How have grocery stores changed since you were a kid?

[Smugpugmug]

We can have beer up to 5.9% but wine and hard alcohol is not allowed to be sold in grocery stores including clubs like Sam's and Costco but we do have plenty of liquor stores that sell beer (higher abv content allowed than a grocery store), wine and hard alcohol. Technically that's probably easier to just go to the liquor store than to go across the state lines to Missouri to a grocery store but there are a few unique situations.

One of which is a specific Hy-Vee location where the grocer store is on the Kansas side and they put a Hy-Vee wine and spirits location (where normally it would be a section in the Hy-Vee store) on the Missouri side (who doesn't have the same alcohol laws like we do and is less strict) just across the street (the street being State Line Road), the black line is the state line

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Where I live, no alcohol is allowed to be sold in a grocery store. The only thing allowed is non alcoholic beer. One of the Wegmans stores near me did open a liquor store that is located above the store (this Wegmans has a parking garage so it's located on the top floor of the garage), but the liquor store is NOT owned by Wegmans and they had to jump through an insane amount of hoops to even open in the first place.

I don't really mind going to a liquor store for beer. I tend to buy beer from local breweries vs brands that typically are found in a grocery store.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Where I live, no alcohol is allowed to be sold in a grocery store. The only thing allowed is non alcoholic beer. One of the Wegmans stores near me did open a liquor store that is located above the store (this Wegmans has a parking garage so it's located on the top floor of the garage), but the liquor store is NOT owned by Wegmans and they had to jump through an insane amount of hoops to even open in the first place.

I don't really mind going to a liquor store for beer. I tend to buy beer from local breweries vs brands that typically are found in a grocery store.

I think the last time I bought beer at a grocery store was like going to the Lake of the Ozarks (in Missouri). I prefer the liquor store especially because it can be informational to talk to the people there about a particular beer. I go for local beer too but also a variety and what's at the grocery store isn't variety...well of the beer I'd like

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I definitely remember being around before self checkouts. I was thinking too the whole thing seemed a lot bigger to me (I guess I was small). Seems like any of your mom&pop stores are tiny now in reality. I am guessing back in the day they just seemed bigger because of perception. I also remember glass pop bottles were a thing.

 

[barkley]

thought of this thread as I walked through the store today-

THEN-
one dairy section
NOW-
two sections-one dairy/one 'non dairy dairy'

THEN-
one produce section
NOW-
two distinct produce 'regions'-organic and non organic

THEN-
the meat counter
NOW-
the meat 'region'-regular meat section, organic/grass fed/ethically raised....section and meat free meat section (chickenless nuggetts, faux ground beef...)

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

This is a great post @tvguy. Brings back a lot of memories.

One I thought of, our grocery store used to sell dinner ware, plates, bowls, serving pieces but only one piece would be offered each week. So you could buy plates one week, bowls the next, etc. My Mom would never get an entire set, so lots of mismatched dinner ware in our house.

I remember when generics were first introduced. The packaging was a plain white box with black lettering.

Our store used to have bulk bins with scoops and bags. Cookies, nuts, rice, candy were in the bins. My favorite were the windmill shaped cookies.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Most of our old grocery stores from my childhood have turned into CVS stores. In a town nearby, they still have a tiny little Acme store that doesn't have a huge selection but surprisingly it's good enough when I need to stop on my way home from work.

I remember sticker price tags and the receipt would be just a long list of prices and unless it was something unusually expensive or cheap, you had no idea which price was for which item.

By the time I was a teen, our Pathmark had an attached parking garage which was awesome in the rain. I did get their check cashing card so I could write checks and not worry if I had enough cash on me. It had to have my address and phone number pre-printed on the check too.

We had baggers but no one ever brought the cart to our car. We were always impressed with that when we went to FL.

We still have a live lobster tank and they'll even steam them for free while you keep shopping. They're not huge but my dad likes them.

