ABSTRACT
Until the onset of the Great Depression, the retail grocery business in the United States was essentially a storefront proposition. The stores, wedged in among other retail establishments along the main roads and neighborhood streets of cities and hamlets alike, were small, offered little or no off-street parking, and lacked any self-service component. The grocer, usually positioned behind a counter, took items off the shelves as requested by the customer. There were no wheeled shopping carts, no checkout counters, no magazine racks, no drug or household items department, and in many cases no meat-for that customers might have to visit the butcher down the block.
