US Supermarkets In The 1950s – Colour Photography

The 1950s was the decade that saw the rise of the supermarket in the USA. They first appeared during the 1930s, but it was twenty years before stores gradually moved out of towns and cities and out into the suburbs, taking up far more space, offering larger choice and economies of scale meant that both operating costs and prices were kept low.

By 1950, supermarket chains brought in about 35 percent of the food-retailing dollar – and food retailing was the America’s largest business. By 1960, that market share jumped to 70 percent of the food retail business. Between 1965 and 1969, 7-Eleven exploded from 1,519 stores in five states to 3,537 stores in 38 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces.