Supermarkets in Turkey: Chains, Cards, Paying and Words
Which shops sell food in Türkiye, how the chains’ cards and apps work, what the till asks, the bag fee, shelf labels, returns and the words you meet.
Table of Contents
Food in Türkiye is sold in three kinds of place: the corner shop on the street, a shop of one of the big chains, and the street market. At the till you need a card or cash, an answer about a bag and a few Turkish lines.
In short · checked 27.10.2026
Shops are on every street, and the till asks four things.
- Shops. A bakkal is a corner grocery; A101, BİM, CarrefourSA, Migros and Şok are chains; a pazar is a street market.
- Cards and apps. Each chain has its own card or app. The cashier asks «Kartınız var mı?», «Do you have a card?».
- A bag costs money. In 2026 every bag sold costs 1 TL (one Turkish lira), tax included.
- Prices side by side. The state site marketfiyati.org.tr compares shop prices; see Market Fiyatı.
Where are you shopping?
- What it is
- A bakkal (bahk-KAHL) is a small food shop; in Turkish the word also names the person who runs it. Chapter 01 has the sizes.
- Say
- Bir ekmek lütfen.One bread, please.
- What it is
- A shop under a chain’s name and sign, with the chain’s own card or app. Chapter 02 goes through the chains.
- Say
- Kartınız var mı?Do you have a card? This is what the cashier asks you.
- What it is
- A pazar (pah-ZAHR) is an open-air market of stalls selling fresh produce, usually on one weekday a week; the weekday is local. Istanbul’s markets are in Istanbul markets and bazaars.
- Say
- Bir kilo domates lütfen.One kilo of tomatoes, please.
Tool · checked 27.10.2026
The checkout line
A till asks four things, in this order. Tap a stop on the lane to read the line in Turkish, pick your answer, and press Copy all to take the four lines with you on your phone. The chain buttons change only the card and paying lines.
- Card or appKartınız var mı?Do you have a card?The cashier means this chain’s own card or app, not your bank card.A101: A101 Ekstra (2019), A101 Kapıda («at the door», 2020) and A101 Artı (2022). · checked 27.10.2026BİM: the BİMPARA app and a gift card, Bim Hediye Kartı. · checked 27.10.2026CarrefourSA: price tags read «CarrefourSA Kart ile» («with the CarrefourSA card»); its payment app is Payfour. · checked 27.10.2026Migros: the Money card (since 1998, first called Migros Club) and the Money app. · checked 27.10.2026Şok: the Cepte Şok app and online market («in your pocket»). · checked 27.10.2026Hayır, yok.No, I do not.Evet, uygulamada.Yes, it is in the app.
- BagPoşet ister misiniz?Do you want a bag?In 2026 every bag sold costs 1 TL, tax included (Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, announcement of 27.12.2025).Hayır, çantam var.No, I have my own bag.Evet, bir poşet lütfen.Yes, one bag please.
- PayingNasıl ödeyeceksiniz?How will you pay?Cash is «nakit», a card goes on the reader, and «temassız» means tap the card or phone on it.CarrefourSA: the Payfour app. · checked 27.10.2026Migros: the Money app pays by QR code and contactless; MoneyPay cards run on TROY, the domestic card scheme. · checked 27.10.2026Kartla.By card.Nakit.In cash.Temassız.Contactless.
- SlipFiş ister misiniz?Do you want the receipt?The «fiş» is the till slip: it shows the amount paid, the taxes and the date (Turkish Language Association, TDK).Evet, lütfen.Yes, please.Hayır, gerek yok.No, thank you.
Where food is sold: six sizes of shop
Food is sold in six sizes of shop, from the bakkal, a corner grocery under 50 m², to the hipermarket (hypermarket) of 2,500 m² and more. The sizes are those of the Competition Authority (Rekabet Kurumu, the state body that watches competition between companies) in its retail report of May 2012.
| Shop type | Floor area in 2012 | Tills and features in 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Bakkal (corner grocery) | under 50 m² | one till |
| Orta market (medium shop) | 50–99 m² | one till; on a main street or the side street off it |
| Small supermarket | 100–399 m² | 2 tills; self-service |
| Supermarket | 400–999 m² | 2 tills or more; self-service |
| Large supermarket | 1,000–2,499 m² | 2 tills or more; self-service |
| Hypermarket | 2,500 m² and more | 8 tills or more; self-service, car park, cash machine |
Rekabet Kurumu · report of May 2012, quoting the research firm AC Nielsen · checked 27.10.2026 · report
What does each kind sell?