We have some self checkout lanes but still plenty of cashiers too. Dh prefers to use a cashier so as to not put someone out of work. Alcohol is not for sale in grocery stores or convenience stores. Our Wegman's has an attached liquor store. BJ's and Costco can sell it but if you go early on a Sunday, it's all covered until a certain time.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Every store used to have a live lobster tank. I haven't seen one in years.

One of the two grocery stores I regularly shop at still has a tank.

My favorite were the windmill shaped cookies.

Oh, my grandmother always bought those!

 

[tvguy]

Where I live, no alcohol is allowed to be sold in a grocery store. The only thing allowed is non alcoholic beer. One of the Wegmans stores near me did open a liquor store that is located above the store (this Wegmans has a parking garage so it's located on the top floor of the garage), but the liquor store is NOT owned by Wegmans and they had to jump through an insane amount of hoops to even open in the first place.

I don't really mind going to a liquor store for beer. I tend to buy beer from local breweries vs brands that typically are found in a grocery store.

They have a full aisle of alcohol in my chain grocery store. And every gas station and mini market around here sells alcohol. It always causes a ruckus when someone wants to open a new mini-market and some say okay, but only if they don't sell alcohol. Of course that won't happen. And the reality is, those mini marts keep opening up because there is enough business to keep them all profitable.
One thing you won't see in a grocery store here anymore. tobacco products. Not by law, but the grocery stores just decided tobacco was not worth it. But the mini marts do sell tobacco.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I also remember glass pop bottles were a thing.

Before the standard 2-liter plastic bottles became popular, soda mostly came in smaller glass bottles or cans. Bottles were sold as 6 or 8 packs in cardboard packages with handles (like current 6-packs of bottled beer). I remember those being stacked and separated by rolled up sheets of plastic with the brand name logo, that were attached to the shelving. I would sometimes play with those hard plastic rolls as a kid. Anyone else remember that?

One thing you won't see in a grocery store here anymore. tobacco products. Not by law, but the grocery stores just decided tobacco was not worth it. But the mini marts do sell tobacco.

Yes, there used to be packs of cigarettes right by the checkout, next to the candy bars and magazines. Some stores had cigarette vending machines. And people smoked in the store while shopping.

 

[barkley]

I remember when generics were first introduced. The packaging was a plain white box with black lettering.

generic cheese puffs were SO superior to brand name

 

[DaisyDuck001]

There were coin-operated photocopy machines in a lot of grocery stores.

To get the best price, you needed a sale or a paper coupon. There were no store apps or store loyalty cards.

Bar codes existed but were not yet being used. There were no scanning devices.

The many flavored but unsweetened soda varieties available today did not yet exist.

 

[DodgerGirl]

It's amazing and surprising how grocery stores used to be compared to what they have become nowadays. When I was a little girl every grocery store used to have cashiers that were friendly and knew you by name and when my grandfather and I would go to the grocery store to shop the cashiers knew my grandfather and they would sometimes strike friendly conversations with him and in fact some of the cashiers became good friends with my grandfather until he moved away and to me it was like Cheers where everybody knew your name. Another thing I do remember about grocery stores were these electronic coupon machines that hung next to products and you stood next to one the machine would automatically put a coupon and you stuck it into your purse and I used to love those machines and when they would release coupons I would put a lot of them in my waist pouch and it was so cool. Another thing that grocery stores did but I think they failed was they used to have Nintendo Switch like devices attached to the shopping carts that allowed shoppers to search for items and then they had a button "similar to what hospital patients use to call nurses" and you called a clerk for help if you couldn't find the item in the store and that was a neat innovention in my eyes.. But I think why grocery stores have become different today is that they want to invent new gadgets and ways to help customers do easier shopping and since online grocery shopping is huge now grocery stores keep inventing these new ways to keep the stores in business because grocery stores do have amazing ways to keep customers shopping

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Before the standard 2-liter plastic bottles became popular, soda mostly came in smaller glass bottles or cans. Bottles were sold as 6 or 8 packs in cardboard packages with handles (like current 6-packs of bottled beer). I remember those being stacked and separated by rolled up sheets of plastic with the brand name logo, that were attached to the shelving. I would sometimes play with those hard plastic rolls as a kid. Anyone else remember that?


