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...)
As of October 31, 2022,[update] Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names. Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in October 2022. Walmart is also the largest private employer in the world, with 2.1 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through both their holding company Walton Enterprises and their individual holdings. (Full article...)
Foodtown was a New Zealand supermarket chain owned by Progressive Enterprises (now Woolworths New Zealand). As with Woolworths, the Foodtown brand was phased out in the late 2000s, with all stores rebranded as Countdown by the end of 2011. Foodtown supermarkets were typically integrated with a shopping centre; the chain had few stand-alone stores. (Full article...)
Lidl is the chief competitor of the German discount chain Aldi in several markets. (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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Match is a Belgian multinational chain of supermarkets owned by Louis Delhaize Group. As 2023, the supermarket chain is present with 77 supermarkets in Belgium, 115 in northeast France and 25 in Luxembourg. The network also includes Smatch supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Louis Delhaize Group, which owns Cora, Match and Smatch supermarkets, announced in 2023 that it will exit from food retail by selling activities in Belgium to Colruyt, in Luxembourg to E.Leclerc and in France to Carrefour. (Full article...)
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Champion was a French supermarketchain and owned by the international retailer Carrefour. There were also Champion supermarkets in Belgium, Spain, Poland, Greece, Turkey, Argentina and Brazil. Champion was the second-largest supermarket chain in France in 2008, achieving an annual turnover of €12.2 billion. The chain operated more than 1,000 stores and employed 60,000 people.
As of September 2013, all Champion stores were rebranded as Carrefour Market, under the brand name Carrefour Market-Mestdagh Group. (Full article...)
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Cotton On Group is an Australian retail company known for its fashion, clothing and stationery brands. As of 2020, it has over 1,500 stores in 18 countries employing 22,000 people across eight brands: Cotton On, Cotton On Kids, Cotton On Body, Factorie, Typo, Rubi, Supré, Ceres and Cotton On Foundation.
The design team in the company's Australian office, control the steps of production from merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to approximately 850 suppliers and factories globally. Cotton On Group sources its materials and products from a number of locations worldwide with the majority of its suppliers being located in China, Bangladesh, India and Australia. It also works with suppliers in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, the United States and other parts of Asia. These facilities are used for horizontal division of labour, rather than being integrated. (Full article...)
In 1992, it was purchased by Kmart, but then spun-off in 1995 as Borders Group, Inc. and remained headquartered in Ann Arbor, with Waldenbooks as its subsidiary. In 1997, Borders expanded into Singapore, and then later expanded into Australia and New Zealand. In 1998, Borders expanded into the United Kingdom, and then later into Ireland. In 2005, it opened in Malaysia, and in 2006, with Al Maya Group, it opened a location in the United Arab Emirates, and then further expanded across the Middle East. (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 800 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.
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...)
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Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain of hamburgerfast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties, its two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton (1927–2018) and James McLamore (1926–1996) purchased the company in 1959. Over the next half-century, the company changed hands four times and its third set of owners, a partnership between TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, took it public in 2002. In late 2010, 3G Capital of Brazil acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal valued at US$3.26 billion. The new owners promptly initiated a restructuring of the company to reverse its fortunes. 3G, along with its partner Berkshire Hathaway, eventually merged the company with the Canadian-based coffeehouse chain Tim Hortons under the auspices of a new Canadian-based parent company named Restaurant Brands International.
Burger King's menu has expanded from a basic offering of burgers, french fries, sodas, and milkshakes to a larger and more diverse set of products. In 1957, the "Whopper" became the first major addition to the menu, and it has since become Burger King's signature product. Conversely, Burger King has introduced many products that have failed to catch hold in the market. Some of these failures in the United States have seen success in foreign markets, where Burger King has also tailored its menu for regional tastes. From 2002 to 2010, Burger King aggressively targeted the 18–34 male demographic with larger products that often carried correspondingly large amounts of unhealthy fats and trans-fats. This tactic would eventually damage the company's financial underpinnings and cast a negative pall on its earnings. Beginning in 2011, the company began to move away from its previous male-oriented menu and introduce new menu items, product reformulations, and packaging, as part of its current owner 3G Capital's restructuring plans of the company. (Full article...)
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Carters Building Supplies is a New Zealand chain of building supplies stores. It has 49 locations, including 12 in Auckland.
Chemist Warehouse Group (trading as Chemist Warehouse, My Chemist, My Beauty Spot) is an Australian company operating a chain of retail pharmacies both locally and internationally. The company is one of Australia's largest pharmacy retailers with over 500 stores in Australia, and employs over 20,000 staff. The company brands itself as offering discounted prices for pharmaceutical goods.
The company also manages a website and a "click and collect" 24 hour dispense either pick-up and delivery service for medications. (Full article...)
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Overland Footwear Group is a New Zealand and Australian footwear and fashion retail company. It operates the Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci retail chains in both countries and produces its own footwear lines. (Full article...)
One of the oldest surviving retail businesses in New Zealand, it was established in 1880 by Ulster-born Marianne Smith as a drapers and millinery shop, and is the oldest-surviving department store in Auckland. Currently, it is mostly fashion-oriented, with sections for jewellery, make-up and homewares. (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...)
In 1959 it opened the first supermarket in Ireland, in Dublin's Henry Street. Though publicly listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange for many years, the Quinn-McArdle family controlled its board and provided most of its senior management. In the early 1980s it was sold to its managing director, John Quinn, and property developer Finbarr Holland. In 1986 Tesco sold their Irish operation to H Williams for £17 million. (Full article...)
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The Coffee Club is an Australian multinational coffeehouse-style café chain. Originally created in 1989 as a place to get "an excellent coffee", the concept includes cafébar/restaurant stores with expanded menus and full table service. In 2005, The Coffee Club franchise was brought to New Zealand by Brad Jacobs and Andy Lucas opening their first store in Wellington. As of 2021, they have over 65 stores all around New Zealand. (Full article...)
Tang Frères is known as the biggest Asian supermarket chain west of China. The company has in fact diversified to other activities, including import of Asian DVDs and TV broadcasting. Tang Frères has several retail outlets throughout Paris and its immediate suburbs, as well as an outlet in Vientiane, the capital of Laos – the country of origin of the company's founding brothers. (Full article...)
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Timberland LLC is an American manufacturer and retailer of outdoor footwear and apparel owned by VF Corporation. The company also sells accessories including watches, eyewear, and leather goods. Timberland's corporate headquarters are located in Stratham, New Hampshire. (Full article...)
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Kirkcaldie & Stains (known informally as Kirkcaldie's or Kirks) was a department store in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1863 by John Kirkcaldie and Robert Stains with a capital of £700. The first store was opened on Lambton Quay. In 1868 Kirkcaldie & Stains moved to its final location at the corner of Lambton Quay and Brandon Street, expanding several times. There was a branch on Cuba Street, Wellington from 1870 –1876 and one in Napier from 1897 until 1917.
Kirkcaldie & Stains announced on 4 June 2015 that the store would close in January 2016, when the site, after a multi-million dollar refit, would become a David Jones department store. Shareholders approved the plan on 31 July 2015 in a special meeting. The store closed on 16 January 2016. The main store on Lambton Quay reopened as 'David Jones Wellington', a branch of Australian department store chain David Jones Limited, on 28 July 2016. David Jones closed on 12 June 2022. (Full article...)
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