- Who
- The bakkal and the orta market.
- Sells
- A manav (mah-NAHV) sells fruit and vegetables, a kasap (kah-SAHP) sells meat, and a şarküteri (shar-koo-teh-REE) sells cheese, olives, salami and similar foods.
- What
- A discount shop (indirim marketi) is a small supermarket with a short range built on its own brands; people use it for top-up shopping (telafi alışveriş) beside the big shops.
- Who
- BİM describes itself as a hard-discount (yüksek indirim) chain.
- What
- The larger shops carry more goods, also non-food, so one visit covers more (the report’s «one-stop shopping»).
- Who
- CarrefourSA’s types are hypermarkets and supermarkets; Migros marks its types with the letters M-Jet, M, MM, MMM and 5M. Cash-and-carry (toptan, wholesale) is Migros Toptan.
The bakkal
A bakkal is a person who sells food and the like at retail, and also their shop. The word comes from the Arabic baḳḳāl.
Shops side by side
The same street can hold a chain’s small shop, a bakkal and a greengrocer. Some foods have their own pages: Tomatoes in Turkey, Fish in Turkey, Turkish cheese and Turkish tea brands.
The manav and the pazar
The manav is a greengrocer’s shop; the pazar is the same trade in the open, in a market of stalls. The prices are written on cards by hand. Prices for chain shops and markets alike are in Food prices in Turkey.
The chains, A to Z
The chains are listed A to Z. A store count is the chain’s own, with the date it carries.
A101
More than 13,500 stores (a count its timeline dates to 2023); a store in every district of all 81 provinces since 2019. Services: A101 Ekstra, A101 Kapıda (kapıda means at the door) and A101 Artı.
BİM and FİLE
BİM Türkiye had 13,032 stores on 30.06.2026. FİLE, opened in March 2015, is BİM’s discount chain with a supermarket range; 364 stores on that date.
CarrefourSA
On 30.06.2026 it reported 19 hypermarkets, 585 supermarkets, gourmet stores and mini markets together, and 660 franchise shops. Since 31.07.2026 Yeni Mağazacılık A.Ş., the company that runs A101, holds 89.28 % of its shares; the Competition Authority approved this with conditions on 30.07.2026.
Migros
Migros’s information note of 30.06.2026: 3,830 stores in all, across the formats it names (Migros, Migros Jet, Macrocenter, Macrokiosk, Mion and Petimo); 115 of them opened in the first six months of 2026. The Migros shops are marked M-Jet, M, MM, MMM, 5M and Toptan; Macrocenter is its second supermarket name.
ŞOK
Şok’s investor page: 11,074 stores in 81 provinces and 51 distribution centres at 31.12.2025.
Two more chains, Hakmar and Tarım Kredi Kooperatif Market (the shops of the Tarım Kredi cooperatives: tarım kredi means agricultural credit), are among the seven chains whose prices Market Fiyatı shows.
Cards, apps and delivery
A loyalty card (sadakat kartı) is a chain’s own member card, and an app (uygulama) does the same on the phone.
| Chain | Card or app | Delivery | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| A101 | A101 Ekstra (2019), A101 Kapıda (2020), A101 Artı (2022); a page for gift cards (Hediye Kartı) | A101 Kapıda; kapıda means at the door | 27.10.2026 |
| BİM | BİMPARA mobile app; Bim Hediye Kartı (gift card) | — | 27.10.2026 |
| CarrefourSA | CarrefourSA Kart on price tags; Payfour payment app | Online orders with a delivery area and time; a fast-courier option | 27.10.2026 |
| Migros | Money card (since 1998, first called Migros Club) and the Money app | Migros Sanal Market (its online market) in 81 provinces; Migros Hemen («right away»), its quick-delivery service | 27.10.2026 |
| ŞOK | Cepte Şok app, with «Ödeme Yöntemlerim» (my payment options) in the account menu | Cepte Şok online market | 27.10.2026 |
Parcels from online shops are in Online shopping in Turkey.
