Asupermarket is aself-serviceshop offering a wide variety offood,beverages andhousehold products, organized into sections under one roof. The supermarketretail format first appeared around 1930 in the United States as the culmination of almost two decades of retail innovations to thegrocery store, and began to spread to other countries after extensive worldwide publicity in 1956. In everydayAmerican English usage, "grocery store" is often used interchangeably with "supermarket", while in other regions a supermarket is larger and has a wider selection, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than ahypermarket ormegastore, which developed decades later.The supermarket typically has places for fresh meat, freshproduce,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 askitchenware,household cleaners,pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, andclothing, and some sell a much wider range of non-food products:DVDs, art supplies, 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 andHalloween).
A larger full-service supermarket combined with adepartment store is sometimes known as ahypermarket. Other services may include those of banks, cafés, childcare centers/creches, insurance (and other financial services),mobile phone sales, photo processing, video rentals, pharmacies, andfilling stations. In the US, if the eatery in a supermarket is substantial enough, the facility may be called a "grocerant", aportmanteau 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.
Supermarkets typically arechain stores, supplied by thedistribution centers of theirparent companies, thus increasing opportunities foreconomies of scale. Supermarkets usually offer products at relatively low prices by using their buying power to buy goods from manufacturers at lower prices than smaller stores can. They also minimize financing costs by paying for goods at least 30 days after receipt and some extract credit terms of 90 days or more from vendors. Certain products (typically staple foods such as bread, milk and sugar) are very occasionally sold asloss leaders so as to attract shoppers to their store. Supermarkets make up for their lowmargins by a high volume of sales, and with sales of higher-margin items bought by the customers. Self-service with shopping carts (trolleys) orbaskets reduces labor costs, and many supermarket chains are attempting further reduction by shifting toself-service check-outs. (Full article...)
Jewel-Osco is a regionalsupermarketchain in theChicago metropolitan area, headquartered inItasca, a western suburb. In 2025, the company had 189 stores across northern, central, and westernIllinois; easternIowa; and portions of northwestIndiana. Jewel-Osco has been a wholly ownedsubsidiary ofBoise-basedAlbertsons since 1999. The company originally started as a door-to-door coffee delivery service before it expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries and later into grocery stores, and supermarkets. Prior to its 1984 acquisition by American Stores, Jewel evolved into a large multi-state holding company that operated several supermarket chains and other non-food retail chain stores located from coast to coast and had operated under several different brand names. (Full article...)
Simply Market was a brand of French supermarkets formed in 2005. This brand is a new concept to eventually replaceAtac supermarkets. The brand belongs to theAuchanSuper subsidiary that manages the branches ofAuchan supermarkets. The group planned to open 500 Simply Market supermarkets in France by 2015. (Full article...)
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Norma is a fooddiscount store with more than 1,300 stores in Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Austria. The stores are appearing asNorma andNorma-Rodi, as Norma has acquired the company Rodi. (Full article...)
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Briscoe Group Limited is a majorNew Zealand retail company operating 92 stores nationwide under theBriscoes Homeware (47 stores) andRebel Sport (44 stores) brands. Established inDunedin 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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Kanakis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Anna Kanakis (1962–2023), Italian actress and model
Antonis Kanakis (born 1969), Greek television host and actor
Independent Grocers of Australia is an Australian chain of supermarkets. The IGA brand is owned by Australian conglomerateMetcash under their Food & Grocery division, but individual IGA stores are owned and operated independently. Its main competitors areAldi,Coles andWoolworths. IGA is the fourth largest supermarket chain in Australia, following Aldi overtaking Metcash in supermarket revenue. (Full article...)
The distinguishing feature of the Big Fresh was its emulation of afarmers market in asupermarket environment, with a focus on an extensive range of fresh foods; this was unique inNew Zealand at the time of its opening. (Full article...)
Pita Pit is a quick-service restaurant franchise servingpita sandwiches with fresh vegetables, grilled meat and sauces. Worldwide, it has two separate owners. Its franchising rights for the United States and its Territories are owned by Pita Pit USA 4.0, Inc., headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The remainder of the franchising rights (for Canada and the rest of the world, excluding the US) are owned byFoodtastic, which is headquartered inKingston, Ontario. (Full article...)
