Vintage Photos of Grocery Stores Throughout the Years

How practical were those vertical carts? An old person could fall right in trying to grab the last item at the bottom.

I like how there is truth in advertising. Carb Saltines, Carb Grahams, Carb Cookies, Fat Milk.

That kid looks rather large to be in the stroller.

I love the Ralph's sign and oh, my God, those cars in the parking lot. Beautiful, just beautiful. It seems like nearly everything is visually boring these days.

Dearest mother, always wore her best Mainbocher ensemble whilst grocery shopping.

Better times. Sigh.

"Dearest mother, always wore her best Mainbocher ensemble whilst grocery shopping. "

That look updated for today's shopper...

I love photo stories like this one. For the longest time after I became an adult and shopped for my own groceries, I was obsessed with grocery shopping. It was a weekly event: same time, same day, same store, and I planned it carefully and really took my time.

Much later I realized it wasn’t the shopping itself that I enjoyed so much, rather it was the memories of shopping for groceries with my (now-deceased) mom when I was a little kid. I sat in the kid basket near the cart handle and “helped” mom shop. She entertained me and fended off old ladies and curious people from touching my hair (ginger since birth, and lived in Tennessee where people had apparently never seen a redhead before).

Certain smells in grocery stores still take me back to my childhood. Like the smell of the pickle/condiment aisle: there’s always a faint sharp lingering odor from a long-ago broken jar of pickles. I hated the smell as a kid and still do but still go down that aisle. Fried chicken, my favorite food as a little kid, from the deli always made me hungry. And that blast of AC on a summer day as you walked through the automatic door. All of it is a time capsule back to being safe and happy with mom.

R6 I love grocery shopping also, and it also reminds me of mom. She now uses Instacart. True story. Lmao

Random thoughts:

Page 9: Lovely... poopy diapers all over the canned goods.

Page 10: WTH? A black man at the counter with whites in 1956? Was this in Europe?

Page 11: Clearly bodybuilder Jack Delinger was cruising the aisles for confirmed bachelors

Page 19: So Spanish Harlem denizens did their grocery shopping underground between subways and sewers?

R7: I do too! But every once in a while, if I have to set foot in a grocery store, ugh, the memories of Mom hit me like it was yesterday.

On it! ^

R8 in places like LA and NYC black men and white men say in the same spaces in the 50s.

The whole country wasn’t the same.

Whoever wrote the article is stupid. Plastic bags did NOT rise to prominence in the 1970's in Supermarkets. They were generally not available at all then . It was strictly paper bags in those days with no handles. You always had to carry the bags underneath- a nuisance. It wasn't until the LATE 1980's the cashier would say to you- Paper or Plastic? By the late 1990's the plastic bag had replaced paper bags in most supermarkets except places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

R12 maybe where you’re from. In NYC 70s, plastic bags were already being used.

[quote]A curious toddler reaches for the stacked selection of Campbell's Tomato Soup.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[quote]and the quality of items were so much better.

No, they were not.

In the early part of the last century, there was no control of ingredients and labeling. You never knew what you arere really getting.

And the mid part of that century featured orange juice that came frozen in a can and didn't taste like orange juice, shitty white bread, shitty coffee, and limp vegetables in cans. The food available now is MUCH better.

R15 ummmm all those items you mentioned were alternatives. The good stuff was available also.

Also, all those shit items you mentioned are still available today as well.

Stupid comment.

It’s just nice to see grocery store shelves fully stocked, even if it’s just a picture. With the second round of hoarding due to supply chain issues about to start, we won’t see anything like these pics until next year.

Where are her clutch pearls to protest the high prices?

Compare to today, r3...

Everything was better in MY day! I loved shopping at my town's "Whites Only" supermarket

[quote]ummmm all those items you mentioned were alternatives. The good stuff was available also.

Rubbish.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s and fresh orange juice was very hard to come by. And a cup of coffee that didn't taste burned in "instant" was, too. And I never had decent bread until I went to France. I never tasted fresh pineapple until I went to Hawaii. And my parents were well off.

