People Were Really Shocked by the First Supermarkets...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2019
- We take them for granted now, but there was a time when supermarkets were a revolution for shoppers. The rise of this retail phenomenon was meteoric, but not without its troubles. How did it all get started? It began in 1916, when a grocery store with a strange name opened its doors to the public.
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we are back to "shopping servants" with online shopping and delivery.
Vastly accelerated shortly after that comment by the Covid 19 pandemic
Best of both worlds... You get to control what brands you get *and* you don't have to grab it yourself.
@@aliciacordero7436 except when they tell you, they don't have anything of what you need, and there are no replacements, or the replacements are shit. Appears more or less like forced market control, where cheap shitty food is all you'll receive to make you even more sick and obese.
There is literally a supermarket in my region bringing shopping servants back....so awkward imo
We have deliver to the boot (trunk) here in OZ as well. Order online, pull up in the car park, tap the app and it gets brought out and loaded in your car for you.
Simon....you cannot be a hipster if you tried.... people actually like you and thats an automatic disqualification.
Good to know :)
There's the old saying:"If you're trying so hard to be cool, you'll never *BE* cool." Still, In my mind, you're pretty cool, kid.
This person is an idiot
Found the hipster
SyntaxError 999, ... Check #Orwell's 'The View From Wiggan Pier' memoir re the '#predatoryTrade' aspect of all this. ✌
There's a Piggly Wiggly about 15 minutes from my house. They're common in the rural southern US.
Shop at Piggy Wiggy as my daughter calls it ever Friday.
I live in a suburb of Milwaukee about six miles away from a Piggly Wiggly. I shop there every couple days. They're common up here.
They had one here in the 80s but Kroger was better and by late 80s closed as did Winn Dixie here around the same time.
I remember shopping at a Piggly Wiggly when I was little.
@@etonbachs4226 do you still shopthere bitch
I'd appreciate seeing a profile on Tupperware on Business Blaze. See how they started out and how they've evolved with the changing times.
And as always, fantastic show! Ever thought about doing a Simon's Bloopers show?!?? 😁
Bloopers is an interesting one. Mostly they are really boring. Usually be just being frustrated at not being able to read a sentence right on the 13th try... When they are good we do sometimes include them (especially on TIFO).
Tupperware would be great!
I have Tupperware that's 30+ years old and still works great.
WHAT!??? Simon COULD have bloopers? Say it ain't *SO* !
Yes. It would be interesting. Their sales model made my mother to buy heaps of stuff we never even used... Still makes me angry to this day...
You should do a show on the British East India Company!!!
Or the South sea trading company
I think the BEI Co are now callled standard charter.
Holy shit that company still exists? Holy crap if BEI was a person at a bar they would hanging out in the corner with the Catholic Church bragging about who killed the most people in their heyday.
@@mattkelly7413 Yep. I think companiesshould have to shut down and sell off at the 100 year mark.
And now I'm so excited that I can order my groceries online and just drive to Walmart and they'll put them in the car for me. I guess we've kind of swung around.
Simon: “where are my shopping servants?”
Me: “Hello.”
The grocery store I work at has a department where employees will do all the shopping for you, bag it. Then you get the store will take it out and put in your car.
Don't lie, you just want Simon to put you in his car.
@@slcpunk2740 🤣
I would love to see a video on MLMs such as Avon. Really old and long running businesses that once seemed so amazing but now seem so sketchy.
Me too. BUT they are litigious :(
Oh... I would avoid it then.Great work across all your Chanel’s though!
I think the story on that is basically that they were always sketchy, but before the internet, they found it easier to find fresh, uninformed victims...and victims were less likely to network, because it feels bad to admit to your friends what happened; but on the internet, you can find others who share the experience, recognize that it’s not just you, and organize. Echo chambers reinforcing false ideas are bad, but some networked micro communities really are good for society. I knew several people who, for a while, seemed to be successful working for MSMs, but moved on, and brushed off questions...it was years before I realized they’d been victims of predatory, unprofitable pyramid schemes.
