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...)
Konzum is Croatia's largest supermarket chain, with over 700 stores throughout the country and more than 10,000 employees. Konzum serves over 650,000 customers each day. With its headquarters in Zagreb, Konzum is part of the Fortenova Group since 1 April 2019.
There are Konzum stores in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro as well. In July 2005 Konzum founded a chain of drugstores, known as Kozmo. This chain, which by then had 42 stores with 242 employees, was sold to the Nexus ALPHA fund on 31 December 2009. In 2017 German retailer Müller undertook all 70 Kozmo stores expanding its presence in Croatian drugstore market. (Full article...)
Antakalnis (literallyLithuanian: 'the place on the hills'; Polish: Antokol) is an eldership in Vilnius, Lithuania. Antakalnis is one of the oldest, and largest historical suburbs of Vilnius. It is in the Eastern section of Vilnius, along the left bank of the Neris, with the river running along the whole Western side of the district. Antakalnis Eldership is the second-largest in Vilnius, with an area of 77.14 km2 (29.78 sq mi).
Hill Street Grocer is an independent grocery store chain in Tasmania, Australia, with ten stores in the state as of 2020. It is a member of the Tasmanian Independent Retailers co-operative. Hill Street Grocer is best known for its focus on Tasmanian grown food and produce, and stocks high end Tasmanian foods as well as general grocery foods. Some of its stores include attached gift shops. (Full article...)
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ResenePaints LTD is a New Zealand paint and building materials manufacturer and retailer. (Full article...)
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Harris Farm Markets is an Australian grocery chain with over 30 locations in New South Wales and Queensland with the majority of stores existing within the Sydney metropolitan area, the Brisbane metropolitan area, and various regional areas in New South Wales including Newcastle, Orange, Bathurst and Albury. The markets specialise in fruit, vegetables, cheeses, breads, delicatessen and gourmet grocery items.
They are Australia's biggest individual retailer of fruit and vegetables and promote 'odd-shaped' fruit called "Imperfect Picks" at lower prices in an initiative to reduce landfills. Harris Farm Markets also produce many of their products in Flemington, including yogurt, frozen goods, salads, juices and milk. (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...)
Lidl is the chief competitor of the similar German discount chain Aldi in several markets. (Full article...)
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Piccadilly (Пикадили) is a former Bulgarian supermarket chain operating in Varna and Sofia. Founded as a 51% foreign-owned company in 1995, it opened its first supermarket in Varna in 1994 and became 100% Bulgarian-owned in 2003. Piccadilly was known for its near-complete dominance of the market in Varna to the extent that it prevented large international chains such as Billa from opening new stores.
A loyalty program, Piccadilly Club, was started in 2003. On 12 September 2007 the Serbian firm "Delta Holding" bought 85% of the Piccadilly Chain Supermarket. Under the deal, Delta had to invest about €70m in Piccadilly and open 20 new stores which would hire about 1000 new employees. That was the first deal in which Serbian capital was invested in an EU member state. Through the acquisition of Delta Maxi Group in July 2011, Piccadilly became a member of the Belgian international food retailer Delhaize Group. The chain disposed of 26 Piccadilly supermarkets (eight of them on the territory of Varna, five in Sofia, three in Plovdiv, one in Burgas, one in Veliko Tarnovo, one in Lovech, one in Stara Zagora, one in Vidin, one in Samokov, one in Yambol, one in Gabrovo and one in Rousse) and 13 Piccadilly Express corner shops (ten in Sofia, two in Plovdiv and one in Varna). In 2014 the chain was once again sold by Delhaize to the Bulgarian company AP Mart and the company decided to merge the Piccadilly stores chain with the Carrefour Market operated by KMB Bulgaria franchiser. But the deal never happened. In 2015, Piccadilly took a €11.8m loan from Investbank to repay its suppliers and lenders. (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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Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home products and food products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds. In its 2024 results the company stated that it was aiming at reducing locations to 180 full-line and 420 food stores in the UK, commenting that legacy stores were more expensive to operate. Through its television advertising it asserts the exclusive nature and luxury of its food and beverages. It also offers an online food delivery service through a joint venture with Ocado. (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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Foodland is an Australian supermarket chain in South Australia, founded in 1962 and has been operating for over 60 years.
Foodland has established itself as an well-known brand in the South Australian retail sector and directly employs over 7,000 staff and indirectly more than 1,500 South Australian staff. There were 96 stores covering South Australia and Broken Hill in 2023. (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...)
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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.
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...)
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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...)
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Independent Grocers of Australia is an Australian chain of supermarkets. The IGA brand is owned by Australian conglomerate Metcash under their Food & Grocery division, but individual IGA stores are owned and operated independently. Its main competitors are Aldi, Coles and Woolworths. IGA is the fourth largest supermarket chain in Australia, following Aldi overtaking Metcash in supermarket revenue. (Full article...)
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Mountain Designs is an outdoor clothing and equipment business based in Australia. They sell hiking, rockclimbing and general outdoor and recreational equipment. The company stocks a variety of international and local brands, as well as their own brands of clothing, accessories, sleepwear and bags. (Full article...)
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Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, S.A. (DIA) is a Spanish multinational hard-discount supermarket chain founded in 1979. DIA is the largest franchiser company in Spain and the fourth largest food sector franchiser in Europe. The company operates under DIA brand in Spain, Argentina and Brazil and under Minipreço brand in Portugal. It has also operates 1.051 Clarel beauty stores in Spain.
At the end of 2021 it had 5.937 stores, of which 2,738 in Spain, 499 in Portugal, 912 in Argentina and 737 in Brazil, 46 distribution warehouses and approximately 38,573 employees, with a turnover of 6.6 billion Euros. Dia also markets up to 7,500 Dia branded products internationally. (Full article...)
Lidl is the chief competitor of the similar German discount chain Aldi in several markets. (Full article...)
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Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, trading asColes, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of the Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in Collingwood by George Coles, Coles operates 846 supermarkets throughout Australia, including several now re-branded Bi-Lo Supermarkets. Coles has over 120,000 employees and accounts for around 27 per cent of the Australian market. Coles' large head office site in Melbourne's inner south-east has 4,000 employees of the workforce located inside.
Coles Online is the company's online shopping ('click & collect' and home delivery) service. (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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