FORGOTTEN Grocery Stores of the Past
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- čas přidán 27. 04. 2024
- Enjoy a nostalgic look back at grocery stores of the past through amazing vintage photos.
See what grocery shopping was like back before the days of self-checkout and Amazon home delivery. Back in the days of uniformed cashiers and helpful carry-out service.
Grocery shopping went through a lot of changes during the 20th century before we ended up with the modern supermarkets of today.
In this video, we'll take a look back at the brief history of supermarkets in America.
Thanks for joining me in The History Lounge!
#nostalgia #vintage #lifeinamerica - Zábava
Anyone remember grinding a bag of 8 o'clock coffee at the A&P store and that wonderful aroma of the freshly ground coffee beans? Ahhh..... the good old days☕ ☕☕☕😊❤️
I remember when I first tasted coffee and couldn’t understand why it smelled so good but tasted so bad. I don’t drink coffee to this day.
Hy Vee took over the Eagle store. At least in the quad cities.
What about Walmart? They have 15 checkout centers but sometimes they have only one open. 😮
One of the best memories, the best smelling coffee!
Yes….I remember !
Back then, people didn't go to the grocery store in their pj bottoms or grubbies. That's why the shoppers are wearing "day" dresses, even hats and gloves. Even those in sportswear were wearing "good" sportswear.
One of the first things I noticed too. Had to keep hitting the pause button to get a good look at everything lol.
I am from the Netherlands and I love these old pictures schowing a beautiful America!
Yes, it was beautiful indeed...
@@StarCrystal9 I think America was in this era also an example voor Europe
We in Norway appreciate it also. Yours truly, Gunn Karin Jorgensen.
@@user-zh2gp4wu5f Norway is also a beautiful country.. Best regards Rob de Jong
I wish America were not so awful now.
I remember A&P and the wonderful smell of the coffee my father was grinding
I remember standing in line to cash in my Green Stamps. I think I got a toaster or something like that. So much fun pasting them in the those little books!
I still have the clothes hamper my mom bought with green stamps.
A&P initially had the own brand of trading stamps, Plaid Stamps which were replaced by S&H. There were other stamp chains around like Top Value. My mother told me once that a cashier had hit the wrong key and accidentally cranked out a lot of higher value stamps. Those were the days when you had to have smarts to run a register - when to push that button, when to pull that lever.
I remember my mom always collecting the s&h Green stamps, good memories!
My grandpa was the produce manager for our local A&P in Grand Rapids, MI for many years. He took so much pride in his work. His department was always clean and tidy, unlike some produce areas in stores these days!
I used to shop at Meijer and A&P when i was in G.R. A&P got me hooked with Pop-Tarts, frosted apple cinnamon being my favorite. Where was his store located?
Oh to travel back in time❤
well, you just did, kind of.....
Clean and calm. White things.
@@alpha-omega2362 That was just a glimpse in time.. I want to go back! ♥️🤍💙
One of my favourite channels! Thanks for your hard work. It is so cool to look back. Much appreciated.
As a kid we always had a bunch of Swanson TV Dinners on hand in the freezer just in case we go snowed in....
One thing from the past was that people (esp women) dressed better to go to the market. One thing that is changing back is that self checkout is beginning to disappear because of theft.
A & P was the largest chain in the country back in the day. The lat one I was in was in Vermont in '76! My neighbor in Pittsburgh drove over 2 million miles for them!
Last of the A&Ps were retreated back to CT, NJ and NYC ... Waldbaum's was theirs too . Best beloved grocers ever!!!
I lived in Florida for over 40 years and wouldn't think of shopping anywhere but Publix. They were and still are the best!
Yes! One more good reason to move to Florida!
My first time not in a carriage in an A&P was when I was 4 years old in the 50’s.I remember breaking open a pack of hostess cupcakes when my mother wasn’t looking😅❤ your channel
There's a Piggly Wiggly just down the street. It's like walkin into 1964.
