As I get closer, the pointed shape becomes larger and more distinct, and I realize that it is indeed a pyramid, but not the Egyptian kind. Its walls are white-painted concrete. Its structure consists of dozens of square levels stacked on top of each other. They start at the size of a baseball stadium and grow progressively smaller all the way to the top, which is about the size of a small house. It is a pyramid in the Mayan style, a structure commonly known as a ziggurat. On the roof of the top level is a huge "S", glowing neon red against the night sky.

Armed guards/parking lot attendants direct me and my fellow shoppers through massive steel gates and into the vast parking lot. When I get out of my car, all I can see is more cars stretching off into the distance, in every direction. It takes me an hour to walk from my parking space to the main entrance, which is 20 automatic doors wide instead of the usual 2. I step through the doors, though an airport-style security check, and into the store's interior.

It's a typical grocery store environment inside, but on a Superbowl scale. A churning sea of shoppers, pouring in and out of endless aisles, a wild traffic jam of overflowing shopping carts. I am given some idea of the enormity of this place when I hear a PA announcement requesting "Cleanup on Aisle 149".

And this is the first floor.