This article is more of a commentary to give the readers a feel of the retail structure in the US. The author gives an account of the retail scenario, which can come in handy for the academician as well as the practitioner. The differences, which are more than similarities, bring out the essence of the article. This article is based entirely on the experience and observations of the author and so can act as a good supplement to the published information on this topic.

It's now almost two months that I have been in the US and during this time, I have seen quite a lot of the city I am staying. Toledo, a city in Ohio State, is not a big city like New York or California, however, there is still quite a bit of retail activity out here. Well, before I start to give an account of the retail scenario out here, I need to point out some differences which definitely have an impact on the retail structure and the consumer behavior regarding retail purchases. First of all, the population is not large. Secondly, almost everyone has a car. It is hard to find a student driving a Pontiac or a BMW in India. (It is rare to find anybody driving a Pontiac or BMW in India). Thirdly, a natural fallout of the population factor, the streets are not clogged with traffic even in peak hours. However, as I emphasize again, these are my observations in Toledo only and may not be extrapolated to the entire US. Over the last two months I have been here, I have had the chance to visit quite a few big names in the US retail such as Wal-Mart, Meijer's, Aldi, Home Depot and Circuit City. I have been to popular fast food outlets such as Burger King, Taco Bell and McDonald's. Wherever I went, I have found out differences in shopping behavior and the shopping structure. That is what stimulated me to write this first hand experience in the form of an article. The article will talk about large format retail, small format retail, fast food retail and the retail of consumer durables in the next sections.

Whenever we think of large format retail, the first name that comes up in our mind is Wal-Mart. What else can be the best place to observe Wal-Mart than its parent country, the US? Here Wal-Mart has three different formats. The Wal-Mart Stores, the Wal-Mart Centers and Sam's Club. The Wal-Mart Stores are comparatively smaller than the Wal-Mart Centers (Refer to Figure 1). However, they can anytime accommodate three big bazaars. One end of the store has "Tire and lube", i.e. where one can check the gas, or tyre pressure, change or repair any part of the car in case he/she requires. The main parking lot is huge and has some cart stalls, which are nothing but some grilled enclosures where you put the shopping cart after you have loaded everything in your car. One new thing which is visible now inside Wal-Mart stores is Subway. Subway has entered into an agreement with Wal-Mart where it has put up its outlets inside the store premises. The center is much larger than the Wal-Mart store and has a bigger stock of products. Sam's Club, as almost everyone knows, is a member exclusive store where you can buy in bulk and get really low prices. Meijer's, the other large format I visited once has 32 cash counters, which they call here as "check out" counters. I think that speaks of size (Refer Figure 2).

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