The first SuperBazar, opened in Bruges on 9 September 1961, initially designed to become a non-food department store, however only covered a surface area of 3,300 square metres (36,000 sq ft), and was later converted into a regular supermarket. The substantially larger store that opened a week later in Auderghem near Brussels, covering 9,100 m2 (98,000 sq ft), is regarded as a more proper hypermarket that brought the concept to fruition. [6] It was Belgian market development engineer Maurice Cauwe [fr], who adopted the concept from his frequent trips to the United States, particularly inspired from the Grand Union's "Grand Way" center in Paramus, New Jersey