On this day in 1916 the first self-service grocery store [the name of which is
left to be determined as an exercise for the reader] opened in Memphis,
Tennessee.
I have never myself seen, much less visited, a branch of this very successful
chain - and was only made aware of its existence through mention of it in the
movie "Driving Miss Daisy."
According to today's "Writer's Almanac":
"The success of the store inspired other retail models with unusual names, like
Handy Andy, Helpy-Selfy, Mick-or-Mack, and Jitney Jungle."
The story about the development of a radically new way of shopping for
groceries that most of us take for granted is given at:
https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/twa-the-writers-almanac-for-september-6-2021/
Chris Bruce,
who grew up in a country redolent with
'Shop-Easy's, 'Tom Boy's, 'A&P's
(apparently short for 'The Great
Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company')
and (much later) 'Mac's Milk's,
but none of those mentioned in the body
of this posting (above); now living in
the land of 'Aldi's, 'Penny Markt's, 'Netto's,
'EDEKA's and 'Rewe's - Kiel,
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