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...)
NTUC FairPrice is the largest supermarket chain in Singapore. The company is a co-operative of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). The group has more than 100 supermarkets across the island, with over 160 outlets of Cheers convenience stores island-wide.
NTUC FairPrice has partnered with ExxonMobil to run several stations with a FairPrice branding at the minimarts at their stations. The supermarket has the slogan "Singapore's very own". (Full article...)
The Globus Group, led by Globus Holding (Globus Holding GmbH & Co. KG), branded as Globus, is a German retail company based in Sankt Wendel, Saarland (Germany). The Globus Holding includes the Globus hypermarkets in Germany (known as Globus Markthallen), Russia and the Czech Republic (known as Globus Hypermarkets), as well as the Globus DIY stores (known as Globus Baumarkt). (Full article...)
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Mosaic Brands Limited is an Australian fashion retail company. It operates 715 stores across Australia under the brands Millers, Rockmans, Noni B, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, Crossroads, W. Lane and Beme. The company's core market is women over the age of 50. In 2024 it was placed into voluntary administration with administrators appointed from FTI Consulting and receivers and managers from KPMG after not gaining approval on an emergency restructure. It announced it would wind down the Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W.Lane and Beme brands, with receivers later winding down the Katies brand as part of extended store closures. (Full article...)
Iceland Foods Limited, trading asIceland, is a British supermarket chain headquartered in Deeside, Wales. It mainly sells frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables, alongside non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy and dry goods. The company also operates a chain of shops called The Food Warehouse. (Full article...)
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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.
The company operates 50 stores in New Zealand (19), Australia (20), United States (10) and the United Kingdom (1). They also operate 10 outlet locations in New Zealand (3), Australia (6) and the United States (1). They are also stocked in Canada, Ireland and France. (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.
Meny (meaning "Menu") is a Norwegian and Danish supermarket chain owned by NorgesGruppen and Dagrofa (only the Danish stores, NorgesGruppen owns a 49% stake in Dagrofa). The chain has historically only been active in Norway, where 187 stores operate under the brand. In 2015, 119 Meny stores opened in Denmark, which are rebranded SuperBest and Eurospar stores, brands owned by the Danish Dagrofa. The first Danish Meny stores opened in April 2015.
The brand operates so called 'full-service' supermarkets, focusing on offering a large choice of fresh and/or high quality products as opposed to discount supermarkets that offer low prices. (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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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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Aldi (stylised as ALDI) (German pronunciation: [ˈaldiː]ⓘ) is the common company brand name of two Germanmultinational family-owned discount supermarketchains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960, that later became Aldi Nord (initially Northern West Germany), headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd (initially Southern West Germany), headquartered in neighbouring Mülheim.
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a syllabic abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont). In Germany, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions' names may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies. The formal business name of Aldi Nord is Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Co., while the formal business name of Aldi Süd is ALDI SÜD Dienstleistungs-SE & Co. Each company is owned and operated independently, but they do have contractual business with one another. (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...)
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...)
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Aldi (stylised as ALDI) (German pronunciation: [ˈaldiː]ⓘ) is the common company brand name of two Germanmultinational family-owned discount supermarketchains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960, that later became Aldi Nord (initially Northern West Germany), headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd (initially Southern West Germany), headquartered in neighbouring Mülheim.
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a syllabic abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont). In Germany, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions' names may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies. The formal business name of Aldi Nord is Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Co., while the formal business name of Aldi Süd is ALDI SÜD Dienstleistungs-SE & Co. Each company is owned and operated independently, but they do have contractual business with one another. (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...)
Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialised manufacturing, for which it gained a high reputation. It is now best known as a retailer of spare parts and motor accessories.
Lidl is the chief competitor of the German discount chain Aldi in several markets. (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...)
... 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?
... 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 the rapper Jords did not know his father was a musician until a chance encounter in a British supermarket?
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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