I often hear that American supermarkets are much bigger and have a greater diversity of products than in Europe. For example this American guy who has lived 5 years in the Netherlands (but apparently nowhere else in Europe) says that he prefers life in general in Europe, but that the shopping experience in American supermarket is better.
That's what I initially thought as well, because I have been hearing for decades that everything is bigger in the U.S. than anywhere else and Walmarts are huge. But I asked ChatGPT how big Walmart and Costco hypermarkets typically were. The answer I got is between 15,000 and 20,000 m² (multiply by 10.7 to have the value in square feet). I then asked what was the size of the Carrefour hypermarket in Europe and it turns out that it is the same! The biggest Walmart store in the U.S. is Store 2152 in Albany, New York, which spreads on 260,000 square feet (24,000m²) spread over two floors. Huge, right? Well, the largest hypermarket in Belgium is the Cora in Rocourt (Liège), which is also 24,000m²! Cora is a French supermarket chain. So even tiny Belgium can match the largest hypermarket in the whole of the United States. For comparison, a typical IKEA store is between 20,000 and 30,000 m², but the largest are 50,000 m².
As for the product diversity, it is distributed differently. In the US you tend to find all the brands in Walmart, Costco or in other big chains like Target, so there is little to difference in the products themselves, but more in the layout and customer experience. For example Costco is more warehouse style, while Target tends to be more upmarket. These three chains are the only ones found throughout the USA (actually Costco is not present in Hawaii and Vermont). In Belgium, a country the size of Maryland, we have 10 supermarket chains:
The products are usually very different depending on the country of origin. So going to Delhaize, Aldi, Albert Heijn or Carrefour are very different experiences. So if you are looking for some regional French food products a French chain is your best bet. In the US you may have 50 kinds of potato chips or toilet paper, but here we can find delicacies from all over Europe that are usually hard to find in the US (or downright illegal, like unpasteurised cheese, which is to say most European cheeses). So I really don't think that the selection is better in the US.
Ashton, an American woman living in Germany who makes really great videos comparing the US and Europe, has this video that compares American and German supermarkets.
Among the main differences, she mentions that American supermarkets typically look much nicer in their layout. This is not surprising as German supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are known in Europe to be more discount supermarkets that cut prices notably by not arranging all the products nicely on shelves but leaving them in boxes. In Belgium both Aldi and Lidl are regarded as poor (or stingy) people's supermarkets. I have checked pictures of various American supermarkets online and they don't look very different from the Belgian Delhaize supermarket, which is the most popular in the French-speaking half of the country. Maybe that's why Delhaize also managed to expand to the U.S. The French Carrefour group also tried to set up shop in the U.S. but failed and had to withdraw, just like with Walmart in Europe.
Ashton also explains that American supermarkets choose picture perfect fruits and vegetables. You can also find that in Europe in more upmarket supermarkets, but most people now think it's a bad thing as less perfect produce ends up being discarded. Ashton admits that one third of all food in the US is thrown away, which is a terrible waste. One of the commenters expresses my feeling well when he says:
"When saying that America is kind of obsessed with “perfection,” at grocery stores, I would say that it’s often a matter of being focused on the visual appeal of the item rather than other important aspects such as consistency and flavor that it offers. For example, a lot of tomatoes in America come from strains that are bred to look good and hold up better when transported. However, much of the tomato flavor can be lost in this trade-off. Let the buyer be aware."
One of the things I also very often hear or read from American visiting Europe (notably countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium or Switzerland) is how the fruits and vegetables taste so much better than in America. Many people like to shop in farmer's markets, which are found everywhere in these countries, or in organic shops, so that the produce is more local, fresher and with less or no chemicals on it. Usually the taste is superior too, but the trade off is that fruits may be smaller or misshapen. Frankly I don't care as long as they taste good and are better for health. Caring too much about the visual aspect sounds childish and superficial.