In the Detroit Michigan Area we had the grocery stores, Farmer Jack. They were everywhere, now defunct. Its a sad story of mismanagement. So its one more to add to future episodes of grocery stores not here anymore. Love these videos.
We had a Farmer Jack in Saginaw too.
We had a Farmer Jack's in Dearborn Hgts
@@GreenSneakersAndHam1 I shopped at the farmer jack on ecorse rd near monroe street in Taylor Michigan
I remember Farmer Jack’s
oh, shoot, i just mentioned them. They were Detroit-based, and A&P returned to Michigan by acquiring them. The Clawson Farmer Jack had the narrow lanes and the turnstile to enter or leave, must have been vintage 1950s. A&P sank some major bucks into them, I returned to the Clawson store when it was upgraded. I LOVE their rotisserie chicken, Yummy!
Love old pictures!!!❤😂 love this chanel!!
Super cool memories of yesteryears 💛💜👍
Publix still takes your groceries out to your car for you, and they wear a button saying “no tipping”. It’s part of the baggers job to do this for you.
I love Publix. Way back when, it was either Publix or Winn-Dixie/Kwik Chek for groceries. Kwik-Cheks were separate stores although Winn-Dixie sold Kwik-Chek products like Chek-brand soda.
Still the best customer service on earth!
Kewl cool kewl, going back to yesterday and as a little boy raised on a farm, going to town was a treat, walking into one of these big grocery stores and the smell as soon as you walked in was like WOW! clean floors, clean everything, folks were dressed, not in grubby hippy clothes like today! You triggered 10:00 minutes of happy good feel moments...miss those times and places. Thank you! ❤👍🙏
Clarence Saunders was an American grocer who first developed the modern retail sales model of self service. His ideas have had a massive influence on the development of the modern supermarket. On September 11, 1916, Saunders launched the self-service revolution in the United States by opening the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee. (Wikipedia)
My family lived near a Piggly Wiggly store in Reseda, CA...early 1960s
The History Channel (Modern Marvels?) credits Piggly Wiggly with launching the modern supermarket. They hosted a convention in Philadelphia (that my grandfather went to as well as Hendrik Meijer) in 1940 or '41 that persuaded grocers to convert to supermarkets. There was a Piggly Wiggly on U.S. 24 east of Kansas City (I think the community was Sugar Creek) as late as 2011 but its gone now.
In Atlanta, Georgia, I remember my mother shopping at the local Colonial store
Funny how stores seems to have become more efficient with technology, and by cutting service. But prices continue to rise. Love old cars parked outside the stores.
My first job was as a box boy at Alpha Beta in Whittier, CA in 1969. My mom shopped at Von’s and Ralph’s in SoCal back in the day.
I wish grocery stores still looked like they did 0:26 in the 50s. They suck today because nobody cares about design or color and they’re all soulless clones of each other, even across different companies.
I agree. I say the same thing about all businesses today. All square, gray, brown. Depressing. Loved the 50’s-60’s art deco and the printing style, and the bright colors.
Awesome!
Now do forgotten restaurants of the past!
when talking about Kroger today it also includes the following sub chains. Ralphs, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Fry's, QFC, City Market, Owen's, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker's, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, Mariano's
Excellent point. When i was moving to Missouri, I asked a Kroger employee if there were any Krogers 'cause i couldn't find any online. He said "No". I later learned that Kroger had pulled out of the state after a nasty strike. However I stopped at a Gerbes in Columbia (Mo) and immediately sensed it was a Kroger - from layout and color scheme. I asked a clerk, and as soon as I did i saw Kroger label products. Gerbes is in a subgroup with Baker's, Dillons, and others, however Dillons, excepting a store in Leavenworth, retreated west to Topeka. Drat, great fish kabobs. However I did see evidence of Kroger previously being in Gladstone (Mo). My local Gerbes ran out of a coffee maker I really liked on sale, offered to try and find it for me. Several months later got a call from them, they had shipped one in from a Baker's further west and would sell it at the sale price but i was not obligated to buy it. I did
In WI I most remember Piggly Wiggly, Red Owls, and of course we had Kohls.
