The UK supermarket sector is dominated by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons which are the only chains which operate full-scale superstores of 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) or more. There are no regional supermarket chains left in the United Kingdom which operate superstores, just a few small ones which operate smaller stores. The "Big 4" had a combined share of 74.3% of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks to 4 December 2005 according to retail analysts TNS Superpanel. Exterior of a typical British supermarket (a Tesco Extra) Exterior of typical North American supermarket (a Safeway) This Flagship Randalls store in Houston, Texas is an example of an upscale supermarket. ... Tesco plc is a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. ... This article is about a supermarket chain. ... J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsburys, a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. ... Morrisons is a chain of supermarkets in the UK. It is operated by the company Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc. ... December 4th redirects here. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... TNS Superpanel is a division of the United Kingdom based global market information group Taylor Nelson Sofres, which analyses the British grocery sector. ...

The Co-operative Group is now the fifth largest food retailer in the UK, operating mainly smaller supermarkets and convenience stores, and having once been the UK's foremost retail force through it's many local societies, followed by Somerfield in sixth place. The Co-operative Group, the trading name of Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd, is a United Kingdom consumers co-operative, one of the largest consumer-owned businesses in the world. ...

Marks and Spencer and Waitrose are the most upmarket national supermarket chains (although the former is also the UK's largest clothing retailer, and is often not perceived as a supermarket at all). Marks and Spencer plc (known also as M&S and sometimes colloquially as Marks and Sparks) is the largest retailer in the United Kingdom by sales. ... Waitrose is a British supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis Partnership, with 184 branches (November 2006). ...

A common mistake when pronouncing the name of supermarkets in the United Kingdom is to add an 's' sound to the end, for example Tescos and Asdas.

List of current UK supermarket chains

• Aldi (German owned hard discounter)
• Asda (American owned, by Wal-Mart)
• Booths
• Bell's Stores (North-East based, convenience stores, now owned by Sainsbury's)
• Budgens
• Centra (Irish chain with supermarkets in Northern Ireland)
• Co-op, a brand used by various retail co-operatives, including:
  • the Co-operative Group
  • United Co-operatives
  • Midcounties Co-operative
  • Scotmid
• Costco (this is a warehouse club and predominantly a wholesaler, but 30% of UK sales are to individuals.)
• Costcutter (a symbol group and really a convenience store)
• Dunnes Stores (Cork-based company with stores in the UK, concentrated in Northern Ireland)
• Farmfoods (a frozen food specialist)
• Harry Tuffins regional supermarket in Wales and the Marches
• Iceland (indirectly controlled by Baugur Group of Iceland (sic)).
• Kwik Save
• Lidl (German owned hard discounter)
• Londis (a symbol group and really a convenience store)
• Marks and Spencer (also the UK's largest clothing retailer)
• Morrisons
• Netto (a Danish owned hard discounter)
• Pricerite
• Sainsbury's (Superstores as well as 'Savacentre', 'Local' and 'Central' sites)
• Somerfield
• SuperValu (Irish chain with supermarkets in Northern Ireland)
• SPAR (a symbol group)
• Tesco ("Superstores", 'Metro', 'Express', 'Extra','Hypermarket' and "Homeplus" sites)
• Waitrose (part of the John Lewis partnership)

