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re: History question: why did it take till 1915 for someone to "invent" the supermarket?
Posted on 11/26/17 at 6:13 pm to Paul Allen
Posted on 11/26/17 at 6:13 pm to Paul Allen
Come on people.
Let’s stop all this race boating.
The soul knows no color.
I’m Newell. Let’s change the conversation.
Weekdays, 10-1pm on the Big 870, and FM 105.3
Let’s stop all this race boating.
The soul knows no color.
I’m Newell. Let’s change the conversation.
Weekdays, 10-1pm on the Big 870, and FM 105.3
This post was edited on 11/26/17 at 6:15 pm
1
Posted on 11/26/17 at 6:18 pm to BRgetthenet
Posted on 11/26/17 at 6:41 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Maybe look into the introduction of non-perishables and the cost of stocking a first of its kind supermarket.
Posted on 11/26/17 at 7:07 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Distribution networks, refrigeration
Posted on 11/26/17 at 7:17 pm to choupiquesushi
could be argued the old way was better ... food was fresher then, made that day or the previous day ... your day's activities were spent securing food instead of worrying about what shoes you could buy online ...
Posted on 11/26/17 at 7:31 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
How old are you?
Posted on 11/27/17 at 9:25 am to HailHailtoMichigan!
The development of good packaging for consumer sizes was a big one. Small packages were too delicate to survive shipment over bumpy dirt roads.
So they used barrels, large bags, etc. instead to ship in bulk. And that meant someone needed to gradually empty it by hand at the general store, so they just did it one customer at a time.
So they used barrels, large bags, etc. instead to ship in bulk. And that meant someone needed to gradually empty it by hand at the general store, so they just did it one customer at a time.
Posted on 11/27/17 at 9:26 am to HailHailtoMichigan!
quote:
Didn't anyone ever stop and think "why is it smart that I have to go to fifteen different stores for bread, meat, spices, and other foodstuffs?" Why not have it all in one giant building?
The death of the town, the death of the town square, the fall of the community, and the rise of corporatisim and city corruption and bland easiness over quality and work.
Posted on 11/27/17 at 9:38 am to HailHailtoMichigan!
quote:
It blows me away that such a basic economies of scale concept wasn't invented centuries earlier by some other profit-seeking entrepreneur.
Didn't anyone ever stop and think "why is it smart that I have to go to fifteen different stores for bread, meat, spices, and other foodstuffs?" Why not have it all in one giant building?
I mean this is an easy one
Refrigeration
Before refrigeration was common people bought exactly what they needed for that day and so it wasn't economical for one store to carry a variety of merchandise.
Posted on 11/27/17 at 10:35 am to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
Additional note: Consumers probably couldn't even move all those items at once anyways, negating the benefit of one transaction for everything. People didn't have cargo hold SUVs to transport 50lbs of goods in one go.
Don't forget the role refrigeration plays in this too.
Posted on 11/27/17 at 11:42 am to doublecutter
quote:
Refrigeration
+1
Also commercialization of the food industry hadn’t occurred yet.
Most of a modern grocery store today is filled with food products, not “food”. What purpose would a supermarket hold in the early 1900s when all they have are non-commercialized canned foods? All of the available food products at that time in the US could have probably been fit in a space 1/8 the size of a small Walmart. Also, let’s not forget the importance of the advertising revolution in the creation of all these products. Before there was no need for these products, they had to rewire the American consumer to thinking that these preserved foods save you time, therefore they were worth a little bit more money.
Back then butchers and produce markets could get product much cheaper locally because there was no interstate system or trucking industry to make agribusiness even a real possibility on a national scale. FWIW you can still get produce cheaper locally.
This post was edited on 11/27/17 at 11:51 am
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