Yes, there used to be packs of cigarettes right by the checkout, next to the candy bars and magazines. Some stores had cigarette vending machines. And people smoked in the store while shopping.

We had glass 64-oz bottles of Pepsi with a paper-thin layer of styrofoam around the sides for a label. I just saw one in an old photo at my uncle's pool party. We used to pick at the styrofoam. Just because we could.

 

[BrianL]

There were coin-operated photocopy machines in a lot of grocery stores.

Good call on the photocopiers! I can remember popping in to a grocery store to make copies for school. Lots of places had them actually. I ran down to the little bodega once to run-off some D&D character sheets!

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

One of the two grocery stores I regularly shop at still has a tank.



Oh, my grandmother always bought those!

I have seen packages of windmill cookies at Dollar Tree.

 

[NYCgrrl]

When I was a child, more floor space was dedicated to the produce and meat departments. In the veggie area there were multiple varieties of potatoes, pears and yams, for example. Actual butchers custom cut meats and you could get 1/4 lb of anything behind the counter. Hardly any items in either aisle were wrapped in plastic and sampling was encouraged.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I have seen packages of windmill cookies at Dollar Tree.

The Archway brand cookies, including windmills, are still available in grocery stores around here.

 

[fla4fun]

We had a store called Gold Circle, which was kind of like a Super Target or Super Walmart except the grocery part was walled off separate from the rest of the store with an archway and a roll down gate. The grocery had different operating hours than the rest of the store. We also had a stand alone grocery store called Big Bear. I don’t remember the shopping experience being very different than what it is today, other than it all being paper bags. Gold Circle was one of the first stores to use UPC scanning at the checkout, while Big Bear cashiers had to enter the prices manually. I shop at Publix most of the time these days and they still have baggers who will take your cart to the car and load it for you. They have food scales in the produce section and if you need something special in the meat department they can cut it for you. I actually get better service there than my mom did when we were kids. She had to take the groceries to the car and load them herself and, with no cart corrals in the parking lot, she would return the cart to the store before we left.

 

[RedAngie]

By the time I was a teen, our Pathmark had an attached parking garage which was awesome in the rain. I did get their check cashing card so I could write checks and not worry if I had enough cash on me. It had to have my address and phone number pre-printed on the check too.

Pathmark at Route 70 and Brace Road in Cherry Hill, NJ? If so, that building was a store called Garwood before Pathmark, a type of discount store ala Walmart. After Garwood closed circa 1974, Pathmark took over but didn’t need the entire space so the far left of Garwood was turned into indoor parking. I liked parking in there, even on sunny days.

That Pathmark closed about 10 years before the whole chain went bankrupt. It turned into another discount place, a real junky job lots place. I think the building now is some type of medical facility.

Yes, I remember checks had to have at least your address printed on them, and you needed pre-approval (a card) to write checks.

 

[Moliphino]

Along the same lines it would be day of week and time of day it could be sold although this is due to laws changing. You'd see covers over the beer when it was not legally allowed to be sold. In our case only beer 5.9% and below can be sold at a grocery store (up until just before the pandemic it was only 3.2% beer). In the early 2000s you used to not be able to purchase on Sunday. Most places don't allow until 9am or so in a grocery store which was only done several years back (a restaurant can be as early as 6am), some are noon on Sunday for grocery store (the previous rule).

Yeah, my state used to have pretty puritanical laws about alcohol but they're relaxed a lot of them in the 2000s. Now we can buy alcohol on Sundays (but not on Christmas or Thanksgiving), order takeout drinks from restaurants (thanks Covid), and more.

One of our local grocery chains also owns a huge liquor store. When the state expanded how many liquor licenses a single entity can hold, they started putting mini liquor stores in some of their larger grocery stores (mini compared to the flagship store, the section is larger than many standalone liquor stores).