Theodore Murdock I agree, the internet has been an amazing tool in pointing out the predatory nature of these businesses. What amazes me is how some, such as Avon have been in operation for over a hundred years. When they began they were revolutionary and helped consumers get things they otherwise had no access to and gave women a sense of independence and an ability to earn income. They saw it only as a positive and had no idea the damage companies like this would someday cause.
@@brainblaze6526 Bonus Fact: In Scotland it is common to insult someone by stating that there Dad works for Avon ie *Yer da' sells Avon!*
Another interesting aspect of grocery shopping was the creation of the shopping cart. They didn't have them at first, and coming up with a shopping cart and getting people to use them provided certain challenges.
And Piggly Wiggly, 'this little piggie went to market'.
You might need to watch Driving Miss Daisy, then you'll see a Piggly Wiggly reference. Also, here in the South, when trying to sell a used car, often times you'll hear the seller say, "yeah, the car was owned by my granny who only drove it to the Piggly Wiggly on occasion, so it's got super low miles."
How about AT&T? I had a great-great-aunt who was born in 1900 and she worked her whole career at AT&T, starting as an operator. Back when you didn't dial the phone.
I was surprised to find out that my mum was a telephone operator.
My great-great aunt was left handed. All the operator stations were set up for right handed operators. After continually writing on her neighbors pad, AT&T paid for her to learn to write right handed. It was such a different time then. Once she was promoted to an Account Manager, they paid for her weekly beauty salon visits. She would get her hair done and a manicure too. They paid for it because she represented the company to clients, and needed to look good. Can you imagine if someone asked for that these days??
@@ShoalBear did they try smiting out the demon with a bible?
@@howyoudurrinhunneh No, she got lucky, she was in the big city of Chicago.
ShoalBear my grandfather is left handed, his school forced him to learn to write write handed. I’m left handed (ambidextrous but with a preference and stronger skill pin my left) because of those stories.
Because of how ‘lefties were the devil’ or whatever. So I decided to be left handed for the same reason my favourite number is 666… because it freaks people out and I like being viewed as evil.
There's a documentary called The Lost Boys of Sudan, and they go into a supermarket for the first time ever. It really opened my eyes to what I take for granted every day.
I live in "The Deep South" US and never thought the name Piggly Wiggly was odd, hehe.I never knew the history. Thank you! Now we have internet grocery shopping service, pick up or delivery.
Big on the pig!
it's one of the sponsors for Coast to Coast when I listen to a station broadcast, WGSV. I live in Michigan and listen to a live program recorded in several locations nationwide and Canada, through a transmit received broadcast from Guntersville, AL, through my computer.
Full Circle
It is a wonderful name.
🚫🧢
For the curious among you; the items on the top shelf are player piano rolls.
Indeed they are :). I’ve got hundreds of them and need to keep them somewhere, and thought they looked cool
If you think Piggly Wiggly is weird, where I grew up was a supermarket called Hinky Dinky. No joke.
My wife used to shop at one a lot in the 1980s in Lincoln, Nebraska. The name comes from the WWI song “Hinky Dinky Parlez-vous”. (also known as "Mademoiselle from Armentières")
There’s one near me called Pic Pac
What about Moo and Oink? They've been the favorite of the south side of Chicago for 150 years. May have to dodge a bullet or 12 to get your cow and pig but apparently it's worth it.
In The Netherlands (which has a Germanic language so relatively close to English) we have supermarket names like Jumbo, Spar, Albert Heijn, Dirk, Deen, NettoRama, Lidl, Aldi...
And then there’s Poiesz 🤷
Next there will be teeny peeny
I heard you had talking about the chicken “going off” and for a moment I imagined an exploding chicken.
alright then
Me too. Just for a second. It's just not that common an idiom in the U.S. 😂
We say that food ‘goes off’ in Australia too
Yeah there's always a brief moment where I have to translate that specific phrase from English to English.
I remember the first supermarket in my hometown (Amersfoort, in The Netherlands) It was amazing. You actually could see all the articles and observe them at close distance.
And one day, just after the shop opened, I saw an American woman, arriving on a mans bike, with trousers on and curl-rollers in her hair. I know she was American, cause a Dutch woman would never behaved like that in those times. And there live Americans in our neighbourhood, stationed on the American airbase Soesterberg. It was like a dream, in my eyes she was beautiful and I decided that when I grow up I would be like her.
