How have grocery stores changed since you were a kid?

[tvguy]

I was kind of taken back today at my chain grocery store, standing in the bottled water aisle. One side of an entire 50ish foot long aisle was just different containers and types of bottled water. When I was a kid growing up in the early 1960's, I bet the only bottled water you might fund in the grocery store was distilled water.
Got me thinking how much grocery stores have changed since I was a kid.
Some observations:
> Stores drew customers with their customer service, and their prices and quality of the meat and produce. Prices on almost everything else were set at the manufacturers suggested retail price by fair trade laws. No discount grocery stores. A bottle of Heinz Catsup was the same price everywhere, although stores could charge MORE than the manufacturers suggested retail price. When fair trade laws were revoked, prices dropped.

> Stores were tiny. We have a number of old Safeway stores here that are operating as other businesses now. About 20,000 square feet. Now grocery stores are 40,000 to 180,000 square feet in size

> No self check. A cashier rang up your purchases, and a bagger bagged them and took them to your car for you.

> All the meat was cut in house, and all the ground beef was ground in house. The butcher was happy to custom cut meat to your specifications. Asked today at the grocery store when they would be grinding up some more 93% lean ground beef. The "butcher" said they haven't ground beef in house for years, it all comes pre-packaged, and they hoped to have a shipment in tomorrow.

Anyone else have any observations from your grocery store experiences?

 

[sam_gordon]

Don't forget all of the added sales... clothing, household goods, toys, pharmacies and all of their related stuff.

 

[amcnj]

Paper bags instead of plastic, and now none. Many products came in either glass bottles, waxed cartons or cans. Many glass bottles had deposits that you got back when you returned them to the store. They don’t do that around here anymore.

Some sections in stores around here have shrunk (fresh produce, Italian), and others grown (Hispanic, frozen foods). The carts are usually plastic now, and I seem to get one with a bad wheel more often.

More prepared foods are available. Items are scanned via upc codes, versus having individual price tags or stamped prices on cans and a cashier ringing up each item. Stores have loyalty cards/accounts now to try and keep you coming back. In the past they sometimes had promotions where you got one book of an encyclopedia set or one piece of a dinner place setting each week to keep you returning.

 

[BrianL]

I remember when the stores were smaller. they used paper bags only. I remember when out local store first got barcode readers. Those did exist pripr to that - others stores had them, but our grocery store didn't. I remember the first "big" grocery store opening where tthey had conveyor belts. I also remember the old style carts where the basket was shallow and could flip up to be racked. I liked riding on the bottom of those!

 

[hardcorestitch]

I remember when the stores were smaller. they used paper bags only. I remember when out local store first got barcode readers. Those did exist pripr to that - others stores had them, but our grocery store didn't. I remember the first "big" grocery store opening where tthey had conveyor belts. I also remember the old style carts where the basket was shallow and could flip up to be racked. I liked riding on the bottom of those!

And now Wegmans is back to the old days of paper bags only.

I can certainly say self checkouts have changed… some are now gone in the stores near me…

 

[Meriweather]

no bar codes.
My mother was a checker and I tested her every week on the sales that were going on.
no express lanes

 

[Christine]

no bar codes.
My mother was a checker and I tested her every week on the sales that were going on.
no express lanes

Yes, everything was keyed in. All paper bags until we got worried about "the trees." Now we're back to paper.

Stocking of the store mainly happened overnight so that when you got there upon opening, it was all there for you.

Meat always cut in house and you got to know the meat cutters/butchers, even in large chains.

No pharmacies in the grocery store.

 

[barkley]

blue chip or green chip stamps as an enticement are long gone

then there were MUCH more limited frozen food sections-primarily veggies, juice, ice cream and ice milk (the cheaper than ice cream alternative) a handful of banquet frozen meal or pot pie items

there were far fewer choices and varieties of fresh produce

much better staffing at check-out. be it a smaller store with only 2 counters or a bigger one with 8 or 10-all were always open and staffed unless you went later in the evening when it was only a few lanes open.

> Stores were tiny. We have a number of old Safeway stores here that are operating as other businesses now. About 20,000 square feet. Now grocery stores are 40,000 to 180,000 square feet in size

yup-i worked in a government building that was an old safeway. the younger staff found it hard to believe that such a 'small space' had been a 'supermarket'.

> No self check. A cashier rang up your purchases, and a bagger bagged them and took them to your car for you.

we have one local chain that still does that but specifically for people using motorized shopping carts. they offer to come out to the car to load and return the cart for the shopper.

> All the meat was cut in house, and all the ground beef was ground in house. The butcher was happy to custom cut meat to your specifications.

