1950s supermarket

While most of us grew up with supermarkets and shopping malls already existing; some of us remember the family-run grocery stores where your options were often limited. Others might even have had the chance to grow their own food, but once general stores grew bigger and became more convenient, there was no way back. Still, the consumerist lifestyle as we know it didn't happen overnight, and we got where we are now gradually.

Kresge's Dime Store Food Counter 1954

I was surprised at the number of reminisces about "living in curlers" I came across when doing a few of the previous posts. These commenters typically remembered setting their hair the moment they got home from work or school, and leaving their curlers in till the next day. So what's "living in curlers" like? A typical home set in the `60s was done with brush rollers, with the most typical being classic black wire brush rollers. They are often itchy as well as prickly to wear, but are more…

In the US, there is a gigantic supermarket seemingly everywhere you look. A Wal-Mart Super-Center on one corner, a Costco on the other… but it wasn’t always this way. The transition from small town grocer or big-city corner market to the massive mega-stores of today took decades, and the ramifications changed our world more than … Continue reading "‘Pile it High, Sell it Low’: The Saga of the Supermarket"

At the grocery store in the 1950s. Lady in blue, shopping carts filled to the brim, meticulously places products.

DRESSED FOR GROCERY SHOPPING IN THE 1950's This woman reminds me of how my Mom dressed to go shopping. And she enjoyed it, too. Actually, she called it "doing her marketing". After the supermarket, she would stop in and pick up a loaf of rye bread and a cheesecake at Adrian's Bakery. Then to the butcher shop called Bass & Schweitzer for a Paramount kosher chicken and whatever cut of beef she was in the mood to cook for us. And she would usually stop at the appetizing store, and the fish…

Step back in time to 1980s grocery stores! From barcode scanners to in-house brands, they paved the way for major retail transformation. See inside these 80s supermarkets and what foods they might be selling.