SOC 2080 Chapter 7: Chapter 7
17 Feb 2012
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Document Summary
Food retailers: the new masters of the food system. Emergence of the modern food-retail business: chain stores and supermarkets. Marion argues there are 2 innovations in modern food retail business: chain stores & supermarkets. Chain stores worked b/c by integrating in wholesalers, they achieved more buying power & able to outcompete on price. During depression most small stores went out of business, leaving only superstores [i. e. loblaw s] At time of depression, most supermarkets sold only basic semi processed/processed foods [butter, cheese, fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs]-meat was mostly from meat stores. Creating combination stores had meat as well as other products. At this time, chain stores had small proportion of grocery sales than today. Supermarkets had combine cash and carry, self-service, broad selection of products w/low prices. W/hhi, the spectrum of market concentration can be divided into 3 categories: >if hhi is below 100 the industry is concentrated. >if hhi is between 1,000 1,800 it is considered moderately concentrated.
