Word: hypermart
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What is this place? Welcome to Hypermart USA, where the floor space (222,000 sq. ft.) and the discounts are both breathtakingly huge. The suburban Dallas emporium belongs to a booming category of retail store called the hypermarket. "I've never seen so much under one roof," says Martha Mason, a homemaker visiting Hypermart USA. "I could spend days in here." Sam Walton certainly hopes so. The founder and chairman of booming Wal-Mart discount stores opened his first Hypermart USA last December as a joint venture with the Cullum retail chain. Last week he opened a second in Topeka...
...make the idea work by selling name-brand goods at paper-thin markups. K mart announced last September that it will form a joint venture with Bruno's, an Alabama-based grocery-store group, to open a national hypermarket chain. Archrival Wal-Mart, meanwhile, hopes to open 50 Hypermart USA stores during the next eight years...
...megamarkets will restrict growth, since a city of 500,000 can support only about two stores. Also, hypermarkets may face disaffection from customers who expect assorted brands of any one product; thus well-stocked hardware stores or grocers are unlikely to be run out of business by the invading hypermart. Cases in point: Hypermart USA's sporting- goods department offers fishing poles but no lures or other tackle. The paint department sells only one color: white...
...hypermarkets are doing their best to help shoppers feel comfortable in what is sometimes a disorienting space. Dallas' Hypermart USA installed hot lines in its aisles so shoppers can get information and directions. Its bakery can churn out 20,000 tortillas a day. To make sure cranky toddlers do not prompt their parents to hurry too much, Hypermart offers a Ball Room, where parents can deposit their children to be supervised. But anyone who wants to shop in a 200,000-sq.-ft. store should remember to don jogging shoes. Says Melba Lincoln, a Dallas homemaker: "Shopping here is like...
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