Johnny Carson as Carnac the Magnificent: "Piggly Wiggly"
(opens the envelope)
"What happened on Kermit the Frog's Wedding Night?"
he had squiggly wiggly with miss piggy
Was that envelope hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar overnight?
"I hold in my hand the envelopes. As a child of four can plainly see, these envelopes have been hermetically sealed. They've been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls' porch since noon today. No one knows the contents of these envelopes - but you, in your mystical and borderline divine way, will ascertain the answers having never before heard the questions."
Im subscribed to like 4 of your channels and im just finding this one. Your time management must be insane, Simon
I’ve been around piggly wiggly’s my entire life and never realized that they were the first ever chain. Today I found out moment!
I'm surprised you guys haven't started a channel called "Simon keepin it real." It would be amazing. Simon just being honest about shit he thinks is terrible while he gets wasted. Also, am I gonna get my Wisconsin Dells video on Geographics?
I've got something in the works that is not quite this, but it's probably not too far off what you are thinking.
@@brainblaze6526 I'm hoping you are responding to my new channel idea and my Wisconsin Dells video idea for geographics. Thanks!
@@brainblaze6526 GeoBooze, or Today I Got Drunk, or Top Ten Beerz, where you try to drink ten bottles of a brew suggested by viewers. Allegedly.
Sounds like Karl Smallwoods channel 😂
LOL We shopped at Piggly Wiggly when I was growing up! I loved it because it had the best automated pony ride in town for a dime.
I totally grew up near a Piggly Wiggly and I actually never thought about how weird of a name that is until today.
Jesamy Porter I am the same way. There is one in Warsaw, NC we went to for years and I never thought how odd it was for a name. We always shopped there because my dad is a farmer and they would buy local products to sell.
Idea: How did Yamaha went from musical instrument to Motocycles?! (if you wonder which comes first, look at their logo!)
Steve was good but Danny is a legend.
Does anyone else rewatch old blazes and think that it's so tame compared to more recent videos? Love you Simon.
"Where are my shopping servants!" One of the best beginnings to a video ever. I also enjoyed Simon's trip down memory lane.
I grew up with my mom going to Food 4 Less, which takes self-service to an extreme, all the way down to having customers bag their own groceries after paying for them. I don't have a problem with that personally, but I don't particularly recommend that store. Their meat, for one thing, is terrible. In my mom's defense, though, it wasn't her idea to go there.
I want that in ringtone form. 😋
In Europe, bagging your own stuff is pretty much the standerd in 99% of supermarkets.
Most of the time I've seen baggers is when school children/volunteers do it for charity donations etc.
I totally remember Food 4 Less! They didn't last terribly long in Arkansas but my dad loved it because he always wanted to buy generic everything and he preferred to bag his own groceries.
@@chrisdoherty2199 Yes, only time I have seen they bag for you is some stores before Christmas.
For bagging to have any purpose you need one cashier and one other who bag.
The real benefit of self service is that it speeds up things a lot unless you have an army of employee picking stuffs.
The liquor stores in Norway is state operated and was not self service until 20-25 years ago they always had long queues.
Then they switched to self service the queues went away.
All self service lines in grocery stories, etc. include bagging it yourself in St Louis. The only places in the US I could see having self service for scanning but then having the store employees bag as soon as you scanned is in states and municipalities with mandated one time use bag surcharges.
Having so much sass this video. I think there needs to be more lol
Where I live there are old fashioned candy shops, a wall of jars of sweets and a legit soda fountain with their own syrups, all served up by an employee in a stripped uniform with the boat hat.... also Simon is one IPA and some mustache wax away from full hipster
Needs more plaid.
Beateau and a newsboy cap
@@acepilot1 Lol yeah, one of those cabbie types. Maybe suspenders?
I dont know the quote but I can make tons of pictures of our piggly wiggly for you if you want. It's still got the late 60s fixtures. Not for atmosphere either. It's just like that. Small town. Also it has a screen door.
It is heartening that you just describe without any critical overtones. I hope you enjoy living where you do.
When I grew up in the 70's, there was still a candy store in town that existed forever.