A&P….The great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Kroger’s in Milwaukee was called Krambo’s before that.In GreenBay Wisconsin there’s only 1 Red Owl Food Store left. My uncle drove a semi between Green Bay and Milwaukee stores delivering food.
+1 for Publix.
Love the CARS 🚗 in the picture. I WANTED my grandmother's car SO BAD but didn't happen.😢😊
Shame we can't TURN BACK TIME 😂😂
Texas Nana
HEB, founded in Kerrville, Texas, in 1905, is still going strong as one of most favorite stores in the state.
The fresh tortillas were the best. Still warm when you got them home. I would buy a ten pack and just eat them plain watching tv. One of the few things I miss when I lived in Houston.
Rogers SuperMarket the Bubble Yum 8 pack of grape gum was my pick of things to get 1 of I was allowed!~ I miss the late 70's & 80's grocery stores!~
i retired from kroger in 2022. i spent 25 years with them. i managed the floral dept the whole 25 years. so glad to retire because they became a very hard company to work for. corporate greed took over.
I remember going to Super Fresh which sat abandoned forever then it became a Giant. The whole area of Odenton turned out!
Super Fresh was A&P's great hope for a comeback. Mentioned in Wikipedia
@@wolteraartsma1290 I didn’t know that. Thank you.
My great grandmother loved A&P!
Thanks again.
I was born in 1949, so growing up my parents shopped at the A&P.
In Ohio, I remember Big Bear grocery stores and they gave Green stamps. Fulmers was another store I remembered in the late 50s and 60s
I remember a Bohack's on Vanderbilt Ave. in Brooklyn, NY.
The butcher would sometimes sneak his thumb onto the scale so it looked like you had bought more than you really had. I remember that an artist had a customer with her thumb under the scale and pushed it up.. Norman Rockwell was the artist. 😅
well, it's better than the butcher who backed into his meat slicer and got a little behind in his work....
Back before the country went ghetto.
Anyone from the Rockford Illinois area and remember Hilander and Logli. They competed with each other but in 2000 Schnucks came in from Saint Louis and bought up both of them and branded them as Schnucks.
Your prices probably went up when Schucks came in - until recently, the most expensive grocer in town. They do carry products others don't, and some exotic ones (bacon made from duck meat). They sold off almost all their pharmacies to CVS.
I also miss Gemco in California! They were a membership store that featured Lucky brands like Lady Lee! We don't have actual Kroger stores out here but stores like Foodsco features their brand heavily!
Great video, but I'm surprised that Jewel Foods was left off the list. I remember when Jewel opened their first Jewel Grand Bazaar super-grocery store on the southwest side of Chicago. It was amazing! Samples at every department - you could have a free lunch just tasting samples of lunchmeat, cheese, pizza, burgers, etc. And they had a parcel pick up where you pulled your car up to an enclosed tent and the bag boys would bring your cart out and load up the car. Ah the good old days!
I was wondering through the whole video when you were going to mention Publix. 😅 The BEST grocery store back then and now. We Floridians are spoiled. Love this CZcams channel!
Chatham,Great Scott and Farmer Jack grocery stores in Michigan, long gone unfortunately
Most interesting! Think about the grocery stores in the West and what has happen to many of them. I would find that most interesting too. Enjoyed the video. Carol from California
We used to have Safeway and Piggly Wiggly in Oklahoma.
They also had a mini theater booth where children could sit and watch cartoons while their parents shopped.
Anyone from the Chicago area remember High-Low grocery stores? They were around until the early 1970's.
My mom worked there in the late 50's
This was good.
