Grocery store

Grocery store
Grocery store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan Delicatessen & Grocery in Metairie, Louisiana Ethnic grocery, West Bloomfield Twp, Michigan Convenience Store in Brockenhurst, United Kingdom Organic grocery in Toronto, Canada

A grocery store (

• the
  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a grocery store as "a store that sells food and household supplies : supermarket". In other words, in common U.S. usage, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket.^[5] The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the term "grocery store" in American English is often used to mean "supermarket".^[3]
• the U.S. and Canadian governments have a wider definition of grocery stores, not limiting them to supermarkets. The category of business (
  NAICS code 4551) "Grocery stores" is defined as "primarily engaged in retailing a general line of food products",^[2]
  and the subcategory (NAICS code 455110), "Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores" is defined as "establishments generally known as supermarkets and grocery stores, primarily engaged in retailing a general line of food, such as canned and frozen foods; fresh fruits and vegetables; and fresh and prepared meats, fish, and poultry. Included in this industry are delicatessen-type establishments primarily engaged in retailing a general line of food.

In the United Kingdom, terms in common usage include "supermarket" (for larger grocery stores), "corner shop",[4] "convenience shop", or "grocery" (meaning a grocery shop) for smaller stores. "Grocery store", being a North American term, is not used. The Oxford English Dictionary states that a "grocery" is (especially in British English) a shop that sells food and other things used in the home.^[3]

The UK government does not define "grocery (shop)" or "supermarket" nor a distinction between them, but defines the types of store formats (whether they sell groceries, or otherwise):^[6]

• "One-stop shops" as over 1,400 square metres (15,000 square feet)
• "Mid-range stores": between 280 and 1,400 square metres (3,000 and 15,000 square feet), and
• "Convenience stores": less than 280 square metres (3,000 square feet)

India

90% of the 810-billion-dollar Indian food and grocery market sales are at the 12 million small grocery stores, called kirana.^[7]

History

Early history

Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer (or "purveyor") was a dealer in comestible

From the late 1600s until the 1850s, the word "grocery" referred to a place where people went to drink.^[9]

As increasing numbers of staple food-stuffs became available in cans and other less-perishable packaging, the trade expanded its province. Today, grocers deal in a wide range of staple food-stuffs including such perishables as dairy products, meats, and produce. Such goods are, hence, called groceries. ^[10]

Many rural areas still contain general stores that sell goods ranging from tobacco products to imported napkins. Traditionally, general stores have offered credit to their customers, a system of payment that works on trust rather than modern credit cards. This allowed farm families to buy staples until their harvest could be sold. ^{[citation needed]}

Modernization

The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders, an inventor and entrepreneur.^[11][12] Prior to this innovation, grocery stores operated "over the counter," with customers asking a grocer to retrieve items from inventory. Saunders' invention allowed a much smaller number of clerks to service the customers, proving successful (according to a 1929 issue of Time) "partly because of its novelty, partly because neat packages and large advertising appropriations have made retail grocery selling almost an automatic procedure."^[13]

The early supermarkets began as chains of grocer's shops. The development of supermarkets and other large grocery stores has meant that smaller grocery stores often must create a niche market by selling unique, premium quality, or ethnic foods that are not easily found in supermarkets. A small grocery store may also compete by locating in a mixed commercial-residential area close to, and convenient for, its customers. Organic foods are also becoming a more popular niche market for smaller stores.

Grocery stores operate in many different styles ranging from rural family-owned operations, such as

Many European cities are so dense in population and buildings that large supermarkets, in the American sense, cannot replace the neighbourhood grocer's shop. However, "Metro" shops have been appearing in town and city centres in many countries, leading to the decline of independent smaller shops. Large out-of-town

The Future

According to Deloitte Insights,^[14] exponentially more powerful technology is one of the major forces reshaping the industry. The future of grocery stores is likely to be shaped by continued technological innovation, with trends like automated checkouts, AI-driven inventory management, and even drone deliveries. Sustainability will also be a key focus, with stores adopting more eco-friendly practices and products.

Types

Grocery stores can be small or large physical stores or electronic (online) stores.