In San Luis Obispo it was called Chong's, across the street from Ah Louis Store, on Palm street where our small Chinatown was. I went to high school a half block away from Chongs, which had already closed. Now San Luis has gentrified even beyond Santa Barbara, but it still looks the same , the "Sense of Place"?
When I was 6, in 1964, they opened up a supermarket in a town near us and mum took me in there, she was amazed, and I was scared, I also got lost, cant remember what it was called now!
As in the original 1950s and 1960s Superman television show.
"Always fighting for truth, justice and the American way. "
I remember Billy Crystal doing stand up in Russia and the line, “You can just walk up and take it!?!” And “what? They’re open 24 hours? We wait in line for 24 hours.”
That may be what you were referencing in the beginning.
Piggly wigglies were huge in the southeastern United States. My first job was a bag boy at the pig when i turned 16 but a few years ago they were bought out by Bilo and the only piggly wiggly that remained were the independently owned ones. I actually live 3 blocks from one that is still open.
We had an old fashioned candy shop when I was a kid. It was all in crates and barrels and everything was wrapped in paper. I remember that being magical as a little kid. Piggly Wiggly was a big store in the south in The U.S., I’ve been to many.
I hear you don't want to appear to be a hipster, you know who else doesn't want to appear to be a hipster... *HIPSTERS*
took the words out of my keyboard.
Very droll Benny! :) :)
When I think hipster it’s his image that appears in my head.
I don't even know anymore if I self-identify as a hipster IRONICALLY, of if I self-identify as Not-a-hipster IRONICALLY.
We don't mean to be this way. One day you wake up and realize the sum of what you've become. I got glasses because my office job strained my eyes. I wear flannel because I was raised and live in moderate temperatures where it's all you need in fall and winter. The craft beers just taste better than that piss-washed domestic. Local bands are nice.....omg...
What have I become?!
I have a piggly wiggly shirt. It says “I’m big on the pig” and there’s a piggy tail on the back. Ah the south, I love it. 😆😍
Lol coming from later episodes of Business Blaze and stumbling into this one the mood is so much different.
Simon giving his opinion while drinking is a great idea. Good call!
his drinking coffee...or my drinking a vodka/rc?
Coffee or cocaine depending on his mood.
Absolutely love this show Simon the way you get to be more free with the content is hilarious. Usually a bit stuffy, seems like you're having a lot of fun. Lol
Watching you actually be normal after watching your new stuff is insane
This reminds me of the sudden change in shopping with the creation of Selfridges... like how you could suddenly touch the merchandise and then how ready wear clothing took over after WWI. How cosmetics went from being hidden to suddenly being on the main entrance floor area.
Steve is such a good writer too wow.
I grew up in rural kansas back in the '60's where we went to a grocery store in a town of 2000 folks. It was a supermarket though. Just not quite as big as the larger cities. When I went to England in the '70's I was shocked when the local market consisted of one room with a lady behind a counter who would take things off a shelf so you could buy them.
I am from Memphis, where Piggly Wiggly got its start. Mr. Saunders’ idea of self-serve all-in-one grocery stores actually WAS a revolutionary idea at the time. My great grandmother was at the grand opening of the first store, and was greatly impressed, as you could select your own produce and inspect it for flaws before purchasing. You could not always do this when buying food before. She still spoke of it some fifty years later!
Mr. Saunders was in the process of building a large mansion in Memphis when the Depression hit. He lost everything, including Piggly Wiggly. His unfinished mansion, built of pink Georgia marble, was donated to the city of Memphis and became the basis of the Pink Palace Museum, and now contains a full-size replica of the first Piggly Wiggly, as well as other exhibits of Memphis’ history.
Mr. Saunders’ second endeavor into the world of the supermarket, Keydoozle (pronounced key-DOOZ-all), was a concept before its time. The technology just wasn’t there. Essentially, the shopper would take a device containing a paper tape and carry it around the store. At each item displayed, there was a device that could be inserted into the shopper’s device that would cause a series of holes to be punched in the paper tape. Once selections were made, the shopper proceeded to the cashier and the tape was read by a rudimentary computer, the total amount calculated, and a list sent to the attached warehouse for picking the order. Once the order was paid for, the shopper would proceed to the pickup area to await the arrival of the order. Unfortunately, there were problems with the technology, and Keydoozle soon faded into obscurity.
