FORGOTTEN Grocery Stores of the Past

[Music] welcome back to the history Lounge join me for a stroll down memory aisle as we take a look back at the Vintage supermarkets of the [Music] past the first thing you might notice upon entering a grocery store in the 1950s or 60s was the size back then the typical grocery store would be around 15 to 20,000 Square ft While most grocery stores and super centers of today are usually 50,000 ft or larger of course stores back then wouldn't contain all the additional businesses and services that are found in supermarkets of today there would be no bank branch Pharmacy dry cleaner or Starbucks stores in the past would be focused on selling grocery items and Dry Goods although some stores would offer a lunch counter for customers to grab a sandwich or a soda the store employees would be wearing uniforms usually ties and aprons for the men and uniform dresses for the women instead of carrying your own purchases out of the store the clerk who just bagged your groceries would likely be there to cart your items out to your car for you you might give him a quarter tip as a thank you the overall layout of a 1950s Supermarket would be fairly similar to today products were organized by category with separate areas for produce meat and dairy and while self checkout wasn't yet an option the process of lining up at the checkout Lanes to pay wouldn't be all that different from what we have today of course while grocery stores had been around for several decades prior to the 1950s these common elements that we're so familiar with today weren't always around in fact prior to the 1930s purchasing food for the family was a very different experience and much less convenient back then rural communities were served by small General stores that offered a mix of food products and General Merchandise produce and meat products were grown and raised on local Family Farms and preserved over the winter by canning in urban areas Shoppers visited several specialty shops such as butchers Bakers and dry goods stores for their various needs perishable items like Dairy and produce would be purchased from stores specializing in those products most products would be stacked behind the counter so customers would present their shopping list to a clerk who would then gather the requested items off of the Shelf bulk Goods such as flour sugar and coffee were weighed out and packaged separately for each individual customer since Refrigeration technology was not widely available access to certain perishable Goods was limited meat would have been purchased directly from the Butcher and fresh milk would have been delivered each day by the Milkman it wasn't until 1930 that the first modern Supermarket was brought into existence as envisioned by Michael J Cullen a branch manager of the Kroger Grocery and baking company Cullen wrote a six-page letter to John Bonham a Kroger vice president proposing a new type of food store with a focus on low prices cash sales in larger stores with ample parking when Cullen's letter went unanswered he resigned his position and moved with his wife Nan and their children to Long Island where he launched his own store named King Cullen in Jamaica Queens on August 4th 1930 Cullen stayed true to his original concept with this first store being 10 times larger than the A&P stores in the Market within 6 years of opening King Cullen had 15 locations and the company continued innovating and expanding the formula was successful as King Cullen is still in operation to this day with 27 locations in New York state the formula for the modern Supermarket was established separate departments self-service discount pricing chain marketing and volume dealing paying close attention to these Trends was the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company more commonly known as A&P A&P immediately went to work building larger stores while phasing out their smaller stores except in dense urban areas in a few years the company was operating 1100 supermarkets in 1950 they were the largest Grocer in the country with 4,000 supermarkets and 500 smaller stores and if a particular community did not have an A&P store it would have been served by one of any number of Supermarket chains which by then had blossomed all across the country while a handful of these stores are still around many today are just familiar memories Piggly Wiggly stores expanded throughout the southeast and Midwest and still has over 500 stores operating today founder Clarence Saunders was once asked why he'd chosen such an unusual name for his company to which he replied so people would ask me that very question Red Owl began in the 1920s as a coal seller in Rochester Minnesota and eventually grew to 400 grocery stores in towns and cities throughout the Midwest red 's distinct logo of a red owl can be spotted in scenes from the Cohen Brothers movie a serious man fx's Fargo and in the opening credits of the Mary Tyler Moore Show though mainly defunct today an early franchise store Mason Brothers Red Owl is still in operation in Green Bay Wisconsin the first Kroger store opened in 1883 when founder Barney Kroger invested his life savings of 3 $72 to open a single grocery store in downtown Cincinnati the son of a merchant he ran his business with a simple motto be particular never sell anything you would not want yourself today the Kroger company is the nation's largest grocer with over 1200 stores in 16 different states throughout the South Southeast and Midwestern United States the first Big Bear store was opened in Columbus Ohio in 1933 and the company would grow to become a central Ohio institution the first store was known for housing a live bear just outside the main entrance other bears would be brought in and featured at the grand openings of new stores Big Bear was the first self-served supermarket in the Midwest and also the first to use cashier operated conveyor belts at checkout founded in Pennsylvania in 1872 Grand Union grew for a time to be one of the largest grocery chains in the country serving several States across the Northeast the company's mascot was Abraham Lincoln and early stores sometimes featured a costumed Lincoln who would greet customers and proclaimed the general Splendor of the Grand Union after ending operations in 2013 the brand has recently been brought back to life with 11 new stores between New York and Vermont alphab beta was a popular supermarket chain founded in Pomona California in 1917 and eventually grew to serve much of California and other parts of the Southwest United States the name alphab beta was chosen based on the founders method of organizing the products in the store in alphabetical order started in Harrisburg Pennsylvania in the late 1920s food fair grew to 270 stores by 1957 eventually peaking at over 500 much of the company's growth came through the purchase of other brands including Pantry Pride a name to which most food fair stores were converted by the early 1970s Whitney jungle was a chain of supermarkets that began in Jackson Mississippi in 1919 and gradually grew throughout the South with stores as far away as Florida the company eventually grew to 100 stores but suffered from mismanagement and was acquired by wind Dixie in 2000 Eagle food centers was a chain of supermarkets that started in 1893 in Davenport Iowa and eventually expanded into Wisconsin Indiana and Illinois the chain continued to grow through the 1980s eventually going public in 1989 however finding itself unable to compete with larger chains such as hi ve Walmart and Kroger the company entered chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 and ceased all operations in 2003 in the end A&P once the largest grocery retailer in the United States itself fell victim to the ever increasing growth in the size and offerings of modern supermarkets in the face of competitors that kept opening larger locations with more modern features A&P stores begin to feel small and outdated and while much of the competition was following customers in their migration to the suburbs many A&P locations were left trying to survive in declining Urban centers in 2015 following its second bankruptcy falling in 5 years most of the remaining stores were sold off to other companies with none being maintained as going concerns by Thanksgiving of 2015 all A&P stores had been permanently closed today changing consumer preferences and new Innovations ensure that the supermarket Market will continue to adapt and evolve even with the loss of so many cherished brands of the past there are still some great options out there with clean welcoming stores and top-notch customer service and if you've ever been to a Publix store you know what I'm talking about Publix if you're watching we'd love to have you up here in Minnesota thanks for joining me in the history lounge if you like this video chances are you'll like one of these as well [Music]

Channel: The History Lounge

Views: 58,525

Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, defunct grocery stores, old grocery stores, grocery stores of the past, vintage grocery stores, 1950s grocery store, 1960s grocery store, defunct supermarkets, old supermarkets, supermarkets of the past, vintage supermarket, 1950s supermarket, 1960s supermarket, old photos, The History Lounge, History Lounge, history of supermarkets, photos of the past, A&P, Publix, King Kullen, Food Fair, Jitney Jungle, Red Owl, Alpha Beta, Big Bear, Piggly Wiggly, Kroger

Id: 9pWrYbICYxo

Length: 10min 7sec (607 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2024