Editing Grocery store (section)

===North America===
In some countries such as the United States, grocery stores descended from [[trading post]]s, which sold not only food but clothing, furniture, household items, tools, and other miscellaneous merchandise. These trading posts evolved into larger retail businesses known as [[general store]]s. These facilities generally dealt only in "dry" goods such as [[baking soda]], canned foods, dry beans, and flour. Consumers obtained perishable foods from specialty markets, such as fresh meat or sausages from a [[butcher]] and milk from a local [[dairy]], while eggs and vegetables were either produced by families themselves, bartered for with neighbors, or purchased at a [[farmers' market]] or a local [[greengrocer]].{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

In the US, there are many larger [[chain store]]s, but there are also many small chains and independent grocery stores.  About 11% of groceries are sold by a grocery store that is either independent or in a chain of just one, two, or three stores, making the independent stores, taken collectively, bigger than the biggest chains.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://longreads.com/2019/04/23/the-man-whos-going-to-save-your-grocery-store/|title=The Man Who's Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store|last=Fassler|first=Joe|date=2019-04-23|website=Longreads|language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}}</ref>

Most food in the US is bought at traditional [[Brick and mortar|brick-and-mortar]] grocery stores.<ref name=":0" />  As of 2019, about 3% of food was bought from an online retailer such as Amazon.com.<ref name=":0" />

The economic trends affecting grocery stores include:
* In every decade since the 1960s, Americans have spent an increasing share of their money on eating at restaurants, which reduces their need to buy groceries.<ref name=":0" />
* Groceries are sold by many other stores, such as [[convenience store]]s, [[drug stores]], and [[dollar stores]].<ref name=":0" />  The result of [[retail channel blurring]] is that even when people are buying groceries, only about half of them are buying groceries from a grocery store.<ref name=":0" />
* Online sales of food are small but increasing.  People who buy groceries from an internet retailer or a [[meal kit]] company have less need to buy groceries from a grocery store.<ref name=":0" />
* People want to buy foods that reflect local and regional specialties.  Sales of national brands, such as [[Nabisco]] cookies and crackers, have declined, and the companies have responded by changing their marketing approach.  The reduction in advertising has resulted in fewer sales at the grocery store.<ref name=":0" />