A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many parts of the world. A franchise retail establishment is one form of a chain store. In 2005, the world's largest retail chain, Walmart, became the world's largest corporation based on gross sales.
Heritage W.H. Smith stall at Pickering railway station in North Yorkshire
Opening the first of its chain of teashops in 1894, branch of Lyons in Reading, Berkshire pictured in 1945
A Subway franchise restaurant
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
A grocery and cosmetics store in Tangier, Morocco
Marketplace at Trajan's Forum, the earliest known example of permanent retail shopfronts
Grand Bazaar, Istanbul (interior). Established in 1455, it is thought to be the oldest continuously operating covered market.
The retail service counter was an innovation of the eighteenth century.
