![]() Astor Market, Library of Congress Going BigĮxperiments like the 1915 Astor Marketon New York’s Upper West Side were a bit ahead of its time. This seemingly simple idea of self-service shopping was too cost effective to ignore and soon other grocery chains across the country picked up on this novel concept. By the end of that first year there were nine Piggly Wiggly locations around Memphis.” To cut cost, the store got rid of the clerks and allowed customers to pluck items from the shelves themselves.įrom Smithsonian Magazine: “Just like today, a shopper picked up a basket (though Piggly Wiggly’s were made of wood, not plastic) and went through the store to purchase everything. Perhaps the most important grocery innovation in American history took place in 1916 at a Memphis, Tennessee grocery store called Piggly Wiggly. A Tennessee Piggly Wiggly, 1939, courtesy NARA’s Southeast Region (Atlanta) Choose Your Own Food Many other famous grocery names familiar to New Yorkers got their start well over 100 years ago - including Charles and Diedrich Gristede (in 1891) and John and Walter Wegman (1916). The beloved A&P supermarket, which sadly closed just a few years ago, traces back to a small 1859 New York store The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Those grocers could share resources among its many stores and even get into the manufacturing business themselves, creating branded products. Successful merchants would branch out into several grocery stores in one city, using a trusted brand name as a lure to customers who looked for conformity and assurances in freshness and quality. A&P Grocery Store 1936, photo by Berenice Abbott, courtesy Museum of the City of New York Advent of the Grocery Chain Overall grocery shopping was a less dynamic affair than it is today with fewer options and an almost blatant disregard to convenience. But markets with a truly fine and diverse selection were rarely available to most Americans outside of big cities. There were of course outdoor markets, where customers would have greater flexibility in selecting their own produce. Items like meat and bread were often bought separately - at butchers and bakers. Seeman Brothers Grocery Store 1905 / Museum of the City of New Yorkĭuring the 19th century grocers provided shoppers with a limited number of items which the clerk procured for the customer from behind a counter. And by the 1930s all roads to the grocery store would lead to Queens. Did you know the modern supermarket was created in New York City? The ways people purchased groceries in the first few decades of the 20th century had evolved very rapidly.
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