How have grocery stores changed since you were a kid?

[disneyseniors]

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.

Wow, so you still are able to get stamps to use for household items? I haven't heard of that in ages. You are lucky

 

[barkley]

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.

when the TV show 'that 70's show' was on I was tickled to see how many items in the Forman home were blue chip stamp 'exclusives' that my mom and many of our neighbors had in their homes from the 60's onward-certain print bedspreads, specific cookie jar, 'fine' art 'paintings'...everyone of us had them, maybe in a different color scheme (the burnt orange vs. the avocado or dark brown choice) but the identical patterns.

 

[BrianL]

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.

I think the stamps varied regionally. We had "Quality" stamps, and you did get a bunch from the grocery store and pasted them into books. My grandmother at one point worked at the store where you would go cash them in for available merchandise.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, so you still are able to get stamps to use for household items? I haven't heard of that in ages. You are lucky

No, key word in my post. "had". Been decades since I have seen them, however, it appears both companies still are in operation running customer incentive programs for stores, but those incentive programs are no long stamps. I guess they provide the software and support for those rewards cards so many stores have.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Biggest thing I miss are baggers who would happily run out groceries to the car for a tip. Trader Joes attempts to do with when not too busy but another store here in Massachusetts, Market Basket, has baggers now. I don't go a ton but the past few times it seems like the store is using bagging as an opportunity to train and integrate special needs young adults into the workforce and it's nice to see.

Also, where did all the food scales go so I could weigh my apples and bananas? I haven't seen scales in a while.

 

[sam_gordon]

Biggest thing I miss are baggers who would happily run out groceries to the car for a tip. Trader Joes attempts to do with when not too busy but another store here in Massachusetts, Market Basket, has baggers now. I don't go a ton but the past few times it seems like the store is using bagging as an opportunity to train and integrate special needs young adults into the workforce and it's nice to see.

Also, where did all the food scales go so I could weigh my apples and bananas? I haven't seen scales in a while.

We still have scales at our Meijer.

I remember a Kroger when I was growing up, they bagged, put the bags in the cart, then brought the cart out to a "loading area". You went and got your car, pulled up to the loading area, and they loaded your bags (don't remember how you indicated which cart was yours).

I spent ~a year being a stock boy for a very small grocery store. Stocked, bagged, brought stuff out to the cars, changed prices (remember price guns? I don't know why, but those were fun!), and of course cleaned.

 

[tvguy]

Also, where did all the food scales go so I could weigh my apples and bananas? I haven't seen scales in a while.

My chain grocery store and Walmart all have scales in the produce section. I know Target doesn't even has scales at the checkouts. They decided upgrading the checkouts with scales when they added the grocery department was too expensive so apples and bananas and all produce are all priced "per" item, not per pound.

 

[RedAngie]

Yogurt used to be a tiny section in most supermarkets when I was a kid, maybe two or three shelves in a four-foot section. Now it seems half the dairy aisle is yogurt.

I remember express lanes (10 items or fewer) way back when. And one large market (Pathmark) had a few “Bag Your Own” staffed registers.

Many supermarkets closed by 7 or 8 pm, with only Fridays until 9 or 10 pm being the exception. Even when they started opening on Sundays, hours were short, like 10 am to 5 pm.

In the frozen section there were many cans of juice concentrate. Now there are few. And there was a dessert product labeled “Ice Milk.”

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I think a lot of younger people would be amazed at how small the stores used to be! The carts were smaller too. I don't remember ever pushing the grocery cart to our car either. The cashier would ask the bagger what the cart # was, give us a small piece of paper with that # and then we'd drive up , hand it to an employee and they would get our cart and load those bags ( paper only) in the trunk or the back of the station wagon!

 

[RedAngie]

Oh, and at many urban supermarkets, you couldn’t bring the cart to your car in the parking lot. There were 4 foot tall metal poles between the sidewalk and parking lot to deter theft.

My mother and I would stand outside with the cart while my father brought the car to the loading area. Enterprising neighborhood kids offered to “watch your cart” for a tip if you came alone.

No supermarket that I went to offered a loading service.

 

[Skippy918]

Oh, and at many urban supermarkets, you couldn’t bring the cart to your car in the parking lot. There were 4 foot tall metal poles between the sidewalk and parking lot to deter theft.

My mother and I would stand outside with the cart while my father brought the car to the loading area. Enterprising neighborhood kids offered to “watch your cart” for a tip if you came alone.

No supermarket that I went to offered a loading service.

I remember this. I lived in NYC and you couldn’t take your cart to the car. We’d either all grab a few bags or dad would get the car and bring to the front.

I also remember when cashiers had to punch in each item prior to barcodes. No credit card readers either so you had to have enough cash on you. I remember the few times we had to put stuff back because we didn’t have enough money on hand. My dad was really good with doing mental math so he would actually add up the groceries and get the amount right.

 

[tvguy]

Yogurt used to be a tiny section in most supermarkets when I was a kid, maybe two or three shelves in a four-foot section. Now it seems half the dairy aisle is yogurt.

I remember express lanes (10 items or fewer) way back when. And one large market (Pathmark) had a few “Bag Your Own” staffed registers.