The U.S. FMI food industry association, drawing on research by Willard Bishop, defines the following formats (store types) that sell groceries:^[15]

Small format

Neighborhood grocery

In developing countries, often a significant portion of grocery shopping is done at so-called "mom-and-pop" (i.e., family-run), small grocery stores. 90% of the 810-billion-dollar Indian food and grocery market sales are at the 12 million small grocery stores, called kirana.^[16] Similarly, in Mexico, tiendas de la esquina (literally "corner stores") are still common places for people to buy groceries and sundries, even though they become less and less of the market over time.^[17]

Convenience store

A convenience shop is a small store that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, snack foods, candy, toiletries, soft drinks, tobacco products, and newspapers. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger shops.

Although larger, newer convenience stores may have quite a broad range of items, the selection is still limited compared to supermarkets, and, in many stores, only 1 or 2 choices are available. Convenience stores usually charge significantly higher prices than ordinary grocery stores or supermarkets, which they make up for with convenience by serving more locations and having shorter cashier lines.^[18] Many convenience stores offer food ready to eat, such as breakfast sandwiches and other breakfast food.

Delicatessen

A

• 
  Delicatessen foods
• 
  Delicatessen in New York City, New York
• 
  Delicatessen in a shop in Rome, Italy

Greengrocer

A greengrocer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in groceries that are mostly green in color.^[20] Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in cities, towns and villages.

• 
  A miscelanea, a type of family-run convenience store in Mexico
• 
  A

  green grocer

  in Vietnam
• 
  A green grocers in the Tampere Market Hall

Ethnic market

Some grocers specialize in the foods of certain countries or regions, such as

Types include Asian supermarkets outside of Asia, or a bodega or Hispanic supermarkets in the United States or a toko in the Netherlands.

A kosher supermarket or other establishment guided by religious food traditions would also typically have an association with certain ethnic cuisines, though not exclusively.

IBISWorld estimates U.S. ethnic grocery stores will make up ca. $51 billion^[23] in sales, 6% of the total ca. $819 billion in 2023 U.S. supermarket sales.^[24] The largest such chains in 2016 were Hispanic supermarkets Superior Grocers, with an estimated $ 1.6 billion in sales and El Súper-Bodega Latina, a division of Mexico's Chedraui Group, with estimated sales of $1.2 billion.

Health food store

A

Health food stores became much more common in the 1960s in connection to the newly emerging

In

A supermarket, a large form of the traditional grocery store, is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products organized into aisles. The supermarket typically comprises meat, fresh produce, dairy, and baked goods aisles, along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged goods as well as for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies.

Other services offered at some supermarkets may include those of

• 
  The produce section in a supermarket
• 
  Store in Hadley, Massachusetts.
• 
  Supermarket in Tallinn, Estonia.

Hypermarket

A

• 
  Packaged food aisles in a Fred Meyer, a hypermarket chain in the Pacific Northwest

  .
• 
  The entrance of the hypermarket in Malmi, Helsinki, Finland

Electronic

Amazon.com, Walmart's To-Go service, and smaller companies like Yummy.com and RelayFoods.^[29] In the U.S., sales from online grocers in 2013 were $15 billion.^[30] Online grocery stores are more popular in Europe, where sales from 2012 in Britain alone were €7.1 billion, and in certain markets are projected to double from 2012 to 2016.^[31]

Regional variations

Further information: List of supermarket chains

This section focuses only on one specialized aspect of the subject. Please help improve this article by adding general information and discuss at the talk page. (April 2014)

Europe

Larger grocer complexes that include other facilities, such as

petrol stations, are especially common in the United Kingdom, where major chains such as Sainsbury's and Tesco have many locations operating under this format. Traditional shops throughout Europe

have been preserved because of their history and their classic appearance. They are sometimes still found in rural areas, although they are rapidly disappearing.

South America

Grocery stores in

Walmart (Lider and Ekono) as well as Falabella (Tottus

in Chile and Peru and Supermercados San Francisco in Chile). These three chains are subsidiaries of large retail companies which also have other kinds of business units, such as department stores and home improvement outlets. All three also operate their own credit cards, which are a key driver for sales, and they also sell insurance and operate travel agencies. These companies also run some malls in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia.

