Superstore Trivia | 50 facts about the sitcom

Superstore is a successful American sitcom, that aired for 6 years on NBC. Its Spanish version is currently in development.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Superstore is an American sitcom television series.
2. It ran on NBC from November 30, 2015, until March 25, 2021.
3. The series was created by Justin Spitzer.
4. He also served as an executive producer for four seasons.
5. America Ferrera stars in Superstore, and serves serves as an executive producer as well.
6. Ben Feldman also stars and serves as a producer.
7. Superstore follows a group of employees working at “Cloud 9”, store number 1217, a fictional big-box store in St. Louis, Missouri.
8. The ensemble and supporting cast includes Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nichole Sakura, Mark McKinney, and Kaliko Kauahi.
9. A Spanish-language adaptation, titled Supertitlan, is in development.
10. After NBC had initially announced the sixth season renewal of the series, the network revealed on February 28, 2020, that series star America Ferrera, would be departing the series at the end of the fifth season citing a desire to work on new projects and to spend more time with her family.
11. After production of the fifth season was cut short by one episode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferrera noted her departure from the show might be delayed into season 6 in order to give her character’s arc a proper closure.
12. Ultimately, Ferrera was in the first two episodes of the sixth season as well as the final three episodes
13. Different stores in the Cloud 9 cluster (i.e. not the same store as portrayed in this show) have appeared in other series produced by NBCUniversal Television, including Hulu’s The Mindy Project, NBC’s Good Girls and I Feel Bad.
14. The Cloud 9 Superstore is a fictional hypermarket discount store. In addition to typical American hypermarket products, Cloud 9 also sells guns and liquor, and has a pharmacy.
15. Cloud 9 has its own credit union for its employees. It also had a photo studio.
16. The spokesman for Cloud 9 was Daniel Hertzler (as Kyle the Cloud 9 Cloud), until he was arrested and charged with cannibalism
17. The corporation, based in Chicago, does not offer paid maternity leave, health insurance or paid overtime to its employees. Under Cloud 9 policy, employees may take one bathroom break per shift, and are allotted 15 minutes for lunch.
18. In an effort to control what is happening in the individual stores, all locks and lights, as well as temperature control and music, are controlled from the corporate office. In 2017, Cloud 9 changed its store brand from Halo to Super Cloud. Cloud 9 also has its own magazine called Stratus.
19. The main characters for the show work at store 1217, the “Ozark Highlands” store, which is located in St. Louis, Missouri, on Ozark Highlands Road.
20. The store fell under district manager Jeff Sutin, who was District Manager from 2006 to 2018, and then again from late 2020. (formerly Laurie Neustadt in 2018 and Maya from 2019 – 2020).
21. The store was destroyed by a tornado during the season 2 finale,^[53] and reopened during the season 3 premiere.
22. Other area locations include Kirkwood, Fenton, Easton, and Bel-Ridge.
23. Additionally, there are locations mentioned in Austin, Texas, and in Detroit, Michigan. Cloud 9 has locations in multiple countries, with stores in Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Vancouver, Taipei, and Mexico City.
24. The pilot was shot at a redressed Kmart in Burbank, California (with Kmart signage visible throughout the episode,) though the rest of the series has been shot on sets constructed on two soundstages
25. Nico Santos (Mateo) and Nichole Sakura (Cheyenne) applied for jobs at Target to do character research. Both of their applications were rejected.
26. Dina’s trademark khakis are custom-made for actress Lauren Ash by the wardrobe department and cost $2,000 a pair.
27. Lauren Ash (Dina) actually worked at a big-box store in Canada called Zellers.
28. There’s a running joke about a raccoon infestation within the store. This was inspired by the real raccoon infestation on the soundstage where the inside of Cloud 9 is filmed.
29. A Canadian flag sits on a cabinet on Glenn’s desk. Mark McKinney (Glenn) and Lauren Ash (Dina) are Canadian.
30. Michael Bunin, who plays Jeff, was in the wildly popular and award-winning commercial for K-Mart called “Ship My Pants” in 2013.
31. It’s a running joke that Marcus (Jon Barinholtz) tries and always fails to get everyone to join him in a chant. He’s only accomplished getting everyone to join him in a chant once, which was in episode 4.21 “Sandra’s Fight”.
32. Ben Feldman said the original title for the show was “The Greatest Love Story Ever Told”. He doesn’t know why.
33. The relationship between Amy and Jonah is the primary love story featured on the show, but actor Lauren Ash (Dina) actually felt the real love story was the friendship between Amy and Dina.
34. Dina’s surname Fox was inspired by Lauren Ash’s dog, who is named Fox Mulder Ash. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is a character from television series The X-Files (1993).
35. Amy’s name tags are usually chosen by the writer of that particular episode, but sometimes other members of the cast and crew get input. For instance, in an episode directed by cast member Ben Feldman (Jonah), Amy’s name tag says “Effie”, which is a reference to Feldman’s daughter.
36. Although the interior of the store is a set on a soundstage, the checkout lanes are actually fully functioning.
37. The interior of the Cloud 9 set is about a tenth of the size of a real big box store, so mirrors are used to give the space more depth. They also use the same parts of the set to represent different areas around the store. For instance, the pharmacy, vision center, gun counter, and appliances section are all filmed on the same spot of the soundstage.
38. The exterior set for the Cloud 9 Superstore could be seen in the NBCUniversal truck storage lot at the intersection of Barham Blvd. and Forest Lawn Dr. in the Studio City area of Los Angeles. It has since been torn down.
39. A running joke is that the Ben Feldman (Jonah) looks like Scott Baio. Scott Baio starred as Charles in Charles in Charge (1984). In homage, Jonah dared Amy to sing the theme song from Charles in Charge over the PA.
40. The majority of the boxes on the shelves are actually empty. However, the cast and crew have said they battle the urge to shop while on set.
41. The first season originally had 13 episodes, but NBC cut it down to 11.
42. In December 2020, NBC announced that the sixth season would be its last.
43. Kelly Stables (Kelly) is actually from St. Louis, Missouri, where Superstore is set.
44. America Ferrera (Amy) previously worked with Tony Plana (Ron) in the series Ugly Betty (2006). In both shows, America starred as Tony’s daughter. Tony’s characters also have a heart condition.
45. Break room scenes generally take the longest to film because they include most of the cast.
46. Based on Walmart, down to the uniforms (colors & vests). It is unclear if Walmart’s HQ were contacted for permission.
47. In I Feel Bad: I Need My Mom (2018), Emet and David go to Cloud 9 to buy presents to win the nanny back. This now puts I Feel Bad and Superstore in the same fictional universe. However, this also creates a unique situation. Johnny Pemberton plays two different characters in both shows; Bo in Superstore (2015) and Griff in I Feel Bad (2018). As such, both characters now exist in the same universe.
48. Lauren Ash and Nico Santos also appear in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015).
49. Early in Season One, Dina tells a customer as he’s buying a greeting card “funny, you don’t look Jewish.” This is a nod to Mel Brooks’ 1987 movie Spaceballs when John Candy says “funny, she doesn’t look Druish.”
50. The location of the store is a fictional area of St Louis called “Ozark Highlands”. While that city does not exist, many of the cities mentioned on the show (Kirkwood, Crestwood, Richmond Heights, Chesterfield, Fenton, Maplewood, etc.) are real cities within the greater St Louis area. Additionally, the show states that Quincy is part of the St. Louis area however Quincy is more than two hours away in another state.