City
What grocery stores used to look like in Toronto
Following the popularity of my vintage gas stations post of a few weeks back, my latest in my archival adventures involves another urban element with which we're all familiar: the grocery store. After doing a few of these historical photo posts, one thing that's become quite clear is that it's the most familiar subjects that tend to evoke powerful nostalgia.
One would imagine this is because changes to these most familiar things — TTC vehicles, intersections we frequent regularly, service centres, etc. — tend to mark the passage of time most dramatically. Although they may strike us as perfunctory in the present, when we see how much they've changed over the years, it's oddly eye-opening. It's as though by looking back, we see them for very first time.
On a more practical level, these photos make it quite plain how much more sanitized supermarkets have become. While this tendency might not appear quite as stark it does when looking at old photos of the St. Lawrence Market, it's still intriguing to note the amount of butchering that went on in-house. Also interesting to track is the sheer growth in size of these outfits. Loblaws and Sobeys (née Dominion and A & P), for instance, had quite humble beginnings as neighborhood grocery stores before expanding to cover the city with supercentres.
1900s
William Davies Store (Queen and Bay)
1910s
Meat Display (unidentified location)
First Loblaws, 511 Yonge St.
1920s
Brunswick Meat Market, Bloor St.
1930s
Scott's, Davenport and Dupont
Stop and Shop, Avenue Road and Dupont
Loblaws Warehouse, Bathurst and Fleet
On the Danforth
1940s
Dominion, Yonge and Bedford Park Rd.
Dominion, near Old City Hall (via Grocerymania on Flickr)
1950s
Dominion, Cloverdale Mall
Dominion, Cloverdale Mall
Dominion, Cloverdale Mall
Dominion, Cloverdale Mall
Dominion, Avenue Road (south of St. Clair)
Loblaws iced tea display
Loblaws, Bathurst and Glencairn
Power Supermarket (2055 Danforth Avenue, more info here)
Power Supermarket staff
Via jbcurio on Flickr
Via jbcurio on Flickr
1960s
Dominion, near Yonge and Eglinton
Steinberg's, Bathurst and Shepherd
All images from the Toronto Archives unless otherwise marked.
Discussion
37 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
The discount is called "time saved not waiting in line".
2. Your little "protest" is not going to do anything. If all the big chains went to non-human checkouts, do you think they are going to care if you decide not to go to them (and consequently spend more money at a convenience store)?
I love when people overvalue their importance.
People want decent prices yet have a problem when stores come up with ways that save money and thus enable them to charge a little less.
And yeah it's cheaper still to do self serve.
"In some ways, it was inevitable. Automation isn’t just a blue-collar problem anymore. Powerful software programs replaced armies of financial officers, accountants, computer-chip designers, even lawyers, who now feed millions of documents into “e-discovery” programs. Job growth in management, technology, and other white-collar professions slowed to nearly zero."
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/17/dead-suit-walking.html
Aside from the fact that "it could never happen to me" is a piss-poor excuse for not caring about what happens to the economic and social health of your community, it's shown time and again to come back and bite the utterer in the ass.
"In some ways, it was inevitable. Automation isn’t just a blue-collar problem anymore. Powerful software programs replaced armies of financial officers, accountants, computer-chip designers, even lawyers, who now feed millions of documents into “e-discovery” programs. Job growth in management, technology, and other white-collar professions slowed to nearly zero."
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/17/dead-suit-walking.html
Aside from the fact that "it could never happen to me" is a piss-poor excuse for not caring about what happens to the economic and social health of your community, it's shown time and again to come back and bite the utterer in the ass.
Also, read my comment again. The "it could never happen to me" logic was not why I was for automated machines.
It is to bad Conrad Black chopped up Dominion Stores, it was a wonderful Company to work for.
People who like automated check-outs, some day they may replace you, youu don't have to give them a raise or pay them benefits, and they rarely get sick. But remember if we always take care of each other we will always be happy.
To Badlands, sounds like you shop in a horrible store, never seen anything like that before.
I once went to buy a can of juice at the local Metro many years ago. The line up was long, and I forgot to get my change out in time to pay the cashier (around $2.00). The cashier cursed at me for not getting the money out of my pocket in time. I avoided that place for a while (only late night shopping at Loblaws Queen's Quay Market) until they got self-serves at Metro and I didn't have to deal with the sour-face lady when buying things in any lineup.