A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer (or "purveyor") was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and (later) cocoa, tea and coffee. These items were bought in bulk, hence the term grocer from the French "grossier" meaning wholesaler.

As increasing numbers of staple food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

stuffs became available in cans and other less-perishable packaging, the trade expanded its province. Today, grocers deal in a wide-range of staple food-stuffs including such perishables as meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

s, produce

Produce

Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...

 and dairy product

Dairy product

Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...

s. Such goods are, hence, groceries.

In the United States and United Kingdom, supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s and convenience store

Convenience store

A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...

s are sometimes described as grocery businesses, or simply grocers.For example, the largest trade paper for UK supermarkets and convenience stores is called The Grocer

The Grocer

The Grocer is a British market leading magazine devoted to grocery sales, published by William Reed Business Media. It has been published since 1862. Its readership encompasses every aspect of the industry, from directors of the large multiples to independent retailers...

The early supermarkets began as chains of grocer's shops. Clarence Saunders of Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 invented the self-service grocery store with open stock in 1916, for which he received a US patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

.

Notable grocers

• Horatio G. Loomis
  Horatio G. Loomis
  Loomis was a native of Vermont who came to Chicago as a pioneer settler in 1834. A grocer by trade, Loomis also was an entrepreneur who became involved in many business fields, including commodities trading....
  
  , one of the organizers of the Chicago Board of Councelers