But the biggest difference between the United States and Europe (and in this case probably all European countries) is service. American supermarkets often have people bagging groceries for you. In Belgium that is also the case in the Colruyt supermarkets (the most popular in the Dutch-speaking part) as well as in upscale supermarkets, but not elsewhere. Ashton says that in some places they go one step further and drive your shopping with the bagged groceries to your car and put them in your trunk while chit-chatting with customers, which I think is really excessive and rather invasive.
American staff will also frequently ask customers inside the store if they can help them with anything, while in Europe they won't bother you unless you ask for something. That's really more of a cultural difference about the expectation you have of staff towards customers. Personally I would hate for the staff to disturb me while I am shopping. I mean not just in supermarkets, but in any shop. If I am browsing in a cloth shop, especially a small boutique, when the staff comes and asks if they can help when I have no idea what I am really looking for, it just makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured. Many Germans who watched the video agree with me.
"As a probably rather typical German person I actually don't want staff or service members in stores to talk to me until I specifically ask them for help. In that case I expect a friendly and helpful response and that's - according to my experience - almost always the case. But I certainly don't want to be bothered while shopping. So it's perfectly normal in Germany that the customers initiate a service request and not the other way round. Same in restaurants, I actually don't want to be bothered while eating, e.g. if the waiter asks me whether I want something else or whether I want another drink. When I want something from the waiter it's me giving the signal for them to come over. I understand that this behaviour might appear rather "unfriendly" to Americans but it's exactly the way I - and many other German fellows - like it to be.
"
"As a German I like it not to be bothered by the customer service, while just looking around and not searching for anything specific. After the third or forth time someone bothers me, I would rather leave the store than looking around and probably buy something that I wasn't even thinking about buying while entering the store."
People here like to be left alone, and that's a big reason why Walmart failed in Germany. Interestingly, even in Japan, which is probably the best country in the world for the quality of service in general, the staff is not going to start asking you if they can help when you shop in supermarkets (although they probably will in clothing stores).
That's what I initially thought as well, because I have been hearing for decades that everything is bigger in the U.S. than anywhere else and Walmarts are huge. But I asked ChatGPT how big Walmart and Costco hypermarkets typically were. The answer I got is between 15,000 and 20,000 m² (multiply by 10.7 to have the value in square feet). I then asked what was the size of the Carrefour hypermarket in Europe and it turns out that it is the same! The biggest Walmart store in the U.S. is Store 2152 in Albany, New York, which spreads on 260,000 square feet (24,000m²) spread over two floors. Huge, right? Well, the largest hypermarket in Belgium is the Cora in Rocourt (Liège), which is also 24,000m²! Cora is a French supermarket chain. So even tiny Belgium can match the largest hypermarket in the whole of the United States. For comparison, a typical IKEA store is between 20,000 and 30,000 m², but the largest are 50,000 m².
As for the product diversity, it is distributed differently. In the US you tend to find all the brands in Walmart, Costco or in other big chains like Target, so there is little to difference in the products themselves, but more in the layout and customer experience. For example Costco is more warehouse style, while Target tends to be more upmarket. These three chains are the only ones found throughout the USA (actually Costco is not present in Hawaii and Vermont). In Belgium, a country the size of Maryland, we have 10 supermarket chains:
- Two Belgian ones: Colruyt and Delhaize (which is also present in 10 US states under the name Food Lion)
- Two German ones: Aldi and Lidl (both found all over Europe as well as in some US states).
- Four French ones: Carrefour, Cora, Intermarché, Match
- Two Dutch ones: Albert Heijn and Spar
The products are usually very different depending on the country of origin. So going to Delhaize, Aldi, Albert Heijn or Carrefour are very different experiences. So if you are looking for some regional French food products a French chain is your best bet. In the US you may have 50 kinds of potato chips or toilet paper, but here we can find delicacies from all over Europe that are usually hard to find in the US (or downright illegal, like unpasteurised cheese, which is to say most European cheeses). So I really don't think that the selection is better in the US.
