Hypermarkets

Hypermarkets are large food retailing establishments that play an important role for both the consumers and the producers. Their economic growth in the past 70 years has created new models of social, cultural, economic, and political interaction between the food retailing industry and the consumers. Their innovative approaches to product distribution and communication to consumers, as well as their size in both economic and spatial magnitude, make hypermarkets an important phenomenon to be studied among food issues. This entry provides a general overview of hypermarkets and focuses on the history of hypermarkets and their development through time. Additional examples of hypermarkets are presented in order to demonstrate the ways in which hypermarkets function. Finally, some conclusions are drawn about the relationship between the hypermarkets and ...