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Arvanitidis (Greek:Αρβανιτίδης) was a regionalGreeksupermarket chain situated in northern Greece. The company was established in 1950 by N. Arvanitidis initially as awholesaler. In 1986 Arvanitidis opened its first supermarket inVeria. 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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Zambrero is an Australian multinationalfast food restaurant franchise servingMexican cuisine. It operates in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the US and the UK, with over 300 restaurants globally. It is one of Australia's largest Mexican food franchises with 285 stores in the country.
It was founded in Canberra by then-medical studentSam Prince with the idea of using the profits to support humanitarian causes. The chain donates a meal to someone in need in the developing world for every meal purchased through their Plate4Plate program, as of December 2025, it has donated over 100 million meals. (Full article...)
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Jaycar Electronics is an Australian internationalretailer dealing inelectronic components,technical support, and other products and services for electronics enthusiasts. The company owns over 130 stores across Australia and New Zealand, and also sells its products online in the UK and US. It was founded in 1981 by Gary Johnston, who remainedmanaging director until his death in 2021.
Permewan Wright Limited was the third largest chain ofgrocery stores inAustralia in the mid twentieth century trailing Woolworths and Coles.
The company traces its origins to Browne, Osborne & Co. founded in 1854 inGeelong, Victoria. (Full article...)
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Romeo's Retail Group owns (September 2019) 39 Foodland IGA stores in South Australia. A notable store is located inAdelaide city and in May 2023 they opened Romeo's Foodland Royal Park, anchoring theHendon Central Shopping Centre.
In New South Wales, the Romeo's Retail Group have a number of IGAs called Locali and "Food Hall". (Full article...)
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Piccadilly (Пикадили) is a formerBulgarian supermarket chain operating inVarna andSofia. 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 asBilla from opening new stores.
Aloyalty program, Piccadilly Club, was started in 2003. On 12 September 2007 the Serbian firm "Delta Holding" bought 85% of the Piccadilly Chain Supermarket. Under this 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 the 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 retailerDelhaize 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 theCarrefour 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...)
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Briscoe Group Limited is a majorNew Zealand retail company operating 92 stores nationwide under theBriscoes Homeware (47 stores) andRebel Sport (44 stores) brands. Established inDunedin 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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Super Kmart was ahypermarket concept launched in the 1983 financial year with four stores (two in New South Wales and one each in Western Australia and Victoria). The concept consisted of approximately 9,000 square metres comprising a Kmart discount department store and supermarket within one retail space. Super Kmart was expanded to 34 locations by 1990 when the concept was discontinued and the stores split into separate Kmart discount department stores and Coles New World supermarkets. However at some former Super Kmart locations it took several years for the split wall to be installed between Kmart & Coles. The stores had been operated under an independent division and the cost of duplicating administration functions as well as lower sales results compared to separate Kmart and Coles New World supermarket lead to the discontinuation of the concept. (Full article...)
E.Leclerc (informally simplyLeclerc,French pronunciation:[ləklɛʁ]) is a Frenchretailers' cooperative andhypermarket chain, headquartered inIvry-sur-Seine. E.Leclerc was established on 1 January 1948 byÉdouard Leclerc inBrittany. E.Leclerc currently has more than 720 locations in France and 85 stores outside of the country, as of 2019. The chain enables semi-independent stores to operate under the Leclerc brand.
Its own brand ranges come under theMarque Repère andEco+ banners, as well as amobile virtual network operator calledRéglo Mobile which uses the mobile network ofSFR. Some larger hypermarkets have a separate entertainment/multimedia section, under the name ofEspace Culturel. E.Leclerc operates numerous stores and services around France, some near and in cities and towns while most of them are located just outside or in the hypermarkets and shopping centres. (Full article...)
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Godfreys is an Australian retailer in the domestic and commercial floorcare and cleaning industry, headquartered inMelbourne. Founded by Godfrey Cohen in 1931, at its peak it had more than 220 company and franchise-owned stores combined across Australia and New Zealand. The company went intovoluntary administration in 2024 and was relaunched under an online and wholesale model in 2025 after failing to find a buyer for the chain and its now-estranged franchisees. (Full article...)
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