A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses , a rich raw sugar that was imported from sugar-growing regions such as the Caribbean and Brazil, was refined into white sugar.
49-665: The MarketPlace Limited is a grocery store chain in Bermuda . As of 2024, it is the largest grocery store chain in Bermuda. It is owned by Pamela Ferreira, with Seth Stutzman as the president and CEO. The chain was founded by the Crisson Family in 1939, and was originally called Piggly Wiggly Limited, with each store having the name "Piggly Wiggly." In 1946 the company was purchased by the Pimental Family, and in 1950
98-458: 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 . 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
147-722: 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 IGAs , to boutique chains, such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's , to larger supermarket chain stores such as Walmart and Kroger Marketplace. In some places, food cooperatives , or "co-op" markets, owned by their own shoppers, have been popular. However, there has recently been
196-403: A chain of just one, two, or three stores, making the independent stores, taken collectively, bigger than the biggest chains. Most food in the US is bought at traditional brick-and-mortar grocery stores. As of 2019, about 3% of food was bought from an online retailer such as Amazon.com. The economic trends affecting grocery stores include: Food marketing brings together the producer and
245-583: A cone of sugar is found in al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar 's 9th century Arabic Al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyyat . In Europe, they were made in Italy from 1470, Belgium from 1508, England from 1544, the Netherlands from 1566, Germany from 1573, and France from 1613. When refining from sugar beet began in mainland Europe in 1799, loaves were produced in the same way. Until the mid-19th century, the British government used
294-531: A dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices , peppers , sugar , and (later) cocoa , tea , and coffee . Because these items were often bought in bulk, they were named after the French word for wholesaler, or "grossier". This, in turn, is derived from the Medieval Latin term "grossarius", from which the term "gross" (meaning a quantity of 12 dozen, or 144) is also derived. From the late 1600s until
343-464: A division of Mexico's Chedraui Group, with estimated sales of $ 1.2 billion. A health food store is a type of grocery store that primarily sells health foods , organic foods , local produce , and often nutritional supplements . Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selection of foods than conventional grocery stores for their customers, such as people with special dietary needs. Health food stores became much more common in
392-532: 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." 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
441-478: 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
490-467: A key focus, with stores adopting more eco-friendly practices and products. 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: 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
539-635: 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 banks , cafés , childcare centres/creches , photo processing , video rentals , pharmacies and/or petrol stations . A hypermarket
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#1732771991126588-440: A large number of inverted conical molds. These were usually made of either brown earthenware or sheet iron with an internal treatment of slip or paint respectively, and each stood in its own collecting pot. Over the next few days most of the dark syrup and noncrystalline matter drained through a small hole in the bottom of the mould into the collecting pot. To improve the whiteness of the sugar, repeated applications of either
637-965: A month for a single person, $ 257 for a couple and $ 396 for a family of four. As of 2011, 1.3 billion tons of food, about one third of the global food production, are lost or wasted annually. The USDA estimates that 27% of food is lost annually. In developing and developed countries which operate either commercial or industrial agriculture , food waste can occur at most stages of the food industry and in significant amounts. Packaging protects food from damage during its transportation from farms and factories via warehouses to retailing, as well as preserving its freshness upon arrival. Although it avoids considerable food waste, packaging can compromise efforts to reduce food waste in other ways, such as by contaminating waste that could be used for animal feedstocks. Sugarloaf The earliest record to date appears to be 12th century in Jordan, though reference to
686-609: 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. Many convenience stores offer food ready to eat, such as breakfast sandwiches and other breakfast food. A delicatessen store
735-495: A separate website from Price Rite US. As of 2024, the chain owns and operates 10 stores. The corporate headquarters is located within the chain's Hamilton MarketPlace location, the largest grocery store in Bermuda. This Bermuda -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This retail business article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Grocery store A grocery store ( AE ), grocery shop ( BE ) or simply grocery
784-472: A solution of white clay or of loaf sugar dissolved in warm water was applied to the broad end of the loaf. This slowly drained through the loaf, readily uniting with any remaining molasses or other coloring matter and removing it to the collecting pot. The loaves were then tapped out of the molds, dried in a store room containing hundreds of loaves, trimmed to their final shape and wrapped, usually in blue paper to enhance their white appearance. Before use,