Safeway, albertsons, the Kroger owned store and most if not all of our local chains still have in-house butchers that will do custom requests (before we bought a grinder attachment for our KitchenAid I had them do meats/sausage, and i've bought roasts on sale to have them cut into stew meat/dh has had special cuts done for bbq). Walmart is about the only place around us that strictly has pre-packaged meats.

I bet the only bottled water you might fund in the grocery store was distilled water.

I remember mom buying it to use in her steam iron (we had hard water) but yeah-no water aisle and fewer sodas. I remember being limited to coke, dr pepper, rc, 7-up, pepsi, nehi and shasta sodas (ginger ale was really hit and miss to find). I miss nehi blue cream soda (it looked like you were drinking windex).

stamped prices on cans

I thought I had stained a Formica counter with ink at one point and a co-worker said to try hairspray to remove it-she said she had worked at a grocery store and that's how they removed the old stamped prices from the cans when they had to change them (it worked!)

 

[barkley]

And now Wegmans is back to the old days of paper bags only.

I noticed recently shopping curbside pickup locally that if you check 'i will bring my own bags' or 'no bags' so as not to get charged the per bag fee in our state that they get brought to the car in paper bags (news to me cuz I normally shop across the state line where there is no plastic bag law).

 

[Southernmiss]

Remember prices written with wax pencil?

Security was mirrors hanging in the corners

 

[citruscurtis]

Remember prices written with wax pencil?

Security was mirrors hanging in the corners

1975...my first apartment...wax pencil and do it your self pricing....the beginning of bulk purchase and discount section

 

[citruscurtis]

Toys in noodles....toys in detergent and the gumball machine...1960s....and mechanical horse outside....and post cereal Disney Pooh

 

[citruscurtis]

....and promotional paper advertising in the fruit and vegetables section.... found much of it in estate basements....1978 Christmas night went to Oregon Store to tear down overkill Christmas paper

 

[Travel60]

When I was a kid, stores were not open on Sunday (blue laws). We somehow got all our shopping done and cars gassed up on Saturday.

 

[barkley]

the gumball machine...1960s

my son asked me recently why I snagged a couple of rolls of pennies at the bank and I reminded him that my 1940's wooden sided gumball machine (actually it dispensed 'chicle treets' 2 for a penny) uses pennies and I want to make sure there's a supply in it for reuse decades to come (I remember in the 60's riding around with my dad when he refilled gumball machines as a side business)

 

[citruscurtis]

Batman ring could only be purchased in the gumball machines
WHAM!!!!

 

[tvguy]

When I was a kid, stores were not open on Sunday (blue laws). We somehow got all our shopping done and cars gassed up on Saturday.

My daughter moved to Germany a year ago and most stores are closed on Sunday. And she finds it annoying that grocery stores in particular don't open until 8 or 9 am and close by 8 pm. She is used to grocery stores being open 6 am until 11 pm.

 

[LilyWDW]

When I was a kid, stores were not open on Sunday (blue laws). We somehow got all our shopping done and cars gassed up on Saturday.

Thankfully they changed that.

 

[disneyseniors]

I remember the more expensive grocery chain stores offered Green Stamps to lure people in. I loved using those books of Green stamps to get nice things.
Our small town had one grocery store, but there was a bigger town close by. They lured us to shop by offering quality heavy duty glasses and drinkware. They also had the same quality salad bowl. You might get 2 large glasses a week, but had to come back for more. They also had smaller specialty drink glasses (I don't know what they were for but they looked cute). THAT promotion got me hooked. It's been 50 plus years and those well made glasses and salad bowl are still as crystal clear as they were back in the 70's. I use them every day and they get put in the dishwasher. I doubt if the stores today offered such things that they would not be up to that quality.

 

[tvguy]

I remember the more expensive grocery chain stores offered Green Stamps to lure people in. I loved using those books of Green stamps to get nice things.
Our small town had one grocery store, but there was a bigger town close by. They lured us to shop by offering quality heavy duty glasses and drinkware. They also had the same quality salad bowl. You might get 2 large glasses a week, but had to come back for more. They also had smaller specialty drink glasses (I don't know what they were for but they looked cute). THAT promotion got me hooked. It's been 50 plus years and those well made glasses and salad bowl are still as crystal clear as they were back in the 70's. I use them every day and they get put in the dishwasher. I doubt if the stores today offered such things that they would not be up to that quality.

While we did have S & H Green Stamps, Blue Chip stamps were more common here. Blue Chip had a big redemption store at the mall here. I swear everyone I knew as a kid had TV Trays they got for Blue Chip stamps.