Hola! Apparently there's a huge hypermarket called Madrid2 next to Metro Barrio de Pilar. Does anyone out there know it? Is it worth making the trip right out there, how near the metro is it, what sort of things does it sell and what are the prices/ranges like? :p (not sure what 'razz' means, but it's a cool symbol!)

It's more known as La Vaguada, it's close to the metro and it has a lot of shops, there is a little bit of everything, but mainly fashion. Most of the shops you can find also in other places (Zara, Mango, Cortefiel ...). Here are smaller but you have lot of them together in the same place. Prices are similar to other shops. There are also toys shops, furnitures, photography, sports, food market, cinemas, restaurants, electronics, shoes, ...
what are you looking for??

Thank you Miguelito, for saving me a trip to the 'hypermarket': what I really want is a large supermarket which sells food/drink at good prices: a bit like Sainsbury's and Tesco in England and Auchan in France (if that means anything), but bigger branches than you tend to find in the middle of London. El Corte Ingles sounds a bit upmarket for me!

There is an Alcampo hypermart at the La Vaguada mall. Great place for everything from computers to fresh vegetables. Sometimes they have incredible discounts.

In fact, the "Alcampo" in Madrid2 (also called la Vaguada) is very similar to "Auchan" In France. It's the same brand but they changed the name. Expect to find the same things. Besides Alcampo, you have a fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, fish market ("old style") on the lower floor; it's more expensive than Alcampo but the quality is great.
As Miguelito said, there're also lots of Spanish fashion stores (Zara, Trucco, Cortefiel, Massimo Dutti, Tintoretto, Cedosce, Bershka, Mango, Don Algodon,...). The upper floor has cafes, restaurants and a cinema.

This may be too simple, but I have found that the Corte Ingles in Madrid, Granada, and Alicante, have grocery stores in the basement levels with a really great selection of everything from fish to olives to beverages of all kinds to crackers and meats and cookies.....I appreciated that they are always centally located and easy to find...and I thought the prices were decent. There were even some specials that were hard to resist.
(Corte Ingles seems to have everything from duct tape to high fashion...and I liked the book store in Madrid...especially. They also have some great touristy things for last minute take-home recuerdos, and at very reasonable prices)

I'm trying not to be green with envy. If I had known that I would have to cancel the student trip to Spain, I would have clanked home with a lot more tins of olives!!!!