Asda Stores Limited, trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place.
A bust of co-founder Peter Asquith outside Asda House in Leeds
A Supercentre in Haydon, Swindon, branded Asda Walmart in 2013
Interior of Asda Supercentre Milton Keynes
Asda Superstore in West Bridgford, Nottingham. The Asda logo is on the front of the building.
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday United States usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".
Astor Market in New York, one predecessor of the modern supermarket, operated from 1915 to 1917.
A supermarket in Sweden, 1941
Consumers shopping for produce and fruit, 2012
S-market store with 24/7 service in Klaukkala, Finland, 2022