Marketing the Bookmark

by

Lauren Roberts

Food markets were one of the twentieth century’s social developments that signified a major change in all aspects of life: eating, shopping, finances, family, communities, relationships, consumerism. But their beginnings actually go back to the nineteenth century when retailers set up general stores that carried not just foods but all necessities of life: sewing supplies and fabric, farm supplies, canning materials, household appliances such as butter churns, and more. These stores were the start of what began a major cultural shift from independent families who produced most of what they needed (and traded for what they couldn’t) to today when stores, both real and online, supply not only things we need but things we don’t even know we “need.”

That includes markets that range from the fairly large and pricey chain grocery’s such as Whole Foods to supermarkets such as Von’s and those cavernous facilities such as Costco (even though groceries are only part of what they carry). But how did we get there—from the small general store to the markets of today? And where does this bookmark from a mid-twentieth-century store fit in?

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and I recall Park Lane market, a few blocks away from our home in Van Nuys. It too was a regional market, serving its local community. It is also where I once stole a candy bar—the only theft I ever committed in my life. My mother shopped there often, so when the man behind the liquor and candy counter saw me snatch it up when I was there one day after school with a friend and stash it under my sweater he called my mom and told her. Upon my return home, she promptly marched me back to the store, made me apologize, and paid the man for the candy (which she took out of my next allowance). It was a humiliating experience, but I never stole again. And my mother held her head up high the next time she entered the store.

I suspect Brooklyn Market, the subject of this quirky bookmark, was like Park Lane because I can find nothing about it online. But in searching for history of grocery stores I found an incredible site called Groceteria, a personal “hobby” site designed and developed by David Gwynn who has a passion for supermarket history from the 1920s through the 1980s. Though he focuses on fairly large chain stores that have a geographic reach of more than one city, he nevertheless has built an excellent resource, and I depended heavily on his site for general information. (He also hosts a discussion board where members share their stories and get answers to their questions.)

According to Gwynn, grocery store retailing exploded around the beginning of the twentieth century. One of the first and eventually largest chains was the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (later A&P), which had been originally established in 1859. At this time, stores were small and focused selling mostly dry grocery items (non-perishables), while meats and produce were gotten elsewhere. (Such stores were separate but often close to one another for shoppers’ convenience.) Piggly Wiggly, a chain that dominated the American landscape for several decades, began in 1916,m when it opened its first store in Memphis. Though they were not the only store experimenting with self-service, they were instrumental in introducing American women to the idea of self-serve shopping. It was a big change from having grocers choose the particular item you wanted and wrapping it up to where the shoppers selected their own meats, produce, and other goods. These stores in fact became known as “groceterias” because they were reminiscent of the cafeterias that were gaining popularity at the time.

By the 1920s, chain grocery stores began to expand outside their original regions. A&P was nationwide and others—Kroger, American Stores—were not far behind. Larger though they were, many of the smaller-larger ones still retained aspects of their forbearers: small staffs, no meat or produce departments, delivery, and in-store charge accounts. Then in 1926, Safeway was created and two years later it bought most of the West Coast’s Piggly Wiggly stores and later other small chains.

Around this time and into the 1930s, stores began experimenting with expanding their offerings. Meats and fresh produce were offered. Los Angeles began leading the way with more experimentation when markets in the car-crazed city began offering a selection of food retailers within the same small shopping center surrounding a parking lot. Though separate stores, customers began to perceive them as one since all shopping could be done in one trip.

Then on August 4, 1930, Michael Cullen stepped forward from his career at Kroger and A&P to open his first King Kullen store, widely credited with being America’s first supermarket. This store was in a warehouse in Queens, New York; free parking and additional concessions made for a bazaar-like atmosphere, and merchandise was sold out of packing cartons. Décor was non-existent for the emphasis was on volume, and the result was lower prices.

Lower prices were a hit during the Great Depression when banks were closing their doors and small family stores could no longer offer credit. Cullen took a great risk opening at this time, but his boast of being “The World’s Greatest Price Wrecker” paid off. He had all his products under one roof thus increasing the reliance on cars because women were no longer shopping for one or two items they could carry home. Grocery shopping became a weekly event, and a car was a necessity for these larger loads.

In addition to housing all the products in one place, Cullen’s emphasis on the self-serve model encourage customers to inspect individual products, check prices, and become familiar with brand names which, of course, led to advertising to draw customers to ask for specific products. Packaging naturally became more important, and premium shelf space sold to manufacturers brought welcome dollars to the markets.

The 1940s saw the booming of the supermarket, stores larger and more complex than grocery stores, and it was in the 1950s that the transition from smaller stores and even small regional chains into supermarkets peaked. Stores were also moving heavily into suburbs, that post-war housing boom that saw massive home development for new young families. It was in this decade and the one following (1960s) that supermarkets saw their “golden age.” Stores opened on an almost continual basis, and the market for them seemed limitless. Standardized designs for the outside architecture were common, but some stores also had zany interiors: “colorful designs evoking New Orleans or the “Gay 90s” or old farmhouses replacing the stark whites common to many stores of the 1950s. Other new touches included carpeting, specialty departments, and more. Kroger’s new “superstore” prototype, introduced in 1972, was perhaps the peak of this trend, with its specialty departments and its orange, gold, and green color palette.”

In addition, trading stamps entered the picture. These stamps allowed people to save up to buy what might not otherwise fit in their budgets since a certain number of stamps were given to shoppers for every dollar they spent in a store. They could them redeem them for merchandise at S&H and other stamp redemption centers.

This strategy worked well until every market began offering the stamps. So in the 1970s, supermarkets began to raise their prices to make up the losses incurred by the stamps—and this led to the emergence of discount stores in the 1980s. Supermarkets fought back, and one of the few discounters to emerge victorious was Wal-Mart. Then it was the warehouse stores—Costco and Sam’s Club—that began carrying groceries; without the unions supermarkets had they could offer even lower prices.

Today, it grocery shopping is in essence returning to its roots to some degree. Farmers’ markets offer fresh produce and sometimes fish and eggs. High-end markets like Whole Foods appeal to moneyed clientele. Specialty markets range from Trader Joe’s to gourmet cheese shops. The discount stores sell their products in massive sizes, best suited for large families or those who have the storage room to keep what they buy until it can be used up. Then there are the still-thriving supermarkets.

But I still think back to Park Lane and to its brethren like the Brooklyn Market. These were the bridge between the old grocers who waited on their customers, selected their items and wrapped them, and the supermarkets of today. These were self-serve places, but they also have a quaint appeal to them: brands were fewer; staff was available and would assist when needed; and women dominated the customer market. I think I would have liked Brooklyn Market.

Recommended viewing:
Grocery shopping in 1963

Bookmark specifications: Upon My Soul: You Should Make Tracks for the Brooklyn Market
Dimensions: 5 3/4" x 3 1/2"
Material: Aluminum
Manufacturer: Brooklyn Market
Date: Mid-twentieth century (1940s-1960s?)
Acquired: eBay

Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.