Some of you mainline nostalgia like it was opium.

[quote]Love how simple supermarkets were back then, and the quality of items were so much better.

Oh, dear.

[quote]I love the Ralph's sign

No apostrophe in RALPHS. It was founded by a man whose surname was Ralphs.

R21 no, it really wasn’t. Maybe wherever you’re from orange juice didn’t exist, but elsewhere I can assure you we could fine fresh Orange juice

Here is Nirvana for grocery nostalgia. I just checked and was amazed to see the author is still updating it.

[quote]but elsewhere I can assure you we could fine fresh Orange juice

Sure, Jan.

[quote]By the 1980s, people started to realize that the “healthy alternative” was not so healthy. This is when “Not From Concentrate” OJ emerged, the kind that many of us have in our homes today. Being a supposedly a “healthier” option, “Not From Concentrate” OJ soon became the most popular choice…

R27- Is that a photo of that bitch who had a pie thrown at her face in 1977?

R28 Yes, it is unfortunate that that cunt is in the link.

R27 cool. The most popular option means there were other options…. Thanks for proving my point.

And now most people go out looking like homeless people. Or in their pajamas. Depressing af.

Yes. I remember when you dressed nice to go to the supermarket, or at least were presentable. Idk why but it was considered an outing.

[quote]The most popular option means there were other options…

Of course, there were other options, you idiot. Anyone who wished to spend the time could squeeze an orange. The point was that few people wanted to go to that effort. Unlike you, who devotes his life to typing nonsense.

[quote] [R8] in places like LA and NYC black men and white men say in the same spaces in the 50s.

Even in the South, they would have been in the same grocery store. Black people would be expected to be served last, but they would still both shop there. That was the thing about Woolworths, black people could shop there, they could even buy food at the lunch counter, but they weren't allowed to sit down at the counter and eat, they had to get it to go.

The whole thing is very strange and hard to understand, and I am Southern.

Give Texas time, R34. They're working on making that state law, too.

I like the scene in DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) when the murderous lovers meet up in the supermarket. The shelves are low enough they can talk to each other from adjacent aisles.

Stupid article. They have non-supermarket things like Walton's and Target. And they show Ralphs as part of Kroger's expansion--Kroger didn't acquire Ralphs until 1998.

There was a long period of time ( the 40s thru the 70s) when food manufacturers threw all kinds of chemical favor enhancers and artificial sweeteners in processed food with very little pushback from the govt because they thought they were safe.

I had no idea Cheez-its were around in the 30's.

No love for Groceteria.com, linked above? It's a terrific niche blog that's been around for 22 years.

R40 ok? And? We are discussing grocery stores already. We don’t need to show love to a website.

R40, I liked it. Thanks for posting the link. R41, grease fire, die in it, etc.

"Page 19: So Spanish Harlem denizens did their grocery shopping underground between subways and sewers? "

Yes, but they closed down after it was found there was a direct connection between underground supermarkets and the C.H.U.D. epidemic in the late 80s.

Re: orange juice.

Real orange juice was available even in the 50s but it was canned, not in a jar or carton as it is today.

Re: plastic bags.

I do not remember them in supermarkets in the 1970s. And I lived in Manhattan. It was brown paper bags.

Canned Florida Orange Juice 1946

IMO, I prefer the grocery stores of today. The store hours are better, now, as well.

Those are great photos at OP, but not necessarily candid photos.

My mom said that, in the old days, you could smoke in the supermarket. She said that there were ashtrays at the ends of the aisles.

You used to be able to smoke anywhere.

The hours are better? How about people like you get up and go during the available hours so others don’t have to be there working until fucking 2am because you don’t wanna go earlier.

Midol was probably available.

