The Rise Of The Supermarket (October/november 1985 | Volume: 36, Issue: 6)

The Rise Of The Supermarket

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Authors: Tevere Macfadyen

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October/november 1985 | Volume 36, Issue 6

Late last year, on its obituary page, The New York Times acknowledged the passing of a multimillionaire Oklahoma businessman named Sylvan Goldman. SYLVAN N. GOLDMAN, 86, DIES ; the headline read. INVENTOR OF THE SHOPPING CART .

Born before the turn of the century in what was still officially designated the Indian Territory, Sylvan Goldman fought in the Argonne during World War I and returned to join his brother and uncle in establishing a wholesale grocery venture.

By 1936, the Goldmans had absorbed their principal competitor, Humpty Dumpty, and were expanding their Oklahoma City—based chain of Standard Food Stores. Everything seemed to be going well, but early that year Sylvan perceived a distressing phenomenon. He was watching women walk through the aisles of one of his stores, putting their prospective purchases into the wicker baskets supplied for the purpose, and as Goldman remembered it, “They had a tendency to stop shopping when the baskets became too heavy or too full.” Not long afterward, Goldman’s attention fell upon a pair of plain folding chairs. Inspiration struck. What if the chairs were fitted with wheels and baskets were attached to their seats? Wouldn’t that make shopping easier and shoppers thus inclined to purchase more? Goldman sought out a company carpenter and began a series of experiments. Initial prototypes proved unsatisfactory. They folded up on themselves at the slightest provocation and capsized entirely too easily. It took a year to perfect what he dubbed his “folding basket carrier,” a wheeled cart with two wire baskets mounted on it, one offset above the other. In June 1937 the contraption made its debut in Standard stores. The reception, Goldman recalled in a 1977 interview with Charles Kuralt of CBS News, was less than encouraging.

 
 

“I went to our biggest store—there wasn’t a soul using a basket carrier.” This despite the fact that an “attractive girl” was posted at the entrance offering shoppers the new cart. “The housewives, most of ’em decided, ‘No more carts for me. I have been pushing enough baby carriages. I don’t want to push anymore.’”

Goldman’s only takers seemed to be pensioners, and it occurred to the inventor that the public might benefit from some subliminal indoctrination. At each store where the carts were available, Goldman installed a covey of young and middle-aged men and women. He instructed them to wander about incognito, filling their folding carriers. “I told this young lady that was offering carts to the customers to say, ‘Look, everybody’s using them—why not you?’” She did, and they did.

On the short list of those things that Americans take most for granted, the shopping cart must rank fairly high. I am in my thirties. I proudly tell ten-year-old acquaintances that I somehow survived a life without pocket calculators, home computers, or video games. My parents used to say as much to me, only substituting