Food Wholesaling and Retailing

1. Food Wholesaling and Retailing Part C AGEC 364

2. Supermarkets • The supermarket is best described as a full-line, departmentalized, cash-and-carry, self-service foodstore. The supermarket movement grew out of a race to add greater utility to food shopping, not to lower retailing costs.

3. Supermarkets • The supermarket was market-oriented and consumer-driven. • The first self-service food store appeared in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916.

4. Supermarkets • The conventional supermarket is self-service with size range from 30,000 to 40,000 square feet. Despite its early success, it became apparent that no one store type could satisfy the needs of all customers so it is declining in numbers and market share.

5. Combination Stores • Combination stores are a supermarket that includes a foodstore and a drugstore, maybe even a bank, all under one roof. The number of combination stores tripled between 1980 and 1985.

6. Superstores • Superstores range up to 60,000 square feet and handle a wide range of general merchandise. They usually feature service departments, such as bakeries, delicatessens, and cheese shops, and emphasize low prices.

7. Limited Assortment Store • A limited assortment store is a smaller food store handling only about 500 nonperishable grocery products at deep price discounts.

8. Warehouse Food Stores • Warehouse food stores eliminate services and frills and make a strong low price appeal. Products are often displayed in their shipping cartons and shoppers may mark their own prices, bag their own purchases, and supply their own grocery bags.

9. Hypermarket • A hypermarket is a super warehouse store ranging up to 200,000 square feet and providing one-stop purchases of groceries, sporting goods, auto supplies, and housewares.

10. Wholesale Club • A wholesale club store requires customers to be a member and emphasizes deep discounts on large volume purchases.

11. Gourmet Food Store • A gourmet food store handles a wide range of premium-quality and exotic foods and brands. They are particularly difficult to find in the Southern United States.

12. Convenience Store • A convenience store is a small, neighborhood store featuring long hours, quick service, and a narrow assortment of fast moving staple and impulse items and often gas pumps.

13. Convenience Store • First opened in the 1960s, convenience stores account for about 15% of all food store sales.