@r27, in the background of that picture is Bob Green, Anita Bryant's closeted Gay husband who she divorced in 1980. These closet case evangelists are almost a parody

[quote]She entertained me and fended off old ladies and curious people from touching my hair (ginger since birth

Liar, you gave yourself away by saying someone, ANYONE, would want to touch a ginger

[quote]I grew up in the 60s and 70s and fresh orange juice was very hard to come by. And a cup of coffee that didn't taste burned in "instant" was, too. And I never had decent bread until I went to France. I never tasted fresh pineapple until I went to Hawaii. And my parents were well off.

That is just wrong. Coffee was generally perked then, it was the method NOT the coffee. Fresh OJ was available. It's just that fruit had seasons, so if it was out of season it was hard to find. And anyone can make good bread. I lived in Chicago and again, all fruit was available when it was in season, including pineapples, mangos, coconuts etc.

[quote] That was the thing about Woolworths, black people could shop there, they could even buy food at the lunch counter, but they weren't allowed to sit down at the counter and eat, they had to get it to go. The whole thing is very strange and hard to understand.

Not that hard to understand. Woolworth wanted their money, but not their company.

[quote] Canned Florida Orange Juice 1946

Did they squeeze out the juice before putting the oranges in the can?

Elaine at 6:00...

Canned OJ tasted horrible.

Hey Doll...

Grocery store dishes...

My mom had a set of china she bought from Consumer's market piece by piece. Nobody was allowed to use them, they just sat in the cupboard gathering dust.

No one's brought up this classic yet?

If you're into retail history another good resource (in addition to Groceteria) is Pleasant Family Shopping. Lots of great photos. The blog hasn't been updated in several years, but there's more recent stuff on the Facebook page.

Meat, positioned next to Crax... I think I like the product placement philosophy of the supermarket in OP's post-link photo. :-)

r19 Precisely! I'm not sure of the words that describe what I have in my mind but it seems as though industrial design was much more creative in the past, much more arty, much more aesthetically pleasing. Things today seem to be much more utilitarian and less decorous. I wish we had more art and more beauty and less function.

"Some of you mainline nostalgia like it was opium."

I read that as "malign," LOL.

That bodybuilder's wife looks as though she didn't want him anywhere near her to me.

When I was a kid supermarkets were open six days a week, with evening hours on two of those. My childhood supermarket memories where the coffee grinders at the end of each check out at A&P, and the mysterious item sold at Acme: scrapple.

I don't think the gals used pencils to dial up the Green Stamps though - ha ha!

More grocery store dishes...

Be effective!

Nice nostalgic thread

None of your orange juice was squeezed out of an orange into a carton. You'd be surprised at the amount of processing that goes on between the picking of the orange and your pouring it into your glass. "Flavor packs" are involved.

Don't you just hate it when this happens?

You all used to fight over whether to use your Green Stamps to buy a sewing machine or rowboat.

I got to stick them in the books and was able to get my mother a clothes hamper for Christmas, r71.

My mother collected a complete set of those "Old Curiosity Shop" dishes, cups and saucers shown at R66. We used them all the time.

Not supermarket, but my mother has a set of Shell steak knives.

What about Enco/Esso tiger glasses?

1983 was fun.

The Game

R74 R75 The best things like that was the Arby's Christmas Goblets, we still use them every Christmas.

Everyone was so thin and neatly dressed. Around the 80's it all went to shit.

R78, you mean the Winter Crystal Stemware, used by noted entertainer Lauren Bacall?

R60 Thanks for posting the obligatory Joan Crawford clip!

R80 We have that set has well, but I prefer the ones I posted.

You went properly attired.

R83 They might have been properly attired, but I can't stand people who throw things so haphazardly in their shopping carts.

R83 do you stack and arrange the items in your cart?

R85 Pretty much, I keep cold and dry separate and bread is placed in the child seat.

r84=Sue Ann Nivens

The ORIGINAL (1967) version of "Supermarket Sweep."

Park and Shop looks fun...

The normally classy David Susskind produced Supermarket Sweep. They usually were at a Food Fair, usually in some place like Paramus, NJ.

