Pingo Doce is the largest 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...

 operator in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 with over 350 stores. (Sonae

Sonae

Sonae is a conglomerate, and is the largest private employer in Portugal. The company is primarily engaged in the operation of retail stores through its subsidiary Modelo Continente....

 is the largest food retailer.) It belongs to the Groupo Jerónimo Martins

Jerónimo Martins

Jerónimo Martins SGPS, SA is a Portugal-based company that operates in food distribution and consumer products manufacturing. The firm is the majority owner of Jerónimo Martins Retail , which operates the Pingo Doce super- and hypermarket chains in Portugal...

, which is owned by the name giving person Jerónimo Martins. In the 1990s he acquired Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian supermarket chain Sé Supermercados, which became the Brazilian equivalent to Pingo Doce. In the early 2000s, Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição

Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição

Grupo Pão de Açúcar - trading name of Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição, formerly used as a secondary trading name - is the biggest Brazilian company engaged in business retailing of food, general merchandise, electronic goods, home appliances and other products from its supermarkets,...

 / Grupo Pão de Açúcar, bought out Sé, rebranding its stores as Pão de Açúcar and CompreBem

CompreBem

CompreBem is a supermarket chain in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, in Brazil, owned by Grupo Pão de Açúcar.This banner's origins start by the Pão de Açúcar acquisition of the Comprebem supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil, which was rebranded as Pão de Açúcar Comprebem, and eventually...

.