Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Old grocery store photo #1


This week I'll be sharing some old grocery store photos I came across. Most of them aren't that great, but they're interesting artifacts. For many, grocery stores evoke clear memories of our youth. In some ways, they've changed so much over the decades (especially aesthetics and technology). Yet perhaps no change was as stark as the one that occurred this year, when the grocery store experience came to involve masks, social distancing, carts being wiped down, hand-sanitizer kiosks, arrows on the floors (though that was a short-lived thing in our neck of the woods), no small amount of shopper anxiety, and certain shelves being perpetually bare. Many have turned to online ordering and delivery, and might never fully go back.

I don't know the where or the when associated with blurry shot, or any of the other photos in the batch. Best guess would be early to mid 1960s, but perhaps we'll be able to refine that a bit more once all of the photos are here for folks to crowd-source.

The Edgemar sign, as shown in this photo, might refer to Edgemar Dairy in Santa Monica, California. Here's a wonderful recollection, written by a person named Sherri and posted on Chowhound in 2014:
"Growing up in Southern California, 1950s & 60s - A couple of times a week, Otto from Edgemar dairy arrived with milk and whatever else he thought we needed. There was a slot built into our house with metal doors on both sides so he could put it in and we could take it out from the kitchen. He rarely used this since he just walked into the house to re-supply. As kids, we always wanted him to leave sweets but we got eggs, cream et al instead. The Helms bakery man brought us all manners of baked goods. Our ice cream man was grumpy so we called him the Bad Humor Man but he always found a root beer popscicle for me. I never knew that you could buy hairbrushes at the store because of The Fuller Brush man who supplied us with every kind of brush imaginable. Later, early 80s, Virginia Beach, we had a Mennonite dairy deliver milk. It was my huge splurge since it cost more than twice as much as milk from the USN commissary. He also brough ice cream (rarely since it was sinful) and heavy cream that literally stood a spoon in the little glass bottle. Fond memories all."
(Full disclosure: Otto from Edgemar Dairy is no relation.)

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