- In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise. In theory, hypermarkets allow customers to satisfy all their routine shopping needs in one trip .
- Hypermarkets, like other big-box stores, typically have business models focusing on high-volume, low-margin sales. Because of their large footprints — a typical Wal-Mart Super center covers anywhere from 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) to 235,000 square feet (21,800 m2), and a typical Carrefour covers 210,000 square feet (20,000 m2) — and the need for many shoppers to carry large quantities of goods, many hypermarkets choose suburban or out-of-town locations that are easily accessible by automobile. It is also the place where more than 200,000 brands are available.
- Fred Meijer, which today is very large stores which combine a supermarket and a department store, opened its first one-stop shopping center in 1931. It included a grocery store alongside a drugstore plus home products, off-street parking, gas station, and—eventually—clothing. In 1962, Meijer opened its first hypermarket in Grand Rapids,Michigan in 1962, entitled "Thrifty Acres”, and calling the format a "Super center", and in Europe by Carrefour, which opened its first such store in 1963 at Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, France. In the Americas the format remained in regional use only until the late 1980s, however the Oshawa group introduced a hypermarket near Montreal in 1973 and another at Square Décarie in 1976. The now defunct retailer Steinberg has operated four hypermarkets in Québec under the name Steinberg Beaucoup from 1974 until early 1990's.
- The hypermarket concept spread in the United States in 1987, both with the introduction of stores by Carrefour, and by major American chains. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the three major discount store chains in the United States Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target started developing discount stores in the hypermarket format. Wal-Mart introduced Hypermart USA in 1987 and later Wal-Mart Super center, and Kmart developed Super Kmart.
- The produce section of a typical Wal-Mart Super center (Wal-Mart's hypermarket brand)
- In France, hypermarkets are generally situated in shopping centers outside of cities, though some are present in the city center. They are surrounded by extensive parking lots, and generally by other specialized superstores that sell clothing, sports gear, automotive items, etc.
- In Japan, hypermarkets may be found in urban areas as well as less populated areas. The Japanese government encourages hypermarket installations, as mutual investment by financial stocks are a common way to run hypermarkets. Japanese hypermarkets may contain restaurants, Manga (Japanese comic) stands, Internet cafes, typical department store merchandise, a full range of groceries, beauty salons and other services all inside the same store.
List of hypermarkets in India
- Saravana Stores, Chennai
- D mart
- Big Bazaar
- Trent
- landmark
- Star Bazaar
- more for you
- Spencer's Retail
- Hyper City
- Vishal Mega mart
- Metro Cash and Carry
- Marks & Spencer
- Reliance Fresh, Trends
- SPAR
- Shop rite Hyper, Mumbai
- V Mart, Delhi
- Easy Day
- Fashion Suiting, Bhilwara
- Honey money top, ncr
The latest entry into the discount market is the hypermarket, which is basically a wholesale club for consumers. It combines the conventional discount store with a super market into one super size store ranging from 2, 25,000 to 3, 00,000 square feet on one level. Like warehouse clubs, hyper markets feature a broad assortment of commodity goods, general merchandise, and food in a sample, self-service atmosphere. The stores, however, are fewer warehouses like than wholesale clubs are. Shopping in hypermarkets is like shopping in a gigantic discount department store. Like wholesale warehouse clubs, hypermarkets compete with traditional department and specialty stores for the consumer's dollar. The stores sell basic items of brand-name apparel.
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