It may be hard to believe, but grocery stores weren’t always the norm. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1940s that the trend started to catch on. Until then, independent sellers supplied the American consumer with their food shopping needs.
Looking back at photos of old grocery stores may cause a bit of nostalgia for viewers. In 1942, oranges were 1 cent, and grapefruit was 5 cents. The first self-serve stores like the ‘Piggly Wiggly’ were opened in 1918.
Pictures of old grocery stores show women in the store with curlers in their hair, wearing fancy dresses. They have shopping carts with them as they wander down the aisles.
The grocery stores of the 1960s wouldn’t be a place you’d look around for food. You’d simply hand your list of things to the clerk, and they would walk around the store and gather the items for you.
The earliest grocery stores didn’t sell cold or refrigerated goods, including slaughtered meat; they only sold dry goods. Up until 1920, stores were independent. Starting in 1940, supermarkets became a more significant trend.
Another picture shows a grocery store in Illinois selling 12 oranges for 49 cents in 1947. The stunning photos offer a glimpse into the onset of grocery store shopping in America.
One of America’s biggest supermarkets is ‘Kroger.’ The store opened its very first location in 1883 when Bernard Kroger opened in Cincinnati. He used his life savings of $372 to open the store. 6 decades later, the company has stores all over the country. The grocery store photos are an amazing, nostalgic look at the evolution of America’s grocery store.
