The supercenter retailing format, which combines selling general merchandise and food in the same store, is one that promises to be extremely successful in the coming few years, according to Discount Store News' 1993 annual survey of the discount industry. Although the field is currently led by Meijer, Wal-Mart Supercenter has aggressive expansion plans and sales could hit $5 billion annually by 1994. Kmart Corp is also committed to the format. The top 17 chains in the category achieved 1992 annual sales of $11.4 billion, a 16% increase over 1991. Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart Supercenter were ranked second and third by the survey, after Meijer., The supercenter field is set to become one of the fastest growing retail segments during the next few years. [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] The segment's successful growth, however, will be linked [...]