Many supermarkets closed by 7 or 8 pm, with only Fridays until 9 or 10 pm being the exception. Even when they started opening on Sundays, hours were short, like 10 am to 5 pm.

In the frozen section there were many cans of juice concentrate. Now there are few. And there was a dessert product labeled “Ice Milk.”

The "Lucky" supermarket chain used to advertise "Threes a crowd". Anytime there were more than 3 people in line at a checkout, they would open an additional check stand and would keep opening more if more than three people were still in line until all the checkouts were open. No self checks in those days. My regular market has a 10 times or less checkout, but I have never seen it open. We shop early Sunday mornings and the 7 self checks, and the ADA compliant check stand are the only things open and I don't think they have more than one checker in the entire store at that time of day, and THEY also have to deal with any issues at the self checks.
Oh, and Ice Milk is the only frozen dessert my mom would buy.

 

[tvguy]

Oh, and at many urban supermarkets, you couldn’t bring the cart to your car in the parking lot. There were 4 foot tall metal poles between the sidewalk and parking lot to deter theft.

My mother and I would stand outside with the cart while my father brought the car to the loading area. Enterprising neighborhood kids offered to “watch your cart” for a tip if you came alone.

No supermarket that I went to offered a loading service.

THAT I have never seen. You could always take your cart to your car. Even now you can, and they have those special wheels on the carts so the cart can't be taken out of the parking lot.

 

[RedAngie]

I remember this. I lived in NYC and you couldn’t take your cart to the car. We’d either all grab a few bags or dad would get the car and bring to the front.

I also remember when cashiers had to punch in each item prior to barcodes. No credit card readers either so you had to have enough cash on you. I remember the few times we had to put stuff back because we didn’t have enough money on hand. My dad was really good with doing mental math so he would actually add up the groceries and get the amount right.

Many people paid with a check those days too. I don’t remember the criteria for acceptance. Maybe we had to fill out an application.

 

[tvguy]

Many people paid with a check those days too. I don’t remember the criteria for acceptance. Maybe we had to fill out an application.

If you wrote a check they usually asked to see your Drivers License, and put the DL number on your check. I think they put the amount of the actual purchase on the check too as many people wrote a check for $25 or $50 over the purchase total to get cash back. No ATMs in those days, so it saved a lot of people a trip to the bank for cash.

 

[barkley]

The "Lucky" supermarket chain used to advertise "Threes a crowd".

I remember customers chanting 'threes a crowd' as soon as there were 3 people in line our lucky's store was one of the former 'alpha beta' grocery stores so locally we all referred to it as 'lucky betas' (like back in the day when people who went to the original 'rayleys' stores referred to them as 'tom's store').

THAT I have never seen. You could always take your cart to your car. Even now you can, and they have those special wheels on the carts so the cart can't be taken out of the parking lot.

a couple of years ago all the dollar stores in our area made it so you can't take the carts outside the physical store-they have big metal poles that extend upward so you cant get them out the door. those locking wheel carts can be a pain if you're in a larger parking lot and don't get close parking to the store-we have one Walmart that eats up 50% of the parking area in one lot but shoppers inevitably spill over to the entirely connected-all one lot-spaces nearer the eateries, GameStop and such-stupid carts must be programmed to lock at the point Walmart's official lot ends

 

[tvguy]

I remember customers chanting 'threes a crowd' as soon as there were 3 people in line our lucky's store was one of the former 'alpha beta' grocery stores so locally we all referred to it as 'lucky betas' (like back in the day when people who went to the original 'rayleys' stores referred to them as 'tom's store').

a couple of years ago all the dollar stores in our area made it so you can't take the carts outside the physical store-they have big metal poles that extend upward so you cant get them out the door. those locking wheel carts can be a pain if you're in a larger parking lot and don't get close parking to the store-we have one Walmart that eats up 50% of the parking area in one lot but shoppers inevitably spill over to the entirely connected-all one lot-spaces nearer the eateries, GameStop and such-stupid carts must be programmed to lock at the point Walmart's official lot ends

A friend tells a great story about her parents from out of state coming to visit her in her college apartment . Her mom insisted that she not join a sorority. Her mom picks up her check book and says "you promised you would not join a sorority" Friend says "what makes you think I joined a sorority?" Mom replies "all these checks you wrote to Alpha Beta". "Mom, that's the GROCERY STORE". Entire rest of the time her parents were there, every time they passed an Alpha Beta, her DAD would remark...."look, there's your sorority" At which point her mom would hit him!!!!!

 

[princesscinderella]

I remember the freezer section being reach in open air freezers with a thick layer of frost around the top. As kids we liked to scrape off the snow The upright door style freezers we have now didn’t exist.

 

[BayouQueen]

Fresh food now covers a really small area. There are mostly aisles of prepared, unrefrigerated things. Also, there is almost no meat on the bone sold anymore. I asked the "butcher" why and he said it's demand -- nobody wants the bones. But I just figure it's because they don't do the meat cutting in-house anymore and they make more money selling bones for fertilizer or broth. I miss my bone-in pot roasts.

 

[AnnaS]

We did not have robots moving around/going up the aisles looking for spills.