Hamashbir Lazarchan is an Israeli chain of department stores. Hamashbir consists of 33 branches across the country. It is distinct from its predecessors, the consumer cooperative Hamashbir, reorganised as the wholesale supplier Hamashbir Hamerkazi in 1930. The original Hamashbir was set up with the goal of supplying the Jewish communities of Palestine with food at affordable prices during the terrible shortage years of the First World War. Wikipedia