a supermarket chain in Germany and the main brand of Rewe Group headquartered in Cologne. The name originated from an abbreviation of the original name "Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften" (Audit union for Westkauf-Cooperatives). With about 3,300 stores, Rewe is the second largest food retailer in Germany behind EDEKA.
In 2011, the company started a delivery service with a test run in Frankfurt am Main, which was gradually expanded to locations throughout Germany. With this approach, Rewe was a pioneer in online grocery delivery within Germany. As of 2015, they have publicised plans for investing more heavily in their online presence. (Full article...)
... that food was left to rot outside after the supermarket Supie went out of business?
... 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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