Lived in a very small town, I remember getting our first IGA. Before, that we would go to a friend’s house to get eggs. (. I was very young back then). get meat from a farmer, we would buy half a cow, and put it into a freezer in the basement. I remember having the milk delivered just one time, before the IGA opened. Fresh vegetables, then my mother would can them. Now I go to Kroger. Wow, times have changed.
Dear Simon, at the risk of sounding like a hipster myself, dry or canned Dog and Cat food aren't that great. Back in ye olden days, you used to cook food for your animals. In fact, I highly recommend this. We prepare various meats for our dog and add in a variety of vegetables, and some grains, and sometimes fish, and it gives him a far more balanced and nutritious diet. He doesn't particularly like kibble anymore, and he actually does not beg for scraps much either.
I remember in the 80s a new discount grocery store opened up where you would bag your own groceries, instead of a clerk working alongside the cashier bagging groceries and loading them into the cart for you. It was so weird then and now the opposite feels weird. Now they got rid of the cashier too. Pretty soon they'll expect us to look in the back store room and stock the shelves ourselves, maybe even sub,it orders for more inventory
Can you do a video on the strange origin of slinky. I once herd that it is just an air plain part. I also would like to here a bout silly putty and how it was ment for military use.
Do every invention inspired by or invented on Star Trek. Start with self-opening doors.
Nope, has to be the transporter. Hasn't made it to a viable form of transportation, but some weird physics experiments have indicated for "small pools of particles or photons" beaming is possible. Very weird.
Automatic doors were around before star trek.
@@duanesamuelson2256 Of course they were. The tech invented for Star Trek made them cheap and ubiquitous. You're welcome
@@nora22000 lol since they were around for dept stores in the late 50's and were used as supermarkets went in starting at the same time that kinda predates even the concept of star trek. Gene didn't even expand on an idea for that one. They were already relatively cheap back then.
@@duanesamuelson2256 Okay, maybe you came from some other planet. No problem.
Mom and Pop Grocery stores. But when grocery stores starting having bakeries, delis, greeting cards etc. That was a time saver. I remember in the early days, my mother would have to shop all day for a birthday, she'd go to the grocery store, bakery, butcher, deli, card store and hills. Today you can go in and get everything in one place.
Simons sweets story reminded me of the penny candy store i used to go to as a kid. Pretty sure it was one of the last one around... Man I miss the 90s...
I'm watching this during the pandemic and its amazing because with curbside pickup becoming the norm during this crisis, "shopping servants" have essentially made a comeback.
I really like this more informal style in these videos. Please keep it ❤
This was so interesting! I love learning about stuff like this! I always find it fascinating hearing about something that today is super common, but at one time was an innovation. More of these here or on today I found out please.
your introductory comment about the judge being amazed about a supermarket reminds me of Audrey Fforbs-Hamilton's comment, "if I don't get some assistance right now I shall help myself"
I watched this because I knew I'd get to hear Simon say Piggly-Wiggly. We still have them in South Carolina!
Fun fact: in some countries stores are not allowed to call themselves supermarkets because they are not markets in the legal sense (that is, a place where several vendors come together to sell their goods). In the EU there is a company which had "flower market" (or Blumen-Markt in German) as part of their name but where forced to change it because of it being misleading. However, to retain their recognised name they simply dropped the last letter to obey the law, resulting in the (nonsensical) "flower mark". Many customers probably didn't even notice the difference or thought the last letter of the store sign was missing...
In the late 1970's my parents' church in New Jersey sponsored a family from the USSR. The grandmother went insane in a supermarket, scooping armloads of potatoes into the cart. In her life, you grabbed as many as you could because you never knew when the state would deliver more. She refused to believe that potatoes would be there any time she came back.
I LOVE old-timey stores 😍😍😍
Actual business content was excellent as usual I was just thrown for a loop when Simon kept mentioning a Steve.....Danny always and forever!!!
We still have a local sweet shop in my city like you remember. Smaller boutique sweet shops are still largely like that.
Piggly Wiggly is still a chain of grocery stores around the southern USA.
Not just the south Wisconsin is full of them
NZ, first supermarket 1958.
