international retail (outside Canada)

[nims57]

I was also inspired by zayre88's thread. This is a thread for major international retail with connections to the US.

examples:

Safeway has stores in Mexico called Casa Ley.

Texaco has stations in Brazil and few other foreign countries. I wonder if lots of them became Shell.

France has Carrefour. They inspired the Wal-Mart Supercenter. These types of stores are called "hypermarkets". There was a Carrefour in North Philadelphia in the 80's. It became Bradlees and then Wal-Mart (NOT a Supercenter).

UK: The UK has Wal-Mart Asda markets. T.J. Maxx has stores in the UK and Ireland called TK Maxx. Safeway used to have stores in the UK that are now called Morrisons. Woolworth had stores in the UK, Australia, and South Africa with a slightly different name. The UK had Woolco too until 1986.

Australia: In Australia, they have Target and Kmart franchised by the same company. Safeway operated in Australia too. Pizza Hut has been in the UK and Australia for a long time. Burger King was actually owned by British liquor companies Grand Metropolitan and Diageo. They entered Australia in 1971 and are called "Hungry Jack's" because Pillsbury owned them for years. BK still uses the old logo there, but the restaurants are identical. They also have IGA markets in Australia.

Wal-Mart had some stores in Germany and South Korea that were sold off. As the user meganium posted, Toys R Us operates in Germany. I believe Safeway did too.
 
Sweden has IKEA, which we have here.

Netherlands: Ahold, which now owns Stop & Shop, is based in the Netherlands. Shell, a British oil company, merged with Royal Dutch to form Royal Dutch Shell plc.

Food Fair/Pantry Pride once operated in Israel. Toys R Us and Office Depot (no relation) have stores in Israel now.

Carrefour and Office Depot have stores in Thailand.

Of course I have to cover Japan. I know Wal-Mart has stores in Japan called Seiyu. Denny's and Red Lobster both have restaurants in Japan.

other: Food Fair/Pantry Pride once had stores in the Bahamas. Safeway had stores in Gibraltar and even Saudi Arabia.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Hungry Jack's was founded by Australian Burger King franchisee Jack Cowin, hence the name.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Texaco is known as Caltex on the eastern hemisphere, which began as a joint venture between the Texas Company (now Texaco), and Standard Oil of California (now Chevron).

[videogamer75]

Of course I have to cover Japan. I know Wal-Mart has stores in Japan called Seiyu. Denny's and Red Lobster both have restaurants in Japan.

other: Food Fair/Pantry Pride once had stores in the Bahamas. Safeway had stores in Gibraltar and even Saudi Arabia.

Denny's still uses the old logo in Japan:

http://www.dennys.jp/dny/index.html

Interestingly, Denny's Japan is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co.; which also owns the 7-Eleven chain.

Also, the Safeway in Gibraltar is still open to this day:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Safeway+in+Gibraltar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Safeway&hnear=0xd0cbf762714be35:0x384e25263600870f,Gibraltar&ei=VR0bTsHVBIjr0gH6k6GtBQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&ved=0CAQQtgM&cid=0,0,13157189243007574566