Two other chains started in 2008: Unimarc, which bought several small local chains and has over 20% of the grocery segment in Chile; and Southern Cross, a Chilean Investment Fund that has around 8.6% of the supermarket segment, mainly oriented to the southern areas of the country. In Puerto Rico, popular grocery stores include Pueblo Supermarkets and Amigo.

North America

In some countries such as the United States, grocery stores descended from

baking soda, canned foods, dry beans, and flour. Consumers obtained perishable foods from specialty markets, such as fresh meat or sausages from a butcher and milk from a local dairy, while eggs and vegetables were either produced by families themselves, bartered for with neighbors, or purchased at a farmers' market or a local greengrocer.^{[citation needed}

]

In the US, there are many larger chain stores, but there are also many small chains and independent grocery stores. About 11% of groceries are sold by a grocery store that is either independent or in a chain of just one, two, or three stores, making the independent stores, taken collectively, bigger than the biggest chains.^[32]

Most food in the US is bought at traditional brick-and-mortar grocery stores.^[32] As of 2019, about 3% of food was bought from an online retailer such as Amazon.com.^[32]

The economic trends affecting grocery stores include:

• In every decade since the 1960s, Americans have spent an increasing share of their money on eating at restaurants, which reduces their need to buy groceries.^[32]
• Groceries are sold by many other stores, such as
  dollar stores.^[32] The result of retail channel blurring is that even when people are buying groceries, only about half of them are buying groceries from a grocery store.^[32]
• Online sales of food are small but increasing. People who buy groceries from an internet retailer or a meal kit company have less need to buy groceries from a grocery store.^[32]
• People want to buy foods that reflect local and regional specialties. Sales of national brands, such as Nabisco cookies and crackers, have declined, and the companies have responded by changing their marketing approach. The reduction in advertising has resulted in fewer sales at the grocery store.^[32]

Food marketing

Food marketing brings together the producer and the consumer. It is the chain of activities that brings food from "farm gate to plate".^[33] The marketing of even a single food product can be a complicated process involving many producers and companies. For example, 56 companies are involved in making one can of chicken noodle soup.^[34] These businesses include not only chicken and vegetable processors, but also the companies that transport the ingredients and those who print labels and manufacture cans.^[35] The food marketing system is the largest direct and indirect non-government employer in the United States.

In the pre-modern era, the sale of surplus food took place once a week when farmers took their wares on market day into the local village marketplace. Here food was sold to

grocers for sale in their local shops for purchase by local consumers.^[36][37] With the onset of industrialization and the development of the food processing industry, a wider range of food could be sold and distributed in distant locations. Typically, early grocery shops would be counter-based where purchasers told the shop-keeper what they wanted and the shop-keeper would get it for them.^[36][38]

In the 20th century,

self service approach to shopping using shopping carts, and were able to offer quality food at lower cost through economies of scale and reduced staffing costs. In the latter part of the 20th century, this has been further revolutionized by the development of vast warehouse-sized, out-of-town supermarkets, selling a wide range of food from around the world.^[39]

Unlike food processors, food retailing is a two-tier market in which a small number of very large companies control a large proportion of supermarkets. The supermarket giants wield great purchasing power over farmers and processors, and strong influence over consumers. Less than 10% of consumer spending on food goes to farmers, with larger percentages going to advertising, transportation, and intermediate corporations.^[40]

Prices

Main articles: Food prices and Food vs. fuel

It was reported on March 24, 2008, that consumers worldwide faced rising food prices.

oil prices, lower food reserves, and growing consumer demand in China and India.^[41]

The US Labor Department has calculated that food purchased at home and in restaurants is 13% of household purchases, behind 32% for housing and 18% for transportation. The average US family spent $280 per month or $3,305 per year at grocery stores in 2004. The newsletter Dollar Stretcher survey estimated $149 a month for a single person, $257 for a couple and $396 for a family of four.[42]

Food waste

Main article:

Food waste

commercial or industrial agriculture, food waste can occur at most stages of the food industry and in significant amounts.^[44]