A lot of this article was fiction. First of all, really until after WWII, people didn't shop for all their things in one store, except in small towns, where there was a "general store". In cities, people went to the butcher, the baker, the fruit market, the fishmonger, and other places that sold individual items. Anywhere outside of big cities, fresh "produce" was limited year-round to what was available (In season) at that time, and even in big cities, there were many items that were only available in season. There wasn't international trade in fresh fruits and vegetables until maybe the 1960s. So things that were out of season in the north or east had to come from Florida or California. The only exceptions were staple foods that could keep for a long time in root cellars (potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage). So there would be a two-week season of asparagus, a three week season of strawberries and cherries, a short season of corn on the cob, tomatoes, and green beans. There were canned vegetables of course, and people bought them during the winter and spring, but lots of people didn't even think about eating vegetables in the winter. A lot of people grew their own stuff in their backyards too, except, again, in the big cities and preserved it by home canning and by having root cellars in their houses or on their property. .

Most orange juice sold, even now, is pasteurized to prevent spoilage, so it is closer to canned orange juice than fresh orange juice, but even those bottled and boxed versions that we buy now as "fresh orange juice" are really not - and frankly, it could be dangerous to drink something like that if it were bottled fresh. . As someone said above, there's a lot of chemistry involved to convince the consumer that it tastes close to fresh squeezed orange juice. (It does not but it's a lot closer than canned orange juice was).

Frozen food came into its own in a big way in the 50s. It was a revolution, especially in vegetables, and now people living outside of big cities could have access to vegetables that were acceptable in taste and texture year round. Frozen broccoli is a lot closer to fresh than canned. But most people rushed to buy the newest fad, which was the frozen dinner, and there was no great effort expended to make the food delicious or carefully seasoned. Just loaded up with salt. No garlic or herbs of course, because they couldn't risk offending the palates fo the unadventurous American eater. .

Shoppin' for a man...

R90 people seem to forget, you use things like Supermarket Sweep to finance your "classy" programs.

[quote]Thanks for posting the obligatory Joan Crawford clip!

Does anyone know where I could buy a red weirdo?

R2

That type of supermarket cart was a compromise for children too old/large for the more common variety.

A toddler old enough to know about tricycles probably was too large for seating area of other style of shopping carts.

More pics, but also some duplicates.

My favourite:

[quote]The guys at Bored Panda have collected a series of vintage photographs showing grocery stores of America in various different time periods.

Various AND different time periods!

My mother used to shop at this Power store, in Toronto, pictured on opening day in 1953. ‘More power to your food dollar!’

I love the natty bow ties on the bag boys.

What really changed "grocery" store landscape post WWII was rise of car culture and flight to suburbs.

Previously most living in town were limited in grocery shopping to what could be carried (or wheeled in a cart) home. As the automobile took hold and families moved to suburbs housewives or anyone else could purchase enough food for the duration. Nice shop boys or men helped load things into car, and Milady was off home.

When she arrived home the vast new world of modern appliances like huge new refrigerators and freezers gave places to store all that food. Not to mention kitchens with lots of cabinets, a pantry and other storage space.

Didn't want to go out shopping? Department stores and other places had "food/freezer plans" where each month enough food would be sent to your home to feed a small army for a month.

Food is cheaper now. More variety. Shops are open longer. And I love self-checkouts.

R96 Great picture! No way in hell that would advertise nowadays.. moms happily promoting sugar.

R101 said "food is cheaper now"

Yes, and much of it is garbage. Produce flown in from other countries before it is ripe. Meat and poultry full of hormones and fed god only knows what. Then there are endless shelves of processed and prepared meals full of sodium, nitrates and again god only knows what else. And carbs, carbs, carbs.....

R102

Bad as soda was (and still is) sugar content likely pales in comparison to the various breakfast cereals mothers then bought for their children.

Grocery stores? I woudn't know about them

I prefer the diversity of a farmer's market...

I got a set of Funk and Wagnall encyclopedias for Christmas when I was a kid. Mom bought one letter a week at the grocery store. Except for XYZ. They were in one book. Best gift ever.