Super que de souvenirs, seul les Cadis n'ont pas beaucoup évolués depuis ces belles années... Vos vidéos sont toujours passionnantes. 👍✌✌😉✌
Also Pick n Pay
"Shopping Bag" in Southern Calif
The first Kmart in Garden City Michigan was our go-to store when I was a kid. Great video but you forgot to mention there submarine sandwiches which everybody remembers.
you showed the A&P colonial style store developed for Haddonfield in south Jersey, but didn't comment on it. i've seen that design as far north as Michigan (Grand Rapids and metro Detroit) and as far west as the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City. The colonial style was mandated by Haddonfield in a downtown revitalization scheme to counter the looming threat of the Cherry Hill Mall. One of the last gasps for A&P was to launch a non-union line (Super Fresh? It's been too long) with the goal of converting all their stores to such, retaining only employees of 20-30 years. This failed and A&P did 3 rounds of store closings in metro Phila. They did have a bright point. Having exited Michigan in Dec., 1974 they returned in the 1990s by acquiring the Detroit chain Farmer Jack, sinking major big bucks into remodelling vintage 1950s stores or building new super-stores. They introduced rotisserie chickens (wonderful job, something Kroger never got right) but sadly collapsed just before A&P did. In the early 1980s, A&P asked PSFS (bank) to launch a check approval system (Act 1) so that when customers wrote a check drawn on a PSFS account, the ability to pay that dollar amount was validated AND the dollars in their account reserved for that purpose. Sadly this was launched just in time for the first round of store closings. Some coworker friends burned themselves out in order to launch it in time, all for naught. Food Fair also acquired Penn Fruit and the department store chain J.M. Fields. Some shopping centers had J.M. Fields next door to the Food Fair. They were "gone" from metro Phila. by 1980 but i was stunned to see them, and shop at them, in Miami in 1988-89. They held out for a few more years in Florida. Consumers could see the consequences of the A&P, Food Fair, and Thriftway closings as prices rose in other store chains.
0:24 "Where shopping is a pleasure" it says on the wall.... they don't have to tell me what store that is.
Self-checkout. A bane of all societies.
People dressed better back then!
😂😊 je me souviens bien des magasins Grand Ours 😂🐾🐾🐻🐻🐻🐻
It seems that until 1980 people lived in the real world, and then the world became artificial :)
Let me tell you all something. I LOVE PUBLIX I live in Fl and that is my store. A & P here is the thing wal mart was greedy. They came in and shut down so many stores until it was just to much, But Publix that what I love about them. You can be the top dog Publix is still going to be here and plus they have stock for their workers .
You never mentioned Safeway, may it rest in peace.
A&P belongs in the ashcan of history: dirty stores, high prices, expired products....sorry, don't miss it one bit except for the Bokar Coffee (came in the black bag).
I remember the jitney jungle.
What ever happened to Shopping Bag Food Stores?
The significant change is the payment method.
You didn't mention the rise of Walmart (now the US's largest grocer) and big boxes like Costco. Also it would be a huge help if you would list all the brands under each of the majors; e.g. Kroger includes Ralphs (California), Smiths (Utah), and others. Also a Kroger/ Albertsons merger was announced about 18 months ago, but has not yet moved forward.
I also remember Pick &Pay in Ohio
👍👍👍👍👍
If you don't have them planned already, Schottenstein's (Columbus, Ohio), Kroger's Grocery Store & Fotomat. You should do one on these. ✔
🙂
good channel
Amazing women dress very well then❤ what went wrong today?
“Wrote a letter to John Bonham”?
First
Virtually no one is over weight.no fast food then.
Nice and White
3:35 That photo with all the Model T's is NOT Jamaica, Queens in 1930. Try harder!
Not sure about Jamaica, Queens, but I 'm not seeing any Model T's in the pictures between 3:35 to 4:00.
The 1930 s markets were better eggs still had poop on them and meat was still warm and hairy and fish was sold with scales on them and there was a smell of Horse poop on the streets