Vintage grocery stores

[LizzieMaine]

First National grocery store, Burlington, Vermont, c. 1940

First National was the dominant regional grocery chain in New England from the teens thru the seventies, and most of their downtown stores looked very much like this one. They all smelled the same too, a combination of wilting lettuce and linseed oil.

 

[Broccoli]

Wow, first nothing, now this? Thanks a lot for contributing everyone. I guess with the exception of small over the counter stores, it has mostly been as today. Shopping in markets was more common to, as the first post mentioned. More specialized stores: the fruit market, the butcher, etc.

But it has never really been glamorous. Big indoor markets maybe.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Wow, first nothing, now this? Thanks a lot for contributing everyone. I guess with the exception of small over the counter stores, it has mostly been as today. Shopping in markets was more common to, as the first post mentioned. More specialized stores: the fruit market, the butcher, etc.

But it has never really been glamorous. Big indoor markets maybe.

Buying food and basic necessities was never really glamorous, so the places to shop always had a more utilitarian feel. Some were more comfortable than others, but it was hardly about style.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The exteriors with a few occasional exceptions, were never anything worth talking about, but the interiors could be nice.

Removal of false inner walls on a building in Hampton, New Hampshire, which had served as a First National store from the thirties to the sixties, revealed the detailed inlaid tilework identifying the various sections of the store. This was a common motif in First National outlets, and is representative of the sort of thing you'd see in similar stores.

 

[2jakes]

Outside a typical downtown A&P, c. 1936.

Looking at the sacks I remember my mother making
underwear for my little sisters from flour sacks .
I would like to think that the material was not as rough
as the potato sacks !

 

[Otis]

... I remember my mother making
underwear for my little sisters from flour sacks...

Yep, back in the 30's my grandmother used to take 'Turkey Red' flour sacks, which came in fine cotton bags, bleach the red turkey logo out and make housedresses out of them. It would have been wasteful not to.
As a youngster in the 70's I tried to interview her about life in the 20s-30s-40s, but she was one old gal who saw nothing golden about the era. She didn't really want to remember it, much less talk about it, even when I pressed. I found she was pretty typical of those who lived through it in tough rural circumstances.

 

[2jakes]

Yep, back in the 30's my grandmother used to take 'Turkey Red' flour sacks, which came in fine cotton bags, bleach the red turkey logo out and make housedresses out of them. It would have been wasteful not to.
As a youngster in the 70's I tried to interview her about life in the 20s-30s-40s, but she was one old gal who saw nothing golden about the era. She didn't really want to remember it, much less talk about it, even when I pressed. I found she was pretty typical of those who lived through it in tough rural circumstances.

I asked my grandmother about the depression times in the 20s-30s.
She said, " we didn't have much to lose like the rich folks...
but we nevertheless felt it".

 

[fashion frank]

There is an elegance, a daily dignity that we have lost. I just got back from a few errands, and because this thread was in my head, I noticed how many people truly do not care how they dress when in public and how tacky my local grocery store looks.

Man you said a mouthful there , I am always amazed at how people go out in public and look like complete slobs both men and women .

Also as you stated the stores are tacky as well.

In my area Almac's ( Al and Mac ) was the mom and pop " chain " if you could call them a chain were great stores, but alas they went under like everything else once the " big box " stores came along.

Does anyone remember when you could check out with all of your groceries and then drive your car to the front of the store where they had a conveyer belt and a bag boy would have your groceries in a big box with handles on it it would be placed on the belt inside the store then it would come out through a hole in the wall to the outside of the building and another bag boy would be waiting for it ,then take it off the belt and place the bags in your car and you would drive off , none of this having to wheel the cart to your car like today and place them in the car yourself.

It's just like everything else today , go to the gas station today and you don't see three guys coming out to your car ,one to pump your gas ,one to check the oil and one to clean the windshield ,now you pump your own gas at sky high prices.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[2jakes]

Recently, I was at a shop. Standing by the register paying for my order.
I noticed a glass jar with a sign that said "Tips".
I asked the young clerk about it. He answered... "oh, that's where you can put your change ".
So I put the change & as I left, I asked him if he knew why ? He smiled & said...
"..not really, but that's where people put their change ."

There was a time when you went out to eat , no matter what restaurant, the waiter
would bring a glass of water besides the menu.
Or the clerk actually took the trouble to count back your change as he handed it to you .

 

[Alex]

I've worked at a grocery store for five years, and we just went through a remodel. Our store now resembles a Wal-Mart Supercenter, rather than a grocery store. The times, they are a-changin'.

 

[Fading Fast]

Recently, I was at a shop. Standing by the register paying for my order.
I noticed a glass jar with a sign that said "Tips".
I asked the young clerk about it. He answered... "oh, that's where you can put your change ".
So I put the change & as I left, I asked him if he knew why ? He smiled & said...
"..not really, but that's where people put their change ."

There was a time when you went out to eat , no matter what restaurant, the waiter
would bring a glass of water besides the menu.
Or the clerk actually took the trouble to count back your change as he handed it to you .

I'm - just a bit - of two minds regarding change making. Growing up, making change was an important act as it showed respect for other people's money and your seriousness as a person and business person. Hence, as you pointed out, change was carefully counted out when it was handed to you.

Today, even large amounts, most of the time, are just handed over as a lump sum and not counted out to you. Now, my, slightly, two minds. Inflation has made small change like quarters worth what a few pennies were when we were kids, which explains some of the nonchalance that very small change is handled with and, perhaps, that makes sense.

But, as with so many other things today, it displays a lack of respect for other people's money and a lack of seriousness and it causes slippage in standards. To wit, even if there is an argument for not over-focussing on a few quarters owing to depreciation, once we teach or accept that, then cashiers and others get sloppy about carefully counting out larger amounts of change. This reflects / causes a lack of respect for and seriousness to others, monetary transactions and business. Standards can be too rigid and become outdated, but treating change making seriously is not one that should have become sloppy. Unfortunately, it reflects too much of what has changed even since the 1960s / 70s to say nothing of the Golden Era.

 

[Dinerman]

Here's the interior of a grocery store from the mid 1930s.