In about 1966 I was thinking of leaving High School early and not going to University. My mother took me for an interview at a nearby Supermarket. Scared the hell out of me & I went straight back to School; thanks Mum!
"100 grams" of sweets? Surely you mean a quarter of a pound!
I don't know if 100 grams equals to a quarter of a pound. Probably he used grams because most of the world uses kilograms instead of pounds. Metric system is way easier to understand.
@Ian Mclean That's good and is also good that he transformed into grams so most people can undeserved. Thank you.
@Peter B Actually, he is. There are still places in the UK that operate using Imperial measures, but those are mostly small local shops.
@Peter B In the US, industrial and engineering is primarily done in metric but things like mechanical hardware (bolts, tubing, etc.) may be labeled as the American Standard (i.e., modified Imperial) equivalent. Drinks are usually sold in liters or fractions thereof, except milk which comes in pints, quarts, and gallons which are I think about a quarter less than their actual imperial measurements.
@@Laura-fl1rp "easier" imagine think numbers other than 10 are hard to understand.
As a teenager in the late 90's, I worked at a Piggly Wiggly in Alabama as a bagger and part of my job (though not technically in the job description) was to roll out the carts and load the cars of our super old customers. They tipped VERY well, though.
When I was a kid, about 60 years ago, we had a small grocery store down the block. Then, as is true now in almost all stores, we could browse the aisles, grabbing what looked interesting, taking it up to the cashier, and paying for it, or in rare cases, having them put it on the parent's account (perhaps with a quick call to them for OK). In the 70s, that was still the case at the pharmacy(apothecary) we used. Note the proprietors of the stores were long-time neighbors who knew us well. (Small-town America,BTW; (Actually early 60s suburbia).
Mom also drove a few miles away to her favorite butcher when she wanted a particular cut of meat. These days, our local supermarket still has a butcher resting behind an insulated window in the middle of the meat section. And that chain's meats ARE a 'cut above' other stores' offerings, on of the chain's advertised points
You think Piggly Wiggly is weird? Anyone else been to a Kum & Go? (yes that's spelled right)
Iowa dude right here!
Make sure to head to Missouri and stop by Big Dick's Halfway Inn, lol
Somehow I ended up with a lighter with Kum & Go on it. I always thought it was a joke!
Been to a "Kum Back Café".
King Kullen has remained a successful staple of Long Island living, but was bought out a few months ago. Many fond memories there.
My mum is almost 72. When she saw the first supermarket in her town in Austria, she didn`t like it. It was just too weird and scary to have to walk around search your own stuff :) I think the purpose is not less clerks it`s that we walk through and buy all the crap we don`t need, walk out and realize we bought all this shit but not what we came here to buy :)
Clarence Saunders home is just outside of Memphis. It is called "The Pink Palace" because it is made out of pink Granite. He was involved in a huge stock scandal, and pretty much bankrupted by the stock market crash in 1929. He invented many of the modern concepts of the modern day grocery store, but he never regained his fortune. He was forced to abandon the construction of his home and it was seized by creditors and given to the city as a tourist attraction.
I’m not sure why but I love the face that is cuts to black and white when Simon says something funny and/or questionable
I grew up going to Piggly Wiggly in Alabama in the small town where my grandparents live. I always thought it was a small chain for rural areas in the south, had no idea it’s the OG grocery store lol
The "American Way" we want it YESTERDAy and aren't used to waiting.
The irony is now we are returning to the pre-superstore days. You can now order online and have your groceries delivered or ready for pickup.
Whistley boi, loving the new channel 👍
True when you say it saves money and wastes less food, also you can get what pieces you want and Most butchers get their meat from Local farms, witch is good and you can almost be certain it is well fed, grassfed + feed! Almost bio, if you buy lots and freeze it it can cost less 👌😂
Piggly wiggly is still a large chain in the south eastern United States of America. There are 10 branches in my town of Birmingham Alabama.
I know Simon never I’m going to say anything but I live in Memphis and still shop at a Piggly Wiggly it’s amazing and I have almost officially watch all of your videos on all of your channels keep them coming. I’m outside sales rep with a huge area and a lot of driving so you fill up my toms in between customers thank you brother and if you ever want to have some un-American opinions on something let me know especially eight southern American
My hometown in northeast Wisconsin has a Piggly Wiggly as its one and only grocery store! When I was little, I thought it was the only one.
