What's the difference between the name definitions of a market, a food store and a grocery store?

Markets are smaller that grocery and food stores for sure. A grocery story sells mainly food, but other things as well, and a food store sells only food.

Agree with @15acrabm. In the past, though the distinction today may be less clear, markets tended to be smaller, more personal food-only stores owned by a family. Today, grocery store or supermarket is much bigger and sells non-food items including those sold in drugstores.

Markets often mean fresh products with many sellers outside or in a huge building such as farmers market. Or a single market on the roadside.
Grocery or food store are not really different anymore and more often than not do carry many other products too.
Owners sometimes use one of any of the three types in their names to sound cutesy.

Would the size of the building determine its name?

Some of it has to do with where you live. In some parts of the country (in America) they use grocery store, while in others supermarket. If there is a real difference in the techinical definitions I think it is out the window in common usage. Market generally is used for smaller places of business with a more specific selection of items to sell, like a farmers market or a corner market, but some people I know say they are going to the market, when they are going to the supermarket; or, what I consider to be a supermarket. I myself use grocery store and supermarket interchangeably.

JLeslie, you have thoroughly confused me. i understand that geographical regions have a bearing on a persons defintion of most anything. but, you state a market, to you, refers to an open market, like a farmers market?

@john65pennington I here people use market generally for open market, which is the same as a farmers market to me; or, corner market, which would be a smallish grocery store in my mind. It is conusing, because again, I think it is different everywhere. You’re in Nasvhille, so I’ll tell you what I would use with your stores. I would call Publix a supermarket, Trader Joes a grocery store (although generally I would just say I was going to Trader Joes, same with Whole Foods, I would call it by name typically). If there is a small store downtown I would probably call it a grocery store where I could pick up a few things. But, when I lived in Michigan, they have Meijer all over the place, which is like a superwalmart type of store, and they call stores like Kroger the grocery store, because it is all food, especially compared to Meijer which is a store with a food market and everything from guns to furniture to bathing suits.

I guess some of it has to do with what is common in your particular city. Like in many areas of Michigan the mega stores are very common, so relative to that the regular old Kroger does not seem very super, it is just a grocer.

People who grew up in NYC, where stores were generally smaller, especially back in the day, there was a fish monger in one store, and a bakery down the block, and a butcher a few stores over. Then they could get all of this stuff in one place, and it was a grocery store. Then they moved to the suburbs and discovered supermarkets. Something like that. It is confusing. I think there are really no clear universal definitions, because it varies so much from place to place.

Like, when I live in FL, MD, and NY, I say highway for the interstate. In TN I am sure to actually call it the interstate, because there are more, what I call rural highways, so to be clear what road I am talking about I say interstate. In Michigan I think we used freeway more to describe the interstates. I think? I might remember that wrong.

I also think it’s where you live as to what’s it’s called. I have not heard that name Piggly Wiggley since I was a kid. They are still around?

@Frenchfry Yes, they are still around.

Wow They have been around forever!!! That’s neat.

@Frenchfry Piggly Wiggly was the first self serve grocery store, or supermarket. It started in Memphis. We have a museum here called the Pink Palace that was built first to be the house of the person who started Piggly Wiggly, but he went broke and it is now a museum.

@Frenchfry I meant to give you the wikipedia link for more of the history if you are interested.

@JLeslie I just learned something. I thought Piggley WIggley died out years ago. Love the links. We had a neighborhood one in North Dakota where I lived. Brought back memories of my mom taking me to the store.