Supermarkets and hypermarkets in Minsk

If you decide to buy food in Belarus, you don't have to worry about finding a suitable store, because supermarkets, hypermarkets and just small shops are at every step, and some of them are open 24 hours a day.

What is a supermarket

What kind of store can be considered a supermarket?

A supermarket is a large department store selling a full range of food and beverages as well as household items, pet products, automotive products, greeting cards, cosmetics, dishes, medicines, household appliances and more. They are mainly self-service. Some supermarkets have their own bakeries and offer a variety of services: brokerage, insurance, etc.. Supermarkets are often branches of large retail chains.

What is a hypermarket?

Hypermarket is a retail store format that combines the principles of a self-service store and a store divided into trade departments.

The difference between hypermarkets and supermarkets

From a supermarket, the hypermarket is characterized by a large size and increased range of goods, which includes from 40 to 150 thousand items. The area of hypermarkets starts from 10 thousand square meters.

What do they sell in supermarkets?

Quantity and variety of goods

They sell in supermarkets:

• foodstuffs;
• household items;
• goods for children;
• goods for animals;
• goods for cars;
• household appliances and so on.

Products

In supermarkets, you can find a full range of products: from salt to bananas; as well as products from different suppliers: both from Belarus and abroad.

Prices in hypermarkets and supermarkets

Prices in hypermarkets and supermarkets do not differ from other stores in the chain, because the prices of the chain are always fixed.

Picture 1 Photo by belretail.by

Restaurant yard or food court

Every year, the Ministry of Trade of Belarus sums up the rating of the best food shops in the country. A supermarket must meet a number of requirements to be included in this rating.

Every year, the market players implement new solutions. For example, in 2018, the availability of ready-made food, baked goods and own cooking became the standard for all shops, although 2-3 years ago this phenomenon was almost nowhere to be found.

The main trend is the appearance of food courts in supermarkets and hypermarkets. The store Euroopt Super was the first to try this format in Belarus in 2016, and in 2018 food courts began to appear one by one in hypermarkets and supermarkets.

Among other new products, which retailers have offered to their customers and will continue to introduce in the near future - "Salad Bar" and "Solyanka Bar," cleaning, cutting and marinating fish, cooking minced meat and marinated meat, slicing cheese, sausages, cooking freshly squeezed juice from selected fruits, free WI-FI, wireless charging points for phones on the tables of food courts, coolers for drinks, etc..

Festive seasonal offers

Often stores offer promotions and discounts for seasonal holidays. For example, for the holiday of March 8 provide a discount on products for women: candy, lingerie, face, body and hair care products, perfume, and more.

Promotions in supermarkets

Shops make discounts for pensioners, students and parents with children, as well as promotions "1 for the price of 2", "happy hours" and so on.

Discounts in supermarkets

You can buy a discount or savings card at the shops. Shops that make their own pastries or cookery in the evening try to sell off the leftovers and also give discounts an hour or two before closing the shop.

Night supermarkets (24-hour shops)

There are 24-hour shops in every district of Minsk.

1. "BIGZZ"

Address: Prospect Masherova, 76a.

2. "Sosedi"

Address: 50 Surganov Street.

3. "Almi"

Address: Prospect Dzerzhinskogo, 91.

4. "ProStore"

Address: Prospect Dzerzhinskogo, 126.

5. "Rublevsky"

Address: 6 Volodazhsky Street.

6. Other shops.

Catalogue of the best Minsk supermarkets on the map

A list of the best supermarkets and their addresses you can see on this page.

Picture 2 Photo by evroopt.by

You can pay for purchases in Belarusian shops in cash, but only in Belarusian rubles, as well as with the card of one of the international payment systems: Visa or MasterCard. In recent years, Belarus has also developed a settlement system using electronic money.

A nice bonus for visitors is the fact that Belarus has introduced the Tax Free system since 2013, thanks to which a foreign citizen can return VAT on Belarusian goods purchased in our country.

Any resident of a foreign country can use tax free service. If you live in the EAEC customs union, you will not be able to use Tax Free service. Today the EAEC Customs Union includes Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

More than 400 shops are connected to Tax Free system in Belarus. Buyers are reimbursed 12.5% of the total amount of their purchase.

The retail trade sphere in Belarus is developing more and more every year and does its best for comfortable shopping not only for its citizens, but also for tourists.