A category killer is a retailer, often a big-box store, that specializes in and carries a large product assortment of a given category.[1]: 109–111 Through their wide merchandise selections, low pricing, deep supply, large buying power, and market penetration, they have a comparative advantage over other, smaller retailers, and can greatly reduce the sales of rival retailers within that category, in the area[2] and beyond it.[1]
In essence, they are a price- or discount-based specialist mass-retailer.[1]: 13 [2] Chains such as OfficeMax, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Hobby Lobby have been considered category killers.[3]
Once typically found in power centers, increasingly they are found in or adjacent to (as an outbuilding of) repurposed traditional malls.
Large category killer stores are mostly in mid- and large-sized cities, because a large population is required to be feasible.[1]: 33