Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on

bulk purchasing Bulk purchasing or mass buying is the purchase of much larger quantities than the usual, for a unit price that is lower than the usual. Wholesaling is selling goods in large quantities at a low unit price to retail merchants. The wholesaler will a ...

and efficient distribution to keep down costs.

Types (United States)

Discount stores in the United States may be classified into different types:

Hypermarkets (superstores)

Discount superstores such as

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

or Target sell general merchandise in a

big-box store A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The ...

; many have a full grocery selection and are thus

hypermarket A hypermarket or superstore is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full grocery lines and general merchandise. In ...

s, though that term is not generally used in North America. In the 1960s and 1970s the term "discount department store" was used, and chains such as

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

, Zodys and TG&Y billed themselves as such. The term "discount department store" or "off-price department store" is sometimes applied to big-box discount retailers of apparel and home goods, such as Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls,

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American discount department store chain. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in the country. TJ Maxx is the flagship chain of the TJX Comp ...

, and Burlington.

Category killers

So-called category killer stores, specialize in one type of merchandise and sell it in

s. Examples include: *Apparel: Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls, Burlington, etc. *Pet supplies: Petco, PetSmart *Home furnishings and accessories: Big Lots,

HomeGoods HomeGoods is a chain of home furnishing stores headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Midd ...

*Office supplies: Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax

Warehouse clubs

When membership is required, discount superstores are known as warehouse clubs, and often require purchases of larger sizes or quantities of goods than a regular superstore. The main national chains, both of which have operations outside the U.S., are

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...

and

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores in the United States owned by Walmart. It was founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. , Sam's ...

Discount grocery store

Major discount

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

retail chains in the U.S. include Aldi,

Lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...

, Save-A-Lot and Grocery Outlet. Currently Aldi and

are the largest discount retailers in the world operating more than 25,000 discount stores worldwide between them.

Variety stores, dollar stores, five and dimes

Variety store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sel ...

s in the U.S. today, are most commonly known as dollar stores such as

Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of discount stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of January 8, 2024, Dollar General operated 19,643 stores in the contiguous United States and Mexico. The company began in 1939 in ...

Family Dollar Family Dollar Stores, Inc. is an American variety store chain founded in 1959 by Leon Levine in Charlotte, North Carolina. With over 8,000 locations in all states except Alaska and Hawaii, it was once the second largest retailer of its type in th ...

and Dollar Tree, which sell goods usually only at a single price-point or multiples thereof (£1, $2, etc.). During the early and mid-twentieth century they were commonly known as "five and dimes" or "dime stores". Stores of the main chains, Woolworth's, J. J. Newberry and S. S. Kresge, lined the shopping streets of U.S. downtowns and suburbs, and starting in the 1950s they also opened branches in shopping malls. These chains originally sold items for 5, 10 or 25 cents, but many later moved to a model with flexible price points, with a variety of general merchandise at discounted prices, in formats smaller than today's discount superstores.

History

United States

During the period from the 1950s to the late 1980s, discount stores were more popular than the average

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

in the United States. There were hundreds of discount stores in operation, with their most successful period occurring during the mid-1960s in the U.S. with discount store chains such as

, Ames, Two Guys, Gibson's Discount Center, E. J. Korvette, Mammoth Mart, Fisher's Big Wheel, Zayre, Bradlees, Caldor, Jamesway, Howard Brothers Discount Stores, Kuhn's-Big K (sold to

in 1981), TG&Y and Woolco (closed in 1983, part sold to Wal-Mart) among others.

, and Target all opened their first locations in 1962. Kmart was a venture of S. S. Kresge Company that was a major operator of dime stores. Other retail companies branched out into the discount store business around that time as adjuncts to their older store concepts. As examples, Woolworth opened a Woolco chain (also in 1962); Montgomery Ward opened Jefferson Ward; Chicago-based Jewel-Osco launched Turn Style; and Central Indiana-based L. S. Ayres created Ayr-Way. J. C. Penney opened discount stores called Treasure Island or The Treasury; Sheboygan, Wisconsin based H. C. Prange Co. opened a chain of discount stores called Prange Way, and Atlanta-based Rich's owned discount stores called Richway. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, these chains typically were either shut down or sold to a larger competitor. Kmart and Target themselves are examples of adjuncts, although their growth prompted their respective parent companies to abandon their older concepts (the S. S. Kresge five and dime store disappeared, while the Dayton-Hudson Corporation eventually divested itself of its department store holdings and renamed itself Target Corporation). In the United States, discount stores had 42% of the overall retail market share in 1987; in 2010, they had 87%. Many of the major discounters now operate " supercenters", which adds a full-service grocery store to the traditional format. The Meijer chain in the Midwest consists entirely of supercenters, while Wal-Mart and Target have focused on the format as of the 1990s as a key to their continued growth. Although discount stores and department stores have different retailing goals and different markets, a recent development in retailing is the "discount department store", such as Sears Essentials, which is a combination of the Kmart and Sears formats, after the companies' merger as Sears Holdings Corporation.

