Supermarket Trends

As the frantic pace of the American lifestyle continues to accelerate, food retailers are scrambling to catch up in the $450-billion supermarket market.

The supermarket came into being during the post–World War II migration to the suburbs as a utilitarian venue to buy fresh and packaged foods for home meal preparation. Today, most families have a hard time gathering around the dinner table. For this reason, the definition of the supermarket has been reengineered. Supercenters—giant retail environ…