ALDI is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany and one of the largest retail chains in its home market. ... This article is about a supermarket chain. ... Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ... Current Booths Supermarket Logo used as of 2005 Booths is a chain of supermarkets in Northern England. ... Bells Stores is a chain of local convenience stores in the North East of England. ... J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsburys, a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. ... Budgens is a chain of foodstores in the United Kingdom. ... Centra is a convenience store chain in Ireland. ... Supermarket produce section A supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol, medicine, clothes, and other household products that are consumed regularly. ... In the UK, the Co-Op refers to supermarkets, convenience stores, funeral directors, a small number of department stores and other businesses owned by a variety of independent Co-operative societies but largely marketed and operated in a co-ordinated way. ... The Co-operative Group, the trading name of Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd, is a United Kingdom consumers co-operative, one of the largest consumer-owned businesses in the world. ... United Co-operatives, or simply United Co-op, is the largest regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. ... The merger is not mentioned in the minutes of OSG Co-ops final AGM [1] DOC The Midcounties Co-operative is the fourth-largest cooperative in the United Kingdom. ... Scotmid, the Scottish Midland Co-operative Society Ltd, is a supermarket chain which operates in Scotland, especially Edinburgh and the Lothians. ... Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the world based on sales volume, headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States, with its flagship warehouse in nearby Seattle. ... In commerce, a wholesaler buys goods in large quantities from their manufacturers or importers, and then sells smaller quantities to retailers, who in turn sell to the general public. ... Costcutter Logo Costcutter is a franchise banner in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland under which there are supermarkets and local and urban convenience stores. ... Symbol group is a mainly British term for a form of franchise in the retail sector. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Dunnes Stores is a supermarket and clothing retail chain based in the Republic of Ireland. ... Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official languages English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, BSL, NISL, ISL Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Ian Paisley  - Deputy First Minister... A Farmfoods shop Farmfoods is the name of a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. ... Harry Tuffin is a medium-sized independent retailer with shops either side of the England/Wales border. ... This article is about the country. ... Baugur Group ( in Icelandic, otherwise often ) is an Icelandic investment company. ... Look up sic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Kwik Save is a discount supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. ... A Lidl store in Launceston, United Kingdom Lidl is a European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operates 5,000 stores. ... Londis is a UK and Ireland based retail chain. ... Symbol group is a mainly British term for a form of franchise in the retail sector. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Marks and Spencer plc (known also as M&S and sometimes colloquially as Marks and Sparks) is the largest retailer in the United Kingdom by sales. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... For other supermarket chains with the same name, see Netto (Les Mousquetaires) and Netto Marken-Discount. ... J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsburys, a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Big-box store. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... Look up Central in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Somerfield is a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. ... The SuperValu logo with the current slogan Shopping as it should be. SuperValu is a supermarket chain in Ireland, owned by the Musgraves wholesaler firm. ... This article is about the convenience store. ... Symbol group is a mainly British term for a form of franchise in the retail sector. ... Tesco plc is a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. ... Waitrose is a British supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis Partnership, with 184 branches (November 2006). ... One of John Lewis flagship branches in Glasgows Buchanan Galleries mall The John Lewis Partnership is a major United Kingdom retailer, operating department stores and, through its Waitrose subsidiary, upmarket supermarkets. ...

List of defunct UK supermarket chains

These supermarkets are either no longer trading, have been renamed, or have been taken over and rebranded.

• Alldays (bought by the Co-operative Group)
• Bejam (bought by Iceland)
• Bishops (63 stores in SE England, acquired by Budgen in 1984) ^[1]
• BP Safeway (Listed as Equinox retailing - a partnership between the two companies, dissolved following Safeway takeover, some stores now Tesco Express)
• Carrefour (UK business sold to Gateway (Somerfield) then later to Asda)
• Day & Nite (bought by Tesco)
• David Greig (bought by Somerfield)
• Fine Fare (purchased and rebranded/integrated into Gateway chain, now Somerfield)
• Gateway (now known as Somerfield)
• Grandways (regional in Yorkshire, sold to Argyll Group and Kwik Save in 1992 - 1993)
• GT Smith (regional in West Yorkshire, bought by Co-operative Group in 2002)
• Hillards (bought by Tesco)
• Hintons (mainly in North East England and Yorkshire was bought by Argyll Foods to become part of Presto then later Safeway and is now part of Wm Morrison)
• International (became Gateway)
• Key Markets (bought by Gateway eventually becoming part of Somerfield)
• Liptons (became part of Allied Foods, then Argyll Foods, before Safeway (UK) and now part of Wm Morrison).
• Local Plus (bought by the Co-operative Group)
• MacFisheries (bought by International Stores)
• Morning Noon and Night (bought by Scotmid)
• Normid (was owned by United Co-operatives)
• Norco (an Aberdeen based co-operative society)
• Presto (merged with Safeway, which is now part of Wm Morrison)
• Quality Fare (bought by the Co-operative Group)
• Safeway (UK) (bought by Wm Morrison - "Safeway Compact" stores sold on to Somerfield and other retailers) - brand no longer trading in UK.
• Shop Rite (Discount supermarket chain tookover by Kwik Save which was later taken over by Somerfield)
• VG (became Alldays which, in turn, was bought by the Co-operative Group)
• Victor Value (bought by Bejam, later sold to Tesco when Bejam was bought by Iceland)
• Wm Low (presence in Scotland and northern England, bought by and rebranded as Tesco)
• Stewarts/Crazy Prices (ABF owned Northern Ireland group, bought by Tesco)
• Walter Wilson (regional in northern England bought by Alldays which later was bought by the Co-operative Group)

See also

• TNS Superpanel - UK grocery market share figures
• For supermarkets worldwide see List of supermarkets.

• Current trends in food retailing.

TNS Superpanel is a division of the United Kingdom based global market information group Taylor Nelson Sofres, which analyses the British grocery sector. ... Supermarkets, past and present, include: // Originating (HQ) country first. ...

References

1. ^ Competition Commission report, para 3.10 (a)