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- ''In Canada, "Superstore" usually refers specifically to Real Canadian Superstore or Atlantic Superstore, both owned by Loblaws.
Superstore (also megastore or supercenter) is a name used for various kinds of largest retail stores.
Hong Kong
To contend against Carrefour, PARKnSHOP opened the first superstore in 1996. The concept of wet market was applied to this store. The store emphasizes one-stop shopping. Today, PARKnSHOP has more than 50 superstores and megastores, making it the largest superstore network in Hong Kong. Relatively, the first Wellcome superstore was opened in 2000 and Wellcome has only 17 superstores. CRC also has four superstores.However, as Hong Kong is very densely populated, the sizes of superstores are relatively smaller. Some superstores are running at a loss (such as Chelsea Heights) and therefore stopped selling fresh fish. Also, the superstores are often crowded and some PARKnSHOP superstores and megastores include Fortress World, which belongs to the same corporation, Hutchison Whampoa.
There are also some high-class superstores, such as Taste in Festival Walk.
United Kingdom
In the UK large warehouse style general merchandise stores along the lines of U.S. superstores are not a traditional part of the retail sector. Some shops along these lines are now developing, eg Tesco Extra stores, and the largest branches of ASDA, but these are supermarkets which have evolved into hypermarkets selling a broader range of non-food goods. The term superstore is not much used in the UK. When it is used, it may refer to a supermarket that is larger than a convenience store but smaller than a hypermarket, but such establishments are nearly always referred to as "supermarkets" in practice. It is also sometimes used by non-food retailers for stores which are larger than their normal store, in which case the meaning varies from company to company, but usually bears no resemblance to the U.S. definition. It is mainly used by downmarket retailers and confers little prestige.United States
In the United States a superstore is a type of department store. Usually associated with large chains such as Target and (especially) Wal-Mart, a superstore sells a wide range of products, from toys and electronics to clothing and groceries and even furniture, sporting goods and automotive supplies. These types of stores advertise "one stop shopping", where customers can stop just once at their store and buy everything they need or want. Most superstores are located on a single level, as opposed to many department stores which are often multi-leveled.Meijer is generally credited with pioneering the superstore concept. The first Meijer Superstore opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1962 (In contrast Walmart didn't open its first Superstore until 1988).
Superstores should not be confused with warehouse club stores, such as Sam's Club, Costco and The Price Club. While many superstores are as large as some warehouse stores, superstores do not require the customer to purchase large quantities of items. The superstores provide the bulk breaking that warehouse stores lack.
Though they stock a great deal of merchandise, most of these stores lack stock on items such as books, building supplies and specialty items, such as musical instruments.
The term "superstore" is also used for some large specialist retailers, such as Home Depot which fills the gap of building supplies in other superstores by suppling just those items in their stores. Another example is California's Fry's Electronics which only stocks items with geek appeal, but a great deal of it.
See also
- Real Canadian Superstore
- Category killer
- Big-box store (considered by some as a more pejorative term than superstore)
- List of supercenters
"Superstore"