Paying at the till
You can pay in cash (nakit), with a bank card (banka kartı) or with a credit card (kredi kartı).
- Cash. Nakit is cash in Turkish lira.
- Card. A kart goes on the reader; temassız means contactless: tap the card or phone on the reader instead of inserting it.
- QR code. Migros’s Money app pays by QR code and contactless.
TROY is Türkiye’s domestic card scheme; Migros’s MoneyPay cards run on it.
Bags (poşet)
A poşet is a bag, in a shop usually a plastic one, and each one sold carries a fee. A cloth bag you bring is called bez torba.
Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change · announcement of 27.12.2025
1 TL a bag in 2026, tax included.
From 1 January 2026 to the end of 2026 every bag sold costs 1 TL, whatever its size or what is in it, and no lower or higher fee may be charged. The rules have been in force since 1 January 2019.
- A shop cannot give plastic bags free in 2026, nor charge less or more than 1 TL for one.
- Your own bag costs nothing.
- The cashier asks «Poşet ister misiniz?», «Do you want a bag?». The checkout line has the answers.
Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change · checked 27.10.2026 · announcement
Shelf labels, unit prices and dates
A shelf label shows the price with all taxes, the country of production, the date the price began and the unit price. The unit price (birim fiyat) is the price per kilo or litre, so packs of different sizes can be set side by side. All of it is in Turkish.
- Price
- Written «Türk Lirası», «TL» or «₺», with all taxes in it.
- Unit price
- Not needed when it equals the sale price. Loose goods may show only the unit price, and the weight of the container is taken off.
- Shelf and till differ
- The lower price applies.
- Discount
- The label shows the discounted price and the price before it. The price before is the lowest price of the 10 days before the discount; for fruit and vegetables the previous price is used.
- Use-by date
- Son kullanma tarihi is the use-by date, printed on the pack.
Ministry of Trade · guide on price labels, page of 22.06.2026 · checked 27.10.2026 · guide
A label that breaks these rules is reported to the provincial trade directorate (Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü), the municipality or the chamber concerned. How a label is read is on Carrefour in Turkey, and the Ministry’s sample labels are on BİM Market in Turkey. Reporting is in Consumer rights in Turkey.
Aktüel days and campaigns
Aktüel (ahk-too-EL) means current in the dictionary; on the chains’ pages it names the goods on offer that week. A campaign is a kampanya, a discount an indirim, and a poster or brochure an afiş.
BİM’s own menu has «Aktüel Ürünler» and «İndirim», and A101’s has «Afişler» and «Kampanyalar». The days change, so they are on the chains’ pages: BİM’s in BİM Market in Turkey, A101’s in A101 in Turkey.
Receipts, returns and complaints
Keep the fiş, the till slip: it shows what you paid, the taxes and the date. A fatura is an invoice, an iade a return and a değişim an exchange.
- Keep the slipA shop that sells a defective item must label it, or write the defect on the invoice, the slip or the sales document.
- Check the goodsDefective goods are ayıplı mal. A defect that appears within six months of delivery is presumed to have been there at delivery, and the seller must prove otherwise.
- Go back to the shopFor a defective item you may return the goods and get the price back, keep them and ask for a discount, ask for a free repair, or ask for a replacement. A repair or replacement must come within 30 working days at most.
- If the shop refusesCall Alo 175, the Ministry’s consumer helpline: it offers solution routes and directs you to the right authority.
Ministry of Trade · guide on defective goods and Alo 175 page · checked 27.10.2026 · guide · Alo 175
The Ministry also publishes a guide on the consumer arbitration committees (tüketici hakem heyetleri). More on rights and on reporting is on Consumer rights in Turkey.
Market Fiyatı: prices side by side
Market Fiyatı (marketfiyati.org.tr) is a free state website built by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, the information-technology centre of the state research council. It loads the big chains’ price data, compares a shopping list and shows the cheapest shop. It sells nothing.
