When did grocery carts appear in the supermarkets, and who invented them?
November 15, 1898, 110 years ago, in the small American town of Ardmore (Oklahoma), not to be confused with a New Zealand city, in the family of an emigrant from Latvia, the owner of a small store named Goldman had a son, who was named Silvan. He was the youngest in the family and his parents with their older brothers did not spare anything for the boy. In any case, he was sent to school not in simple, but in private, where the children of wealthy parents studied. Accordingly, knowledge was given at a higher level. When Silvan was 16 years old, the First World War began. Part of the men were drafted into the army, so the guy had to help his father and uncle in the haberdashery shop, where he carried out any assignments: he was an accountant, a loader, and most often, the older ones used him as a kind of barker. The shop was mainly used by women who belonged to Sylvan as a mother. Especially those whose sons fought in Europe … To whom the war, and to whom – the school of courage … Soon Goldman Jr. came to a call-up age, he was drafted into the army and sent overseas to France. Here he was assigned a very important matter – to be a battalion cook. This allowed Silvan to study the peculiarities of trade in one of the most developed European countries, because he often had to buy something tasty, besides what went into the American army in the central supply. From the war, Sylvan returned in March 1920, matured and “hungry” to the present. Convinced that he was a serious young man, elder brother Alfred suggested that the youngest create his own business. The money allocated by the father was enough to buy a warehouse where the brothers placed a wholesale warehouse for the sale of fruit. It happened on April 3, 1920. The brothers themselves traveled around Oklahoma and other US states in order to find cheaper goods. And once in California, they saw a wonder-shop, in which practically all food and non-food items that one could imagine were collected: dairy, meat, household chemicals, and haberdashery. “Come on and we will build this in ourselves,” suggested Alfred to Silvan, “it’s convenient when you can buy everything under the same roof …” Goldman and everything, everything, everything It is said – done. They opened one store, then when things got better, the second one. And a year and a half later, there were two dozen stores owned by the Goldman brothers throughout America. All this was combined into one trading network, which was called somewhat pretentiously – “Sun’s Grocery.” And, surprisingly, the elder brother offered the younger one to become president of the company, and he himself took the post of vice-president. It was a winning move, because Silvan felt in the market like a fish in water. It was he who felt that the crisis of overproduction begins in agriculture and suggested that Alfred sell their business before it is too late. They managed to do this a few months before the Great American Depression began, and the proceeds were invested in a reliable bank. This turned out to be a very wise move, because the chain stores “collapsed” one after the other. The lifelong kid, Brainy Silvan, was on time between the tracks and the “critical point” of the crisis, and again, for Blesir, after consulting with his brother, he bought the Haltai-Dumpty sales network almost for nothing. Why for a blazer? The fact is that by that time Sil was already married, this solemn event took place on June 7, 1931, and his chosen Margaret, whom the newly made husband called “Baby Katz”, turned out to be practical not less than her husband and was an adviser and confidant of Goldman for more than half a century . First of all, he consulted with his “Baby”. So, after minor repairs, the Humpty Dumpty stores started working again. And almost immediately stood out, began to differ markedly from their competitors. Firstly, there was a very professional staff who tried to guess any customer’s desires, secondly, Goldman never missed advertising, and finally he was used to delivering the best to the store, but from time to time he carried out promotions selling some goods with a substantial discount … The country slowly came to its senses after the depression, people began to spend more money on purchases, sometimes there was not enough of one basket for goods, and then Goldman came up with a brilliant move – as soon as the shopper’s basket was filled, he immediately grew up Al loader, which he attributed to the checkout Products … Monte Cristo to help the Pope How trolley was invented for transportation products? The first version is this. Once, Margaret looked into the supermarket with their eldest son, whom they named Monte Cristo in honor of the hero Alexander Dumas. My son decided to help mommy and, bravely lifting her cart, put it on his toy truck. And then he proudly drove past his father: look, they say, what I am already an adult assistant. Forces, of course, noted this to himself. But something else caught him. Yeah, if a kid can carry a heavy trolley on wheels, so why not an adult? This will significantly facilitate the delivery of goods to the checkout …