Early Supermarkets

In the days before a refrigerator was in every house, freezers were still a novelty and convenience foods unheard-of, the housewife bought fresh food nearly every day. Street markets were a regular and vibrant part of the life of most towns. However, post-war Britain saw a change in people’s shopping habits, as self-service stores started to appear. The advantages were a wider range of goods stocked, and cheaper prices. There were advantages for the shopkeeper, too. Fewer staff were needed, and experience showed that more goods and more choice meant more purchases – so much so that in 1956 the government warned women ‘not to be lured into overspending’.

A national survey reported mixed reaction to self-service shops. The big store owners reported sales had doubled or quadrupled, but a majority of shoppers felt that ‘it encourages pilfering…removes the personal touch…and threatens the livelihood of small shopkeepers’. Supermarkets were still few and far between in 1956, but it wasn’t long before they became a novel and exciting feature of every town centre.

Here are some nostalgic photos of these early supermarkets in the past – some names are now long gone, like Fine Fare and the International Stores, but others are still with us, like Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.