Packaging protects food from damage during its transportation from farms and factories via warehouses to retailing, as well as preserving its freshness upon arrival.^[45] Although it avoids considerable food waste,^[45][46] packaging can compromise efforts to reduce food waste in other ways, such as by contaminating waste that could be used for animal feedstocks.^[47]

Retail stores can throw away large quantities of food. Usually, this consists of items that have reached either their best before, sell-by or use-by dates. Food that passed the best before, and sell-by date, and even some food that passed the use-by date is still edible at the time of disposal, but stores have widely varying policies to handle the excess food. Some stores put effort into preventing access to poor or homeless people while others work with charitable organizations to distribute food.

Retailers also contribute to waste as a result of their contractual arrangements with suppliers. Failure to supply agreed quantities renders farmers or processors liable to have their contracts cancelled. As a consequence, they plan to produce more than actually required to meet the contract, to have a margin of error. Surplus production is often simply disposed of.

homeless shelters or charity kitchens.^[49]

The European Union claimed 2014 to be "Year Against Food Waste".^[50] The contracts that most retailers had signed required that food would be of a certain quality. With this recent socio-political change, food such as non-round tomatoes and apples with blemishes had a new market. Intermarche, France's third-largest supermarket launched its "inglorious fruits and vegetables" campaign in order to reduce waste. This, fruits and vegetables, waste reduction strategy has shown great promise towards this EU proposed campaign. These products are sold at a reduced price compared to the perfectionist campaign showing a 24% increase in sales. Fruta Feia a Portuguese retailer ran a similar business strategy with comparable success.

A 2021 analysis by the United Nations Environment Programme found that food waste was a challenge in all countries and economic levels, excluding food lost during production.^[51] This study estimated global food waste at 931 million tonnes (around 121 kg per person) across three sectors: households (61%), food service (26%), and retail (13%).^[51]

Food waste contributes significantly to agriculture's impact on climate change, responsible for 3.3 billion tons of CO₂e emissions annually,^[52][53] along with other environmental concerns like land use, water consumption, and biodiversity loss. Preventing food waste is a top priority, followed by surplus food reuse through methods like donations. Strategies then include animal feed, nutrient recycling, and energy recovery, with landfill being the least preferred due to methane emissions.^[54]

The UN's Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 aims to cut global per capita food waste by 50% at retail, consumer levels, and throughout production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses, by

2030.^[58][59]

See also

• Big-box store
• Bulk foods
• Food cooperative
• General store
• List of grocers
• List of food cooperatives
• List of hypermarkets
• List of supermarket chains
• List of convenience stores
• List of superstores
• Self-service
• Vegetable box scheme
• Greengrocer

