Q.A company operates fifty identical grocery outlets across several cities. Every outlet has the same layout, stocks the same range of products, and sells at the same, centrally fixed prices; all buying is done centrally by the company's head office for every outlet together. Is this company's retail format a Departmental Store or a Chain Store? Explain the distinction you are relying on.

Many separate, standardised branches in different places, centrally owned and controlled, matches a chain store, not one building with internal departments.

Step 1 — Identify the defining facts. The company operates fifty separate, standardised outlets spread across several DIFFERENT cities, each identical in layout and range, selling at centrally fixed prices, with all buying centralised at head office.

Step 2 — Compare against the Departmental Store definition. A Departmental Store is ONE single large building, in ONE place, internally divided into many separate departments (clothing, groceries, electronics, and so on) under one overall management. Nothing here matches this — there is no single large building divided into internal departments; instead, there are fifty separate, physically distinct outlets.

Step 3 — Compare against the Chain Store definition. A Chain Store is a number of retail outlets, standardised in appearance, layout and stock, located in different localities/cities, all owned and centrally controlled by one organisation, selling largely the same goods at the same, centrally fixed prices, with central bulk buying for all branches together. This matches every fact given: fifty outlets, different cities, identical layout/range, uniform centrally fixed prices, and centralised buying. …