Hypermarket

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In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore which combines a supermarket and a department store. The result is a gigantic retail facility which carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full lines of fresh groceries and apparel. When they are planned, constructed, and executed correctly, a consumer can ideally satisfy all of their routine weekly shopping needs in one trip to the hypermarket.

The concept was pioneered by the French retail group Carrefour, which opened the first hypermarket in 1962 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois near Paris. Carrefour is now the second-largest retail group in the world. That same year saw the first Meijer Thrifty Acres hypermarket open in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

After the successes of super- and hyper-markets and amid fears that all smaller stores would be forced out of business, France enacted laws that made it more difficult to build hypermarkets and also restricted the amount of economic leverage that hypermarket chains can impose upon their suppliers (the Loi Galland). Large retailers for the most part work around the law by using loopholes. As of 2004, the Loi Galland has become increasingly controversial and there have been calls to amend it.

In France, hypermarkets are generally situated in "commercial zones" (In French: Centre Commecial) outside of cities. They are surrounded by extensive parking lots, and generally by other specialized large stores (for instance, selling clothing, sports gear, automobile items, etc.).

Other major hypermarket chains include:

  • In the United States: Wal-Mart (known as Wal-Mart Supercenters), Fred Meyer (part of the Kroger group), Meijer, and SuperTargets. Stores in the United States tend to be single level enterprises with long operating hours; many of them, especially Wal-Mart, are continuously open except on major holidays (typically Thanksgiving and Christmas). Hypermarkets are very controversial in the U.S., with opposition coming primarily from preservationists who argue that they destroy conventional grocers, supermarkets, and downtowns. Hypermarkets have been most successful in northern states where adverse winter weather conditions make it inconvenient to visit multiple stores.
  • In the United Kingdom, the first hypermarket in the UK opened in Irlam in 1976 by Tesco.Thanks to that they now operate some smaller hypermarkets (known as Tesco Extra stores)and also some Tesco Hypermarket's that have suvived ever since the one in Irlam. ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart) also operates some hypermarkets (ASDA WAL-MART Supercentres). For a number of years Sainsbury's operated thirteen 'Savacentre' stores as a joint venture with BhS. Sainsbury's bought out the BhS share and in 1999 Savacentre merged with the rest of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain.
  • In Germany, the METRO AG and the REWE-Group dominate the market with its hypermarkets along with Wal-Mart.
  • In Spain, the largest hypermarkets are Eroski and Hipercor (short for Hipermercado El Corte Inglés). Carrefour also operates many stores in Spain. Spanish hypermarkets tend to be located in the industrial sprawl outside of Spain's dense urban cores.
  • In Italy and Switzerland the term is ipermercati, see Ipercoop
  • In Canada, Loblaw operates the Real Canadian Superstore. Wal-Mart has also opened stores is Canada, albeit none as large as those in the U.S., and with limited grocery selection.
  • In Malaysia Giant Hypermarket is the country first own hypermarket.
  • In Hong Kong, there were some hypermarkets owned by Carrefour. Currently, there are four hypermarkets, all named PARKnSHOP Megastore.
  • In South Africa the Pick 'n Pay [1] chain uses the term for 14 of their largest stores.
  • In India Giant and Big Bazaar are the major hypermarket chains though the recent opening up of the retail sector to foreign investors is likely to increase the numbers exponentially.
  • In Mexico the Comercial Mexicana is the Mexican version of Wal Mart
  • In Brazil there are hypermarkets open 24 hours a day, such as Extra (from the Pão de Açúcar business group) as well as foreign companies, such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour.

Another category of hypermarket is the membership based wholesale warehouse clubs that are popular in North America. Costco and Sam's Club, of which the latter is a division of Wal-Mart, are the largest companies in this category. However, it is debatable whether the warehouse clubs are true hypermarkets owing to their sparse interior decor and relatively limited range of products. To maximize turnover of inventory, they do not even attempt to carry a full range of products for each product type, but carry only those products likely to sell in bulk and in very high volume.

In California, another major hypermarket chain was the membership-based Fedco Superstores. In the mid-1990s, the hypermarket chain became defunct by the development of Wal-Mart and other discount retailers.cs:Hypermarket de:Hypermarkt fr:Hypermarché nl:Hypermarkt fi:Hypermarket zh:量販店

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