Notes

References

1. ^ "Origin of the Word Grocer". culinarylore.com. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
2. ^ ^{a b} " ""4451", North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada 2012".
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Grocery". Oxford Learner's Dictionary. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
4. ^ ^{a b} Haider, Area (25 March 2020). "A cultural history of the beloved corner shop". BBC. Culture (BBC).
5. ^ "Grocery store". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
6. ^ "The grocery market: The OFT's reasons for making a reference to the Competition Commission" (PDF). Office of Fair Trading (UK Government). May 2006. p. 5. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
7. ^ "How Indian grocery business is becoming big?". Indian Retailer.
8. ^ "Grocer". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). 1989.
9. ^ Autumn Swiers (12 June 2022). "What The Word 'Grocery' Originally Meant". Tasting Table.
10. ^ "What does grocer mean?". www.definitions.net. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
11. ^ "About Us | Piggly Wiggly". www.pigglywiggly.com.
12. ^ "Tennessee History for Kids". Tnhistoryforkids.org. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
13. ^ "Piggly Wiggly Man". Time. 25 February 1929. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
14. ^ "The future of grocery retail". www.deloitte.com.Deloitte
15. ^ "FMI | Supermarket Facts". www.fmi.org.
16. ^ "Cucumbers and gherkins". Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
17. ^ "Future is not bright for mom and pop corner grocery stores". 21 December 2017.
18. ISBN 978-0538734981
    , 2013
19. ^ "Definition of delicatessen - Merriam-Webster's Student Dictionary". Wordcentral.com. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
20. ISBN 1-57912-282-5
    .
21. ^ "The Great Success of Ethnic Supermarkets in the United States". 15 May 2017.
22. ^ Carter, F (1987). Exploring Honolulu's Chinatown. Bess Press, Honolulu.
23. ^ "IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics".
24. ^ "IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics".
25. ^ Jenkins, Nancy (4 April 1984). "Health Food And The Change In Eating Habits". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
26. ^ Xie, Kang (2004). A Strategic Analysis of Online Grocery and Its Future Outlook. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division.
27. ^ Tam, Donna. "Peapod who? Online grocer shows Amazon, Walmart how it's done". CNET. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
28. ^ "Online Grocery Shopping With Free Shipping". EFoodDepot.com. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
29. ^ "Online grocery growth tests U.S. retail agility". The City Wire. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
30. ^ Cassel, Ian (14 April 2014). "The Food Tech Revolution". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
31. ^ Thomasson, Emma (23 October 2013). "Online grocery sales to double in key European markets by 2016: IGD". Reuters. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
32. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Fassler, Joe (23 April 2019). "The Man Who's Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store". Longreads. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
33. ^ Wansink, Marketing Nutrition, 501–3.
34. S2CID 41521942
    .
35. ^ Smith, 501–3.
36. ^ ^{a b} Mead, 11–19.
37. ^ Jango-Cohen
38. ^ Benson
39. ^ Humphery
40. ^ Magdoff, Fred (Ed.) "[T]he farmer's share of the food dollar (after paying for input costs) has steadily declined from about 40 percent in 1910 to less than 10 percent in 1990."
41. ^ ^{a b} "Food prices rising across the world", CNN. 24 March 2008
42. ^ "Grocery Spending Survey". Stretcher.com. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
43. ^ [1] Archived March 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
44. ^ Kantor, p. 3.
45. ^ ^{a b} "Making the most of packaging, A strategy for a low-carbon economy" (PDF). Defra. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
46. ISBN 978-0-8493-3775-8
    . Retrieved 27 September 2009.
47. Waste and Resources Action Programme
    (WRAP). 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
48. ISBN 978-0-14-103634-2
    .
49. ISBN 1-56324-586-8
    .
50. ^ Godoy, Maria (9 December 2014). "In Europe, Ugly Sells In The Produce Aisle". NPR.org. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
51. ^
    ISBN 978-92-807-3851-3. Archived
    from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
52. ^ "FAO - News Article: Food wastage: Key facts and figures". www.fao.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
53. ^ "A third of food is wasted, making it third-biggest carbon emitter, U.N. says". Reuters. 11 September 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
54. ^ US EPA, OLEM (12 August 2015). "Food Recovery Hierarchy". www.epa.gov. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
55. ^ United Nations (2017) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/71/313 Archived 2020-10-23 at the Wayback Machine)
56. ^ "Reduced Food Waste". Project Drawdown. 12 February 2020. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
57. ^ Juliette Jowit (28 October 2007). "Call to use leftovers and cut food waste". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
58. ^ "COP15: NATIONS ADOPT FOUR GOALS, 23 TARGETS FOR 2030 IN LANDMARK UN BIODIVERSITY AGREEMENT". Convention on Biological Diversity. United Nations. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
59. ^ "Britain's colossal food waste is stoking climate change". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2015.

Further reading

• Deutsch, Tracey. Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century (2010)
• Mayo, James M. (1993). The American grocery store: the business evolution of an architectural space. Greenwood Press.
  ISBN 0313265208
  .
• Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. Mom and Pop Grocery Stores (2011)
• Raijas, Anu (March 2002). "The consumer benefits and problems in the electronic grocery store". Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 9 (2): 107–113.
  ISSN 0969-6989
  .
• Spellman, Susan V. Cornering the market: Independent grocers and innovation in American small business, 1860–1940 (Oxford University press, 2015) online dissertation version 2009

External links

• Media related to Grocery stores at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of grocer at Wiktionary