How did stores work before self-service?
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, John Johnson Collection, Trade Cards
1800s…
Grocers weighed, sliced, and packaged bulk products at the counter.
A. P. W. Paper ad, Ladies’ Home Journal, January 1924.
1900s
Even after the advent of pre-packed brand name products grocery stores continued to operate using counter service methods. Advertisements of the early twentieth century routinely featured white-coated grocers as knowledgeable salesmen.
Altoona Tribune, March 16, 1956
Before 1940 self-service was a specialized form of retailing developed in small grocery stores. Super markets first appeared in the 1930s. In 1940, the Super Market Institute launched a national campaign to promote self-service shopping. Converting grocery stores to self-service was a long term process. This A & P store in Altoona, Pennsylvania was still operating by clerk service methods in 1956.
The Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, (Muscatine, Iowa) April 18, 1940.