Canada

Woolworths entered Canada in the 1920s, the stores were converted to the Foot Locker,

Champs Sports Champs Sports is an American sports retail Chain store, store, operating as a subsidiary of Foot Locker. Products sold at Champs Sports include apparel, Sports equipment, equipment, footwear, and accessories. As of June 2019, there were 540 store ...

and other stores in 1994. Kresge's, a competitor to Woolworth's entered the Canadian market in 1929. Zellers was founded in 1931, and was acquired by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

in 1978. Giant Tiger opened its first store in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

in 1961, modeled on Woolworths. Winners was founded in 1982 in Toronto, and sells off-price brand clothing.

entered Canada in 1986. In 1990, the American chain

purchased the Woolco chain in Canada and converted the stores into Walmarts. Dollarama was founded in Quebec in 1992. In 1998, Zellers bought out

Canada, taking over its stores. In 2011, Marshalls, owned by the American TJX Companies, entered Canada, and Zellers sold most of its stores to Target. Target Canada filed for bankruptcy in 2015, selling its stores to

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

and Canadian Tire. In 2016, the

started opening Saks Off 5th locations to sell off-price brands. American off-price chain Nordstrom Rack opened its first Canadian location in Vaughan Mills in 2018. *Food Basics discount supermarket. *No frills discount supermarket.

Multinationals

* Aldi * BİM *

* Daiso * Dia (supermarket chain) *

* Netto (store) *

Penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...

* TJX Companies * Usave *

By country

Outside the United States and Canada, the main discount store chains listed by country are as follows:

Australia

* Aldi * Big W owned by Woolworths Group *

, Target owned by Wesfarmers * Harris Scarfe owned by Spotlight Group * The Reject Shop *Cheap as Chips, Dollars and Sense, Shiploads, Red Dot.

Albania

*Diambe Market

Argentina

* Dia

Austria

* Hofer * Penny

Angola

*Usave

Belgium

* Aldi *

Botswana

*Usave

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

* Dia (supermarket chain)

Bulgaria

*Kam Market

Chile

*Superbodega acuenta

China

* Aldi

Colombia

* Tiendas D1 * ARA (Jerónimo Martins) * Dollarcity * Ísimo, formerly Justo Y Bueno

Costa Rica

*Pali *Pequeno Mundo

Croatia

* Eurospin *

Cyprus

Czechia

Denmark

* Aldi *

* REMA 1000

Greece

Guatemala

*Super del Barrio *Despensa Familiar *Dollar City *Econo Super

Ecuador

*Tiendas Tuti

Egypt

* BIM

El Salvador

* *Dollar City

Estonia

Eswatini

*Usave *Boxer superstores

Finland

* HalpaHalli * Kärkkäinen * Puuilo * Tokmanni

Germany

Major chains of discount supermarkets in Germany are Aldi,

, Netto Marken-Discount, Netto (store), Norma and

Honduras

Latvia

Hungary

* Aldi *

Ireland

* Aldi *

Kenya

*Jaza Discount

Lithuania

Luxembourg

* Aldi *

Italy

Italy has numerous discount supermarkets, including

and EuroSpin, the chains with the largest number of stores, and Aldi, Discount Dial, Dpiù, MD Discount,

, Todis and Tuodì.

Japan

Japan has numerous discount stores, including

, Daiso, Don Quijote (store) and The Price (owned by Ito Yokado).

Malaysia

*Eco-shop *Mr Dollar

Malta

* Eurospin *

Malawi

*Usave

Mexico

*Tiendas Neto *Tiendas 3B *Superissste *Waldo's * Bodega Aurrera * PesoRama (JOi Dollar Plus stores)

Lesotho

*Usave

Morocco

* BIM

Mozambique

*Usave

Namibia

*Usave

Netherlands

Action, Euroland, Solow, Big Bazar and Zeeman. In addition, the German discount supermarkets

and Aldi both operate in the country.

New Zealand

*PAKnSAVE

North Macedonia

*KAM Market *Market Kipper *Stokomak *Lidi

Norway

* REMA 1000

Nicaragua

Peru

*Tiendas Mass *DollarCity

Philippines

* Dali Everyday Grocery * O!Save

Poland

Discount supermarkets cover about 30% of food sales in Poland. Main chains include Biedronka,

, Netto, and Aldi.

Portugal

* Aldi *

* Minipreço / Dia (supermarket chain) * Plus sold to

Jerónimo Martins Jerónimo Martins Holding company, SGPS, List of legal entity types by country#Portugal, SA (JM) is a Portugal, Portuguese corporate group that operates in Grocery store, food distribution and Specialist store, specialised retail. It operates mor ...

Netto converted into Intermarché

Panama

* El Machetazo

Romania

lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...

*Penny

Russia

* 365+ * Chizhik *Dobrocen * Dixy * Fix Price * Moya Tsena *Nizkotsen * Pervy Vybor *Pobeda * Svetofor ** Mayak (larger stores)

Former

* Atac * Holdi * Kopeyka

Serbia

* Svetofor *Super Discount *Leon Discount

Slovakia

Slovenia

* Aldi * Eurospin *

South Africa

*Wellsave *Devland Hyper *Foodeez *Looters Slashed price warehouse *Usave *Boxer Superstores *Deals Superstores

Spain

* Dia (supermarket chain) * Aldi *

* Mere

Sweden

* Biltema * DollarStore owned by Tokmanni *

* * ÖoB

Switzerland

* Aldi *

Turkey

* A101 * BİM * File owned by BİM *Hakmar Express owned by Hakmar * Şok owned by Yıldız Holding

Ukraine

* ATB

United Kingdom

* Aldi * B & M *

Farmfoods Farmfoods Limited is a Scottish frozen food and grocery supermarket chain based in Cumbernauld, Scotland. It is owned by Eric Herd, and has over three hundred shops in the United Kingdom, of which more than a hundred are in Scotland. Farmfood ...

* Home Bargains *

* Poundland * Poundstretcher

Venezuela

*Tiendas Ovejita *Tiendas Daka