Impressions of the American continent will be incomplete without a story about stores in the US. In local supermarkets and malls, ordinary shops and boutiques it is extremely difficult not to find anything that is necessary, but to buy extra - please! Here, shopping is elevated to the rank of sports, visitors to numerous shops are attracted by the real excitement, and selling days are turning to previously non-point-of-sale points in a business-like anthill.

All points of sale in the United States fall into several basic types:

• Shop - small or a highly specialized store,
• Store - a large store or a minimarket,
• Neighborhood Markets - a small local "neighborhood" store - usually a grocery store, a pharmacy, a household chemistry store and so-called "mixed goods" "
• Department store - a large store with a wide variety of departments
• Mall - a huge shopping center, in the territory of which many large and small shops, cafes, cinemas, entertainment centers, etc. are gathered. ;
• Supercenter - an analogy with Russian large supermarkets, where a large variety of shops are concentrated on a large area (up to 20 thousand m2). The difference from malls is the specialization of sales, rather than entertainment for the whole family, including shopping;

• Closeout Store - sales outlets, bargains, so-called. discounters
• Outlet mall - a large discount store not sold "in season" - quality but slightly stale on the shelves of other stores
• Discount Department Store is literally translated as a universal store of cheap goods, however unlike discounters They are a principled policy of low prices, not discounts, promoted by the slogan: "Save money. Live better »-« Save money. Live Better ",
• Cash & Carry - stores where goods are purchased in bulk in cash at a rather low price.
• In addition, in some regions of the USA there are shops with the concept of" coupon "- newspaper coupons with discounts for certain commodities

The world's largest and most well-known US retail chains

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retail chain that combines hypermarkets and supermarkets that sell food and non-food products.

Home Depot is the second the largest in the US and the world's third retail network. Specialization - construction materials and tools for repair. Kroger is a network of grocery supermarkets.

Sears, Roebuck and Company - originally the largest sales network in catalogs, turned into a retail chain, whose stores are located mainly in rural areas and suburbs of big cities.

Costco Wholesale Corporation is the fifth largest retailer in the US, the world's largest network of self-service depots. Target Corporation is ranked 30th in the world retailers ranking and the sixth in the US, the discounter of manufactured goods.

In addition, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company - the oldest supermarket chain in the world, Macy's - the famous network of non-food supermarkets, Lowe's - stores home furnishings, Best Buy Co., Inc. - stores of household appliances and electronics, a network of shopping centers Pamida for small towns with a population of up to 10 thousand people, a franchise network of small grocery stores 7-Eleven, including products of its own brands and many others.

However, going to the USA for shopping is unlikely to dream solely about megamalls and large shopping centers. First of all, it deals with shopping areas, prestigious boutiques and popular clothing, footwear, accessories and manufactured goods. The largest shopping centers in the United States are New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston and Chicago.