833-431: A sugarloaf had to be cut into smaller pieces using various implements: sugar axes, sugar hammers, sugar nips, sugar choppers, sugar scrappers, etc. See [REDACTED] Media related to sugar-related equipment at Wikimedia Commons for more. The molds, and so the sugarloaves, varied in size considerably: the larger the loaf the lower the grade of sugar. The grade determined the price, though loaves were sold by weight and
882-458: 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. The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly , was opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee , by Clarence Saunders , an inventor and entrepreneur. Prior to this innovation, grocery stores operated "over the counter," with customers asking
931-512: A system of punitive taxes to make it impossible for its colonial producers in the Caribbean to refine their own sugar and supply Britain with finished sugarloaves. Previously, the Amsterdam industry had been similarly protected from the importation of East India white sugar. Instead, a dark raw sugar or muscovado , produced on the plantations by initial boilings of the fresh cane juice,
980-483: A trend towards larger stores serving larger geographic areas. Very large "all-in-one" hypermarkets such as Walmart , Target , and Meijer have recently forced consolidation of the grocery businesses in some areas, and the entry of variety stores such as Dollar General into rural areas has undercut many traditional grocery stores. The global buying power of such very efficient companies has put an increased financial burden on traditional local grocery stores as well as
1029-479: 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. In the 20th century, supermarkets were born. Supermarkets brought with them a 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
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#17327719911261078-448: Is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products , which may be fresh or packaged . In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket , and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries . In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops (though in everyday use, people usually use either
1127-471: Is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store . The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including a full groceries line and general merchandise . Another category of stores sometimes included in the hypermarket category is the membership-based wholesale warehouse clubs that are popular in North America . An online grocer
1176-576: Is a recent phenomenon that has developed as a type of e-commerce . Several online grocery stores exist, one of the oldest available in the U.S. being Peapod . Nowadays, many online grocery stores such as Netgrocer, MyBrands, Efooddepot and many more that all aim to provide quality food products with timely delivery and convenience of ordering online. Other large retailers in the U.S. have started similar models, including AmazonFresh and Prime Pantry , both run by Amazon.com , Walmart 's To-Go service, and smaller companies like Yummy.com and RelayFoods. In
1225-534: Is a type of food store where fine foods are sold. In this sense, the name is often abbreviated to deli . The term delicatessen means " delicacies " or "fine foods". In English , "delicatessen" originally meant only this specially prepared food. A greengrocer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables ; that is, in groceries that are mostly green in color. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in cities, towns and villages. Some grocers specialize in
1274-482: 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. With the onset of industrialization and the development of the food processing industry,
1323-573: The United Kingdom , have been steadily weakening trade from smaller shops. Many grocery chains like Spar or Mace are taking over the regular family business model. According to Deloitte Insights, 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
1372-586: The 1850s, the word "grocery" referred to a place where people went to drink . 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 . 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,
1421-601: The 1960s in connection to the newly emerging ecology movement and counterculture . In Australia and New Zealand , a milk bar is a suburban local general store or café. Similar terms include tuck shops , delicatessens or "delis", and corner shops . The first business using the name "milk bar" was started in India in 1930. By the late 1940s, milk bars had evolved to include not only groceries, but also became places where young people could buy ready-made food and non-alcoholic drinks and could socialise. A supermarket ,
1470-630: The 810-billion-dollar Indian food and grocery market sales are at the 12 million small grocery stores, called kirana . 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. 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
1519-494: 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 in sales, 6% of the total ca. $ 819 billion in 2023 U.S. supermarket sales. The largest such chains in 2016 were Hispanic supermarkets Superior Grocers, with an estimated $ 1.6 billion in sales and El Súper-Bodega Latina,
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1568-905: The U.S., sales from online grocers in 2013 were $ 15 billion. 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. 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. Grocery stores in South America have been growing fast since
1617-536: The United States, In the United Kingdom, terms in common usage include "supermarket" (for larger grocery stores), "corner shop", "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
1666-620: The base, and 3 feet (0.91 m) [15th century]...In those days, sugar was used with great care, and one loaf lasted a long time. The weight would probably have been about 30 pounds (14 kg). Later, the weight of a loaf varied from 5 to 35 pounds (2.3 to 15.9 kg), according to the moulds used by any one refinery. A common size was 14 pounds (6.4 kg), but the finest sugar from Madeira came in small loaves of only 3 to 4 pounds (1.4 to 1.8 kg) in weight...Up till late Victorian times household sugar remained very little changed and sugar loaves were still common and continued so until well into
