Vintage grocery store photos from throughout the 20th century.

More....

Any red weirdos?

Fascinating. When did we Americans get soooo fat?? Looking through the pictures everyone is thin even though the shopping cart has pop and white bread.

Pop.

What is that horrible photo of, op?

People are using pop less and less anymore.

[quote]People are using pop less and less anymore.

Oh, dear!

A blast from my childhood. Bell Brand potato chips. And Bon AMI cleaner. They still around?

It was all about stacking cans and building displays back then, wasn't it? Simpler times.

Those Deer hanging?

R8, Bon Ami is still around. In NYC, anyway. Although I prefer Barkeeper’s Friend.

Joan C. inspects a typical American supermarket beverage aisle. Notice the future elder DL'er standing at far right

Do you have a friend who’s a folksinger?

When i was a kid in the 1970s the Waldbaums near us had some animatronic fruits and vegetables above the entrance. Scared the crap out of me.

I remember perfectly, the layout of the Stop and Shop, though. And one time I had to use the bathroom urgently and they let us use the employee bathroom and had to go through the break room upstairs. It was dark and dingy and I saw the checkout lady and the deli man smoking up a storm back there.

I would've had a second job for this cute clerk.

You could smoke anywhere, back then. There were ashtrays in the supermarkets and the banks.

I can only imagine, r16! That's just unbelievable today.

when I would go to Cook County Hospital in the 80's here in Chicago everyone would be smoking in there. The nurses especially.

R17, it struck me as odd back then too. It wasn't like you could walk into *any* kind of store and light up. Only supermarkets, why? I'm sure my mother wouldn't smoke while food shopping. She thought it was pretty declassé to walk down the street smoking so I think that rule would apply to the A&P too. The minute she got in the car though, I'll bet that Pall Mall was lit. I'll have to ask her.

I get so depressed when things I remember are labeled as "vintage."

Duke's!

That explains the Duke's mayonnaise fanaticism.

[quote] Fascinating. When did we Americans get soooo fat?? Looking through the pictures everyone is thin even though the shopping cart has pop and white bread.

That was when white bread became more of a thing as local bakeries went away, and pop/soda became more than just an occasional treat like a milkshake.

40 years of both of those items being in our carts is the REASON we're all so fucking fat now.

R23, it isn't because we stopped smoking? Humans have to have something in their mouth constantly to feel alive.

Darlink, do you take food stamps?

Why yes, they do.

Why yes, they do.

[quote]Notice the future elder DL'er standing at far right

I’m fucking rolling!

[quote] it struck me as odd back then too. It wasn't like you could walk into *any* kind of store and light up. Only supermarkets, why?

There was no place, and I mean virtually no place, you couldn’t smoke back then. Banks, malls, movie theaters, planes, work, hospitals and on and on. Even in schools, the teacher’s break room would be one cloud of smoke.

Maybe you couldn’t smoke in church, I don’t remember, but that’s the only place that comes to mind.

No GMOs, no antibiotics, no growth hormones, no chemical additives.

[quote]Even in schools, the teacher’s break room would be one cloud of smoke.

Teachers? My high school had a smoking lounge for the students back in 1976.

Now that you mention it, r31, we didn’t have a smoking room, but if you were outside you could light up.

I remember we had a fire drill once and a teacher said, “Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em because we won’t be out here long.”

i prefer the gutted carcases

The balloons take me back. When I was in Boy Scouts some company hired my troop, and we spent several weekends "ballooning stores," which basically involved filling hundreds of helium filled balloons with the store logo on them and tying them to any surface we could find. The theme was "Circus Days" so in addition to the balloons all the checkers (who were middle age women) dressed up like clowns. It was supposed to be gay and festive but the overall effect, especially the clown checkers, was pretty creepy. No surprise the chain went out of business within months.

R34, what started as an “oh, how nice. What a great idea,” with visions of pretty little festive balloons around, turned quickly into creepy. The store must’ve done it all wrong.

Clowns for cashiers? What were they thinking?

Lol

[quote]Notice the future elder DL'er standing at far right

Don't you mean future shop bottom?

Y'all are missing the handsome Tony Perkins lookalike just behind our Joanie.

But does he live with Mother?

Miss Crawford at R12 would like to remind everyone that [italic]supermarket[/italic] is pronounced "syoo-per-market."

Regarding #5, r1........

Good eye, r37. Yes, I missed him.

The Hiltons' last public appearance was at a drive-in in 1961 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their tour manager abandoned them there, and with no means of transportation or income, they were forced to take a job in a nearby grocery store, where they worked for the rest of their lives.[6]

Vintage Malls....

The display in the OP's link was designed by Ed Gein

R42- That photo looks like the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers , N.Y. My parents would take us kids there in the 1970's to shop. The main department store was a GIMBEL'S There was also a John Wanamaker's. I went to the center a few years ago. Today the crowd is about 85% people of color. In 1975 it was about 85% white.

What did Zsa Zsa do with 11 turkeys?

r44=Horace Vandergelder

I was a grocery boy in the late 80s for my small town's Grocery Store. You would bag the groceries and take them to the cars. I think I made $3.35 an hour plus tips.