Ashton, an American woman living in Germany who makes really great videos comparing the US and Europe, has this video that compares American and German supermarkets.
Among the main differences, she mentions that American supermarkets typically look much nicer in their layout. This is not surprising as German supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are known in Europe to be more discount supermarkets that cut prices notably by not arranging all the products nicely on shelves but leaving them in boxes. In Belgium both Aldi and Lidl are regarded as poor (or stingy) people's supermarkets. I have checked pictures of various American supermarkets online and they don't look very different from the Belgian Delhaize supermarket, which is the most popular in the French-speaking half of the country. Maybe that's why Delhaize also managed to expand to the U.S. The French Carrefour group also tried to set up shop in the U.S. but failed and had to withdraw, just like with Walmart in Europe.
Ashton also explains that American supermarkets choose picture perfect fruits and vegetables. You can also find that in Europe in more upmarket supermarkets, but most people now think it's a bad thing as less perfect produce ends up being discarded. Ashton admits that one third of all food in the US is thrown away, which is a terrible waste. One of the commenters expresses my feeling well when he says:
"When saying that America is kind of obsessed with “perfection,” at grocery stores, I would say that it’s often a matter of being focused on the visual appeal of the item rather than other important aspects such as consistency and flavor that it offers. For example, a lot of tomatoes in America come from strains that are bred to look good and hold up better when transported. However, much of the tomato flavor can be lost in this trade-off. Let the buyer be aware."
One of the things I also very often hear or read from American visiting Europe (notably countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium or Switzerland) is how the fruits and vegetables taste so much better than in America. Many people like to shop in farmer's markets, which are found everywhere in these countries, or in organic shops, so that the produce is more local, fresher and with less or no chemicals on it. Usually the taste is superior too, but the trade off is that fruits may be smaller or misshapen. Frankly I don't care as long as they taste good and are better for health. Caring too much about the visual aspect sounds childish and superficial.
But the biggest difference between the United States and Europe (and in this case probably all European countries) is service. American supermarkets often have people bagging groceries for you. In Belgium that is also the case in the Colruyt supermarkets (the most popular in the Dutch-speaking part) as well as in upscale supermarkets, but not elsewhere. Ashton says that in some places they go one step further and drive your shopping with the bagged groceries to your car and put them in your trunk while chit-chatting with customers, which I think is really excessive and rather invasive.
American staff will also frequently ask customers inside the store if they can help them with anything, while in Europe they won't bother you unless you ask for something. That's really more of a cultural difference about the expectation you have of staff towards customers. Personally I would hate for the staff to disturb me while I am shopping. I mean not just in supermarkets, but in any shop. If I am browsing in a cloth shop, especially a small boutique, when the staff comes and asks if they can help when I have no idea what I am really looking for, it just makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured. Many Germans who watched the video agree with me.
"As a probably rather typical German person I actually don't want staff or service members in stores to talk to me until I specifically ask them for help. In that case I expect a friendly and helpful response and that's - according to my experience - almost always the case. But I certainly don't want to be bothered while shopping. So it's perfectly normal in Germany that the customers initiate a service request and not the other way round. Same in restaurants, I actually don't want to be bothered while eating, e.g. if the waiter asks me whether I want something else or whether I want another drink. When I want something from the waiter it's me giving the signal for them to come over. I understand that this behaviour might appear rather "unfriendly" to Americans but it's exactly the way I - and many other German fellows - like it to be.
""As a German I like it not to be bothered by the customer service, while just looking around and not searching for anything specific. After the third or forth time someone bothers me, I would rather leave the store than looking around and probably buy something that I wasn't even thinking about buying while entering the store."
People here like to be left alone, and that's a big reason why Walmart failed in Germany. Interestingly, even in Japan, which is probably the best country in the world for the quality of service in general, the staff is not going to start asking you if they can help when you shop in supermarkets (although they probably will in clothing stores).
Last edited:
