Supermarkets in Great Britain A supermarket must

Supermarkets in Great Britain • A supermarket must by definition have a minimum selling area of 186 m 2 and at least 3 check outs. They are often situated on the edge of a town by a main road or motorway and provide a large car park for customers. • They are mostly self-service and sell a range of goods including groceries, clothing, electrical goods etc, however their main selling items are food and drink.

A supermarket is organized into aisles and goods are displayed on shelves. Some supermarkets have counters where fresh produce is displayed, for example a cheese counter or meat or fish counter.

• Prices are generally low and there tends to be a large variety. Tescos, Sainsburys and Asda are three of the largest supermarkets in the UK. One of the new concepts in supermarkets is the customer loyalty card and banking facilities.

A customer loyalty card allows the customer to collect reward points for every pound they spend, these points can then be redeemed for money off vouchers.

Supermarkets tend to be open 7 days a week with longer opening hours - usually until 8 pm or 10 pm most evenings, with reduced hours of 10 am-4 pm on a Sunday. Some in larger town stores now open 24 hours • Main Supermarkers are: Asda stores ltd supermarket Budgens Supermarket CO-OP supermarket Iceland J Sainsburys Safewaygrocery supermarket Somerfield grocery supermarket Tesco supermarket (Britain's largest supermarket chain) Waitrose supermarket

Tesco • Tesco plc is a British multinational g rocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits.

• It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 30%), Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland Thailand.

Tesco is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £ 24. 4 billion as of 15 January 2012, the 15 th-largest company of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

• Asda Stores Ltd. is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, (via the Vodafone Network), Asda Mobile. Its head office is at Asda House in Leeds, West Yorkshire. ASDA

Asda became a subsidiary of the American retail giant Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, in 1999, and is the UK's second largest chain by market share after Tesco. In December 2010, Asda's share of the UK grocery market stood at 16. 5%.

Asda's marketing promotions are usually based solely on price, with Asda promoting itself under the slogan Britain's Lowest Priced Supermarket, 14 Years Running. As a wholly owned division of Wal-Mart, Asda is not required to declare quarterly or half-yearly earnings. It submits full accounts to Companies House each October.

Sainsbury’s • J. Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury's, the third largest chain of supermarkets in he t United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16. 5%.

• The group's head office is in the Sainsbury's Store Support Centre in Holborn Circus, City of London. The group also has interests in property and banking.

John Lewis • John Lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating throughout Great Britain. The chain is owned by the John Lewis Partnership. The first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 in Oxford Street, London. • The chain is known for its policy of "Never Knowingly Undersold" which has been in use since 1925. • There are currently 36 stores throughout England, Scotland & Wales, including six new ‘At Home’ stores, with a further four opening in 2012. The store in Cardiff is the largest currently operated by the Partnership outside of London.

On 1 January 2008, John Lewis Oxford Street was awarded a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen as suppliers of haberdashery and household goods. John Lewis Reading is also the holder of a Royal Warrant from the Queen as suppliers of household and fancy goods, received in 2007.

Traditional English shops • A lot of shopping is still done at the small corner shops. The small corner shops can often sell more specialized goods which a supermarket doesn’t stock: freshly baked bread and cakes from the baker’s, professionally butched meat from the butcher’s etc.

Bakeries • A bakery (or baker's shop) is an establishment which produces and sells flourbased food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. • Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.

Many other bakery shops provide services for special occasions such as weddings, birthday parties, or even business affairs. Bakery shops can provide a wide range of cakes designs such as sheet cakes and tiered cakes.

Butcher’s shops • Some butchers sell their goods in specialized stores, commonly termed butcher's shops. Butchers at a butcher shop may perform primary butchery, but will typically perform secondary butchery to prepare fresh cuts of meat for sale. • These shops may also sell related products, such as food preparation supplies, baked goods and grocery items. Butcher shops can have a wider variety of animal types, meat cuts and quality of cuts.

Additionally, butcher shops may focus on a particular culture, or nationality, of meat production. Some butcher shops, termed "meat delis", may also include delicacies.

Greengroceries • A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. • Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages. • They have been affected by the dominant rise of supermarkets, but many can be found managing small shops or stores in towns and cities and in some villages.

Greengrocers can also be found in street markets and malls, or managing produce departments at supermarkets. Such traders typically handle the entire business of buying, selling, and book-keeping themselves.