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The Supermarkets Portal
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...)
Fiesta Mart, L.L.C., formerly Fiesta Mart Inc., is a Latino-Americansupermarket chain based in Houston, Texas that was established in 1972. Fiesta Mart stores are located in Texas. The chain uses a cartoon parrot as a mascot. As of 2004 it operated 34 supermarkets in Greater Houston, 16 supermarkets in other locations in Texas, and 17 Beverage Mart liquor store locations. During the same year it had 7.5% of the grocery market share in Greater Houston. Many of its stores were located in Hispanic neighborhoods and other minority neighborhoods.
The chain caters Hispanic and other foods also serves hot cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for customers; Allison Wollam of the Houston Business Journal said "The company has been successful at targeting the Hispanic market and specifically catering to their needs and shopping styles." Bernie Murphy, a spokesperson for Fiesta, said in 2006 that at some stores Hispanics make up to 70% of those stores's clientele. Fiesta caters to these customers with a large selection of foods and ingredients that are generally not available at a typical grocery store. Fiesta stores also often include several other stores owned by independent operators, such as discount jewelry and banking. Fiesta also operates Fiesta Liquor Stores, where only alcohol is sold. (Full article...)
It was established in 1976 as a partnership of eight independent grocery stores. In the same year, Metro opened its first self-branded supermarket in Athens. Today (2015) the company has 108 stores all over Greece. 62 of its stores (usually sized between 1000-2000 m2) operate under the brand name My Market, while the remaining 46 (usually sized over 2000 m2) operate under the brand name Metro Cash & Carry. Metro is the sixth largest supermarket chain in Greece as measured by market share. (Full article...)
Bendon Group is a New Zealand lingerie, underwear and sleepwear company. It includes the women's brands Bendon, Me by Bendon, Pleasure State, Lovable and Hickory, the fuller cup size brand Fayreform, and the men's brands Bendon Man and Davenport.
It has a chain of 36 dedicated lingerie retail stores in New Zealand, including 11 in Auckland. (Full article...)
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Plus was a German multinational discount supermarket chain founded in 1972. It operated 2,840 stores in Germany with an approximate 27,000 employees and about 1,200 stores in several other European countries. The retail model was to sell low-cost groceries with no expense incurred for display or marketing of products. Groceries were stored in the shipping cartons they came in, rather than being stacked on shelves. In German advertising, the name "Plus" was used as a backronym for "Prima leben und sparen" (approximately "top-notch living and saving"), featuring animated "little prices" (also sold as plush puppets) as their mascot. (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.
In 2015 the United Video company would go into liquidation. In 2020 their parent company The Entertainers Limited would cease operations (Full article...)
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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.
Borders was a US-based bookseller, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia that also specialized in CDs, DVDs, calendars, stationery, gift packs and related merchandising in the Pacific area of Asia and Australasia. It had stores internationally in New Zealand and Australia. All of the stores also were fitted with Gloria Jeans Coffees cafés. The company was the Asia-pacific franchisee of the US bookseller of the same name, but was sold off in 2007 and licensed the Borders brandname for its remaining years. (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...)
Georgie Pie was a fast food chain owned by retailer Progressive Enterprises specialising in meat pies that hoped to be "New Zealand’s own homegrown alternative to the global fast-food industry giants such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Burger King". The first Georgie Pie restaurant opened in 1977, and at its peak there were 32 restaurants across New Zealand. After running into financial difficulties, it was bought out by McDonald's in 1996, mainly for its restaurant locations. The last Georgie Pie store was closed in 1998.
Large pies at Georgie Pie came in a range of traditional (mince and cheese/steak and kidney) and international (Chinese/Mexican/Italian) flavours. In 2013, following frequent calls for the brand's return, McDonald's reintroduced Georgie Pie through its restaurants. It was discontinued in 2020. There are no plans to open dedicated Georgie Pie stores. (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...)
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Auchan (French pronunciation:[oʃɑ̃]) is a French multinationalretail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% stake in the company, it is the 35th largest employer in the world.
Leader Price, (full name: Société S.A. Leader Price Holding), is a French discount store chain of the Groupe Casino, headquartered in Paris, France. The chain sold its 545 directly owned stores in France, currently operating only franchise stores. (Full article...)
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E.Leclerc (informally simply Leclerc, French pronunciation:[ləklɛʁ]) is a French retailers' cooperative and hypermarket chain, headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine. E.Leclerc was established on 1 January 1948 by Édouard Leclerc in Brittany. 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.
Own brand ranges come under the Marque Repère and Eco+ banners, as well as a MVNO called Réglo Mobile which uses the mobile network of SFR. Some larger hypermarkets have a separate entertainment/multimedia section, under the name of Espace 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.
L'auto (Car Garage)
Brico (DIY store)
Le Prou Construction (Residential and commercial construction)
As of December 31, 2008, the Luxottica Group operated 2,286 stores around the world, most of those as part of the Sunglass Hut brand. (Full article...)
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Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational 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, headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd, headquartered in Mülheim.
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a syllabic abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont), which is pronounced [ˈaldiː]ⓘ. 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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PlaceMakers is the trading name of Fletcher Distribution Limited, the retail trading arm of Fletcher Building in New Zealand. PlaceMakers also manufactures wall frames, roof trusses and structural components at various frame and truss operations. PlaceMakers origins began in August 1981 as part of Fletcher Timber Limited's retailing operations within the Manufacturing and Merchandising Sector of Fletcher Challenge Limited.
The chain has 62 stores in 2019, up from 52 in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has 11 stores in Auckland, with a head office in Panmure, Auckland. (Full article...)
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. M&S currently has 959 stores across the UK, including 615 that only sell food products, and through its television advertising, 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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Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name (Mobil Oil Corporation), which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
A direct descendant of Standard Oil, Mobil was originally known as the Standard Oil Company of New York (shortened to Socony) after Standard Oil was split into 43 different entities in a 1911 Supreme Court decision. Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Company, from which the Mobil name first originated, in 1931 and subsequently renamed itself to Socony-Vacuum Oil Company. Over time, Mobil became the company's primary identity, which prompted a renaming in 1955 to the SoconyMobil Oil Company, and then in 1966 to the Mobil Oil Corporation. Mobil credits itself with being the first company to introduce paying at the pump at its gas stations, the first company to produce jet aviation fuel, as well as the first company to introduce a mobile payment device, today known as Speedpass. (Full article...)
... 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?
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