A supercenter is a retail complex that combines the business models of a supermarket, home center and discount store. Invented by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a U.S. retail giant, supercenter chains expanded through the U.S. retail market during the 1990s. Supercenters with a floor space of over 10,000 sq. meters have been set up mainly in the suburbs of major cities. Each unit has over 100,000 products on display -- ranging from perishable food to clothes to household merchandise -- about triple the number of items offered at general supermarkets. Unlike conventional shopping malls, which have a variety of stores as tenants on several floors, supercenters are run by one company and usually occupy a single floor, allowing shoppers to pay for all their purchases at one time.

A large food/drug combination store and mass merchandiser under a single roof. The supercenters offer a wide variety of food, as well as non-food merchandise. These stores average more than 170,000 square feet and typically devote as much as 40% of the space to grocery items, e.g., Wal-Mart, Kmart, Super Target, Meijer, and Fred Meyer.