1715-487: The chain now had seven stores. In 1994 the chain acquired the Shopping Centre Limited grocery store. In the early 2000s, the chain entered into a franchise agreement with Wakefern Food Corporation 's Price Rite , opening their first Price Rite store in 2007. In 2016 the chain opened a second Price Rite store, bringing their total store count to 10. The MarketPlace owns and operates both stores and hosts
1764-481: The consumer. It is the chain of activities that brings food from "farm gate to plate". 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. 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. The food marketing system
1813-685: The early 1980s. A large percentage of food sales and other articles take place in grocery stores today. Some examples are the Chilean chains Cencosud (Jumbo and Santa Isabel covering Chile , Argentina , Brazil and Peru ), 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
1862-463: The foods of certain countries or regions, such as Hispanic / Latin American , Chinese , Italian , Middle Eastern , Indian , Russian , or Polish . These stores are known in the U.S. as ethnic markets , ethnic food markets, ethnic grocers , or ethnic grocery stores . Types include Asian supermarkets outside of Asia, or a bodega or Hispanic supermarkets in the United States or a toko in
1911-399: The home. 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): 90% of the 810-billion-dollar Indian food and grocery market sales are at the 12 million small grocery stores, called kirana . Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer (or "purveyor") was
1960-633: 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. 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. It
2009-561: The loaves—maybe 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter and 5 inches (13 cm) high—were extremely expensive owing to the prolonged repeating of the whitening process, as were the somewhat larger double refined loaves from the first few boilings. Lower grades of sugar were more difficult to crystallize and so larger molds were used—usually 10–14 inches (25–36 cm) in diameter and up to about 30 inches (76 cm) high—with loaves weighing up to 35 pounds (16 kg). The lowest standard refined grades were called bastards, though an even lower grade
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2058-494: The national supermarket chains, and many have been caught up in the retail apocalypse of the 2010s. 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 supermarkets and hypermarkets , such as Tesco and Sainsbury's in
2107-616: The southern areas of the country. In Puerto Rico , popular grocery stores include Pueblo Supermarkets and Amigo . In some countries such as the United States, grocery stores descended from trading posts , which sold not only food but clothing, furniture, household items, tools, and other miscellaneous merchandise. These trading posts evolved into larger retail businesses known as general stores . These facilities generally dealt only in "dry" goods such as baking soda , canned foods, dry beans, and flour. Consumers obtained perishable foods from specialty markets, such as fresh meat or sausages from
2156-422: The sugar refiner was taxed on the weight of sugar sold. When a new batch of raw sugar was refined, the best sugar came from the first boiling. After that, the waste and trimmings from the first boiling were returned to the beginning of the process and mixed with further raw sugar for the second boiling, and, as this was repeated to the end of the batch, subsequent boilings reduced slightly in quality. The finest of
2205-680: The term "supermarket" or a " corner shop ".) Larger types of stores that sell groceries, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets , usually stock significant amounts of non-food products, such as clothing and household items . Small grocery stores that sell mainly fruit and vegetables are known as greengrocers (Britain) or produce markets (U.S.), and small grocery stores that predominantly sell prepared food, such as candy and snacks, are known as convenience shops or delicatessens . The definition of "grocery store" varies; U.S. and Canadian official definitions of "grocery store" exclude some businesses that sell groceries, such as convenience stores. In
2254-458: Was often produced from the filtration scums, usually by a scum-boiler at his own separate premises. Households bought their white sugar in tall, conical loaves, from which pieces were broken off with special iron sugar-cutters ( sugar nips ). Shaped something like very large heavy pliers with sharp blades attached to the cutting sides, these cutters had to be strong and tough, because the loaves were large, about 14 inches (36 cm) in diameter at
2303-651: Was purchased by Mr. Fernance Perry. In March 1979 Alvin Ferreira purchased the operations of the Piggly Wiggly Limited chain; since he already operated another store, the Modern Mart, the Piggly Wiggly Limited chain was expanded to five stores. In 1981, the chain was renamed The MarketPlace Ltd., with the five stores following suit. In 1987 the chain acquired the A-1 Paget and A-1 Smith stores, so
2352-657: Was reported on March 24, 2008, that consumers worldwide faced rising food prices. Reasons for this development include changes in the weather and dramatic changes in the global economy including higher oil prices , lower food reserves, and growing consumer demand in China and India . 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
2401-405: Was shipped in hogsheads to Europe on what was the third leg of the triangular trade . The sugarloaf was also the sign of a grocer , often found outside his premises or in the window, and sometimes found on his trade tokens . The raw sugar was refined by a series of boiling and filtering processes. After the final boiling, it was considered ready for granulation and was poured into
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