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| schema: foundry-doc-v1 | |
| title: "UK and EU Food Retail Coverage" | |
| slug: uk-eu-food-retail-coverage | |
| category: reference | |
| type: concept | |
| quality: complete | |
| status: active | |
| audience: vendor-public | |
| bcsc_class: no-disclosure-implication | |
| language_protocol: PROSE-TOPIC | |
| last_edited: 2026-05-31 | |
| editor: pointsav-engineering | |
| paired_with: uk-eu-food-retail-coverage.es.md | |
| short_description: "Which grocery and food retail chains are covered in the United Kingdom and European Union, with per-chain record counts and coverage gap notes as of Phase 18." | |
| cites: [] | |
| --- | |
| The co-location platform draws on OpenStreetMap point-of-interest data, enriched | |
| with Wikidata entity identifiers, to build its inventory of retail locations. This | |
| article documents which grocery and food retail chains are covered in the United | |
| Kingdom and the European Union, how many locations each chain contributes to the | |
| dataset, and where coverage remains sparse. | |
| ## Coverage Summary | |
| As of Phase 18 (2026-05-22), the platform covers food retail locations across | |
| 18 countries. The United Kingdom, Germany, and France have the deepest chain | |
| coverage, reflecting both the density of major retail formats in those markets | |
| and the completeness of OSM mapping for large-format stores. Iceland (3 clusters), | |
| Norway (10), and Finland (55) have the thinnest coverage, consistent with smaller | |
| market sizes and sparser OSM mapping in those geographies. | |
| ## United Kingdom | |
| The United Kingdom was the subject of a focused re-ingest campaign in Phase 13 | |
| (2026-05-17) that substantially expanded coverage. | |
| **Tesco** (Wikidata Q487494) is the largest UK grocery chain by store count and | |
| contributes 3,872 records to the platform. Tesco operates hypermarkets, | |
| supermarkets, and convenience formats; the platform captures primarily the | |
| large-format hypermarket and superstore locations relevant to co-location | |
| analysis. Phase 13 expanded Tesco coverage from 784 to 3,872 records through | |
| a name-query enrichment pass against OSM. | |
| **Sainsbury's** (Q153417) contributes 1,903 records following Phase 13 expansion | |
| from 672 records. | |
| **ASDA** (Q297410) contributes 1,051 records, ingested in Phase 12 (2026-05-17). | |
| ASDA operates predominantly in the large supermarket and hypermarket format range | |
| relevant to T1 and T2 cluster formation. | |
| **Morrisons** (Q922344) contributes 620 records, ingested in Phase 12. | |
| **Wickes** (Q7998350) contributes 236 records. Wickes is a DIY and home | |
| improvement retailer (Travis Perkins Group) classified as an anchor hardware | |
| format. Its presence in a cluster contributes to the hardware anchor requirement | |
| for T1 and T2 designation. | |
| ## Germany | |
| Germany has the largest cluster count of any European country in the platform, | |
| with 722 clusters (227 T1, 338 T2, 157 T3) as of Phase 23+Change B. | |
| The German market is characterised by a concentration of large-format grocery | |
| and DIY operators. Long-established chains — Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, and Edeka — were | |
| ingested in earlier build phases and provide broad coverage. Phase 18 (2026-05-22) | |
| added two significant chains. | |
| **Kaufland** (Q685967, Schwarz Group) contributes 253 records in Germany | |
| (additional records in Poland — see below). Kaufland operates full-line | |
| hypermarkets, typically 3,000–12,000 m², qualifying as T1 or T2 anchors. | |
| **Globus** (Q528681, Globus Holding) contributes 125 records. Globus operates | |
| large-format hypermarkets in Germany, classified as a full-format hypermarket anchor. | |
| ## France | |
| France has 624 clusters (247 T1, 161 T2, 216 T3). French hypermarket coverage | |
| is anchored by Carrefour (ingested in earlier phases). Phase 18 added: | |
| **Intermarché Hyper** (Q2029154, Les Mousquetaires) — 56 records of the | |
| hypermarket-format stores. | |
| **Géant Casino** (Q2901839, Casino Group) — 10 records. Géant Casino is the | |
| hypermarket division of Groupe Casino. | |
| **Bricomarché** (Q2896882, Les Mousquetaires) — 497 records. Bricomarché is | |
| a DIY hardware format contributing to the hardware anchor layer. | |
| **Brico Dépôt** (Q3007003, Kingfisher) — 137 records. Kingfisher's French | |
| DIY chain. | |
| ## Other European Markets | |
| **Austria:** Interspar (Q1364056, SPAR Austria) contributes 85 records of the | |
| Interspar hypermarket format. Billa+ (Q806085) contributes records for the | |
| expanded Billa hypermarket format. | |
| **Netherlands:** Albert Heijn XL (no Wikidata entity; brand of Ahold Delhaize) | |
| contributes 43 records. Jumbo Foodmarkt (Q14716185) contributes 8 records of | |
| the large-format flagship stores. | |
| **Poland:** Kaufland (Q685967) contributes 253 records. E.Leclerc (Q1273376) | |
| contributes 36 records. | |
| **Italy:** Esselunga (Q1377048) contributes 259 records. Esselunga operates | |
| large-format supermarkets and hypermarkets in northern Italy. | |
| **Greece:** Sklavenitis (Q7536996) contributes 406 records. Location data was | |
| sourced via Greek-language name query (Σκλαβενίτης) in OSM, reflecting the | |
| importance of using native-language queries for non-Latin-script markets. | |
| **Portugal:** Continente (Q5164541, Sonae) contributes 57 records. | |
| **Nordic markets (SE/DK/NO/FI):** IKEA (per-country entities: Q690498 SE, | |
| etc.) and Bauhaus (Q532716) provide the primary large-format anchor coverage. | |
| Føtex (Q3093871, Salling Group) contributes 103 DK records. Bauhaus is present | |
| in SE (ingested earlier), DK (20 records), NO (2 records), and FI (6 records). | |
| ## Coverage Gaps | |
| Several geographies within the platform's 18-country scope have known coverage | |
| gaps. | |
| **Iceland** has only 3 clusters, reflecting limited OSM mapping of retail | |
| locations and a small market. No large-format chains with sufficient OSM presence | |
| have been identified for ingest. | |
| **Atlantic Iberia** (western Spain and Portugal beyond Lisbon) and **southern | |
| Italy** have thinner T1 coverage than their population size would suggest, | |
| reflecting gaps in OSM completeness for large-format stores in those areas. | |
| **Scotland** has sparser coverage than England and Wales, primarily due to ASDA | |
| and Morrisons density being lower in Scottish markets. | |
| The Aldi and Lidl discount formats present across Europe are recorded in OSM | |
| but are not classified as large-format hypermarket anchors because their store | |
| sizes fall below the full-hypermarket threshold used for T1/T2 anchor designation. | |
| They contribute to T3 cluster formation as general retail members. | |
| ## Data Provenance and Attribution | |
| All location records are sourced from OpenStreetMap, which makes its data | |
| available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL). Wikidata entity identifiers | |
| used to match OSM records to canonical chain identities are CC0. Chain record | |
| counts reflect OSM completeness at the time of each phase's ingest run and will | |
| vary as OSM contributors add or update entries. | |
| --- | |
| *Data provenance:* JSONL chain files in `service-business/` (per-chain records); | |
| Phase 12–18 ingest commits (2026-05-17 through 2026-05-22). OSM ODbL; Wikidata CC0. |