How Grocery Shopping Has Changed in a Century

Grocery shopping has changed dramatically over the last century. Supermarkets first started emerging in the 1920s, forever altering how people shop for food. Go back over 100 years, though, and many familiar features wouldn’t be found. City dwellers relied on markets, peddlers, and small shops to get most of their goods. If they did pop into a grocery store, a clerk would wait on them, selecting each item from a shelf or a back room. By the 1950s, larger grocery stores began popping up and customers could pick out their own groceries, place them in a shopping cart, and haul them out to the parking lotThroughout the 1920s and 1930s, food shopping began to change. One of the first chain grocery stores in the U.S. was A&P, which had over 15,000 stores located throughout the country. Then came Kroger, which helped usher in the era of one-stop shopping. Whether you needed bread, meat or fresh vegetables, you could get them all at Kroger. Piggly Wiggly was the chain that started the turnstile aisle, lined with packaged foods. Unable to leave through the door they entered, shoppers were forced to browse goods, their prices prominently displayed. Finally, Ralphs came along and opened its 10,000-square-foot self-service store in West Hollywood, introducing Americans to grocery shopping as we know it today. Many of these chains have melded together or completely disappeared, but they completely changed the way many Americans shopped for groceries. Today, grocery shopping is easier than ever — a few clicks on a computer or smartphone and your groceries will be ready for pickup or delivery.