- SearchType a product (ürün) in the search box.
- ChoosePick the product from the results and add it to your list (Listem).
- Set the placeChoose a location; the site then shows which nearest markets have the product (Marketleri Seçiniz, choose markets).
- CompareFiyatları Karşılaştır compares the prices. They are branch data and change.
marketfiyati.org.tr · its page «Uygulama Hakkında» («About the app») · checked 27.10.2026 · site
At its start in February 2025 it covered about 50,000 products from seven chains: A101, BİM, CarrefourSA, Hakmar, Migros, Türkiye Tarım Kredi Kooperatifleri and ŞOK. Prices themselves are in Food prices in Turkey.
The words you meet
These lines are plain Turkish. Each has a Copy button; paste it into a message or show it on the phone.
Where are you?
- Market
- A shop where food is sold.
- Bakkal
- A corner grocery.
- Şube
- A branch of a chain.
- Say
Bir ekmek lütfen.One bread, please.
- Raf
- The shelf.
- Etiket
- The label on it.
- Birim fiyat
- The price per kilo or litre.
- İndirim
- A discount.
- Say
Bu ürün nerede?Where is this product?
- Kasa
- The till, the checkout.
- Poşet
- A bag.
- Temassız
- Contactless.
- Say
Kartla ödeyeceğim.I will pay by card.
- Fiş
- The till slip.
- Fatura
- An invoice.
- İade
- A return.
- Say
İade etmek istiyorum.I want to return this.
Quick answers
Do I need a loyalty card?
The cashier asks «Kartınız var mı?»; you can answer «Hayır, yok.» (no). Each chain’s own card or app is in Cards, apps and delivery.
What does a bag cost in 2026?
1 TL, tax included. Bags
How do I pay without cash?
By card or by phone on the reader; «temassız» means contactless. Paying
What is a bakkal?
A corner grocery, under 50 m² in the 2012 report. Where food is sold
What is aktüel?
The goods a chain offers that week. Aktüel days and campaigns
Where do I compare prices?
On marketfiyati.org.tr. Market Fiyatı
Who do I call if the shop refuses?
Alo 175, the Ministry’s consumer helpline. Receipts, returns and complaints
Which chains are there?
A101, BİM, CarrefourSA, Migros and Şok. The chains
Sources and limits
Show the pages checked
- Türkiye HTM Perakendeciliği Sektör İncelemesi Nihai Raporu (May 2012) — Rekabet Kurumu, checked 27.10.2026
- Plastik Poşetlerin Ücretlendirilmesine İlişkin Usul ve Esaslar’da güncelleme yapıldı — Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, checked 27.10.2026
- Fiyat etiketleri hakkında bilgilendirme — Ministry of Trade, checked 27.10.2026
- Ayıplı mal ve hizmetler hakkında bilgilendirme — Ministry of Trade, checked 27.10.2026
- Alo 175 — Ministry of Trade, checked 27.10.2026
- Hakkımızda — A101, checked 27.10.2026
- Hakkımızda — BİM, checked 27.10.2026
- Markalarımız — Migros, checked 27.10.2026
- 1YY 2026 Bilgilendirme Notu — Migros, checked 27.10.2026
- Yatırımcı ilişkileri — Şok, checked 27.10.2026
- Cepte Şok — Şok, checked 27.10.2026
- CarrefourSA — CarrefourSA, checked 27.10.2026
- KAP notice of 31.07.2026 (share transfer) — Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), checked 27.10.2026
- KAP notice: activity report of 30.06.2026 — Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), checked 27.10.2026
- Market Fiyatı — TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, checked 27.10.2026
- Zincir market fiyatlarına anında erişimin önü açıldı (11.02.2025) — TÜBİTAK, checked 27.10.2026
- Güncel Türkçe Sözlük: bakkal, manav, kasap, şarküteri, poşet, fiş, aktüel — Turkish Language Association (TDK), checked 27.10.2026
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author, date, licence and file page in the caption. The bakkal doorway and the bag picture are drawings.
General information on shops and rules that change; a chain’s own pages and the Ministry’s pages have the current figures.