Was the not amazement at Boots who even as a chemist were the first to have you pick up your stuff and take it to a counter? It may be the case “invitation to treat” was established in contract
I love this new channel !
About a week after the tragic events at Waco my brother and I saw David Koresh at a Piggly Wiggly in Tifton, GA.
I'm of Simon's age, I was born and have always lived in Moscow, Russia. So I remember Soviet style of shops changing into Western style supermarkets; I even remember (barely) reusable glass bottles with foil tops. That transformation was... an experience. That is, or was all fun, easy and interesting for kids like me, but for adults - it was alien technology. Not as in "from the stars", but truly from a very different culture.
In soviet Russia there were queues and deficit, and the products you could purchase often was sub-par, at best you could improve it DIY style, at worst ... There is a video on this channel where Simon speaks of Soviet TV "Rubin". It could explode. In my experience, although there was definitely too many shoddy products, some of them were absurdly sturdy. For example, you can still find old stationery, and modern papersclips are soft and weak, soviet paperclips are slightly weaker than nails. And therefore they tend to tear paper of you are not careful. But Soviet safety pins are marvellously strong, and modern ones can be bent out of shape by anything. Soviet cars (and Russian cars) are terrible rust buckets.
It would be interesting to see a video or several about stone aspects of Soviet daily life, of work and family, which are absolutely alien to a modern person from a civilised state. Although that would require someone who can study books about that in Russian and has access to them; I'm a librarian, I think I saw something useful in English though (the library I work in collects books in various languages), so a central/scientific library may provide enough materials for such a text.
I have a great respect for Simon and his team. Everyone is a true professional.
And now, we have internet shopping, where things are brought directly to us by staff.
I'm in the south of England and there's a shop near me that still weighs out the sweets for you like the old time sweet shop. I think its been there a pretty long time.
Piggly Wiggly was the store used in the movie "Driving Miss Daisy."
And now not only are there more self checkouts, but Amazon is working on a store where you just pick up what you want and walk out.
If you think supermarkets are strange in these days, you'd be blown away by my local one where I often bypass the checkout cashiers and self-checkout -- swiping the goods past the scanner & all. I can get in an out with a week's groceries (3-5 bags full) in under a half hour if I'm organized about it. A new definition of "fast food".
“What is the American Way?”
Simon, I’m a born and raised American and even I can’t answer that question.
You have just answered something that’s been bugging me for years whenever I channel hop and come across an episode of Judge Judy she’s whenever the case is about a car she always comes out with ‘don’t ever believe it’s just been owned by an old lady to go down to the Piggley Wiggley’ now I know what it is!
The media "mellowed" on the supermarket idea once supermarkets became the biggest advertisers. I swear than 30% of ALL newspaper pages I have purchased in my lifetime were supermarket ads.
Another reason for the clerks was to deter theft - i.e shoplifing
Growing up near NYC in the 60s, my parents would buy most of the stuff at supermarkets. BUT, they had milk delivered from one vendor, eggs from another (Mr. Heiss), meat from the butcher delivery. Sometimes we'd get bread from one or two different delivery companies (Bond or Dugans). Soda and seltzer from another. Lots of "Mom & Pop" companies mixed with some local bigger businesses. You could have cookies, chips and pretzels delivered (Charles chips), we didn't.
3:09 "Tropping Ships" lol! XD
IDC "what" you are, Simon ^_^ super entertaining to watch/listen to
We had a Piggly Wiggly in a one roundabout town in north central Wisconsin. Sadly it closed a couple years ago.
As an American, I can tell you, Piggly Wiggly is a distinctly Southern thing. Even if the specific reason isn't known, the fact that the South was predominantly rural at the time is definitely a deciding factor.
I'm your age, Simon, and in the States we had candy stores like that (at least in the 90's). They were located only in malls, were a bit fancy, and had candies (sweets) that could only be found there and they were sold by the pound. My favorite was "Ice Cubes". They were wrapped cubes of chocalate that melted on your tongue. So frigging good. 🍫