I Bet You Can't Remember All 30 of These Things About Grocery Shopping in the 1970s

Comments · 159

• HO

  @HowItUsedToBe · 1 month ago · pinned

  Our store was an A&amp;P, and the thing I can still picture perfectly is the checker, Miss Ruthie, lane three, who rang our entire order from memory without ever looking down at her keys — I used to watch her fingers instead of the groceries, and I genuinely believe she never made a mistake in the fifteen years my mother shopped there. <br> <br>Saturday mornings, the whole family went. My job from about age seven was the Green Stamps — I held them in the car, I licked them into the books at the kitchen table that afternoon, and I still remember the taste of that glue, which I can&apos;t say was good but which I would honestly pay to taste one more time. We redeemed three and a half books for a table lamp in 1976 and my mother kept that lamp until the day she passed. <br> <br>The A&amp;P closed in the 80s and the building became a furniture store, then nothing. <br> <br>So tell me. Two things. The grocery store your family shopped at — the actual chain name, especially if it&apos;s gone. And the one thing about that store you can still picture perfectly. Both. I read every single one. <br> <br>👇

  16

• FL

  @flshgordon01 · 1 month ago

  5 cent soda bottle returns

  24

• BR

  @brucehagen485 · 1 month ago

  I was in the grocery business for 46 years. I retired 2 years ago. Everything in your video is accurate. I remember it all and miss it very much. Interacting with the customers and learning their names was one of the best parts of the job. Thank you for this!

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• LA

  @laurah8343 · 1 month ago

  And after shopping was done,the paper bags would be saved and refolded flat and neatly stored for reuse in school crafts,book covers,shipping paper over a package to be mailed and anything else they could hold stacked in the garage until trash day.<br>The shopping bags were bonus gold

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• TH

  @theresaholloway6883 · 1 month ago

  I miss the 70s we never had recalls on food was real food and the vegetables and fruits were good back then

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• GL

  @GlennRussSr · 1 month ago

  A .25 cents toy ride outside grocery exit

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• ME

  @melindamohoski3083 · 1 month ago

  As a newlywed in the 1970s money was tight and green stamps were a life saver. We saved the books for a year and did our Christmas shopping that way. We gave some very nice gifts we never could have.

  6

• PA

  @Pamer21 · 1 month ago (edited)

  My dad was the butcher at our local Winn-Dixie. When I was 15, he got me a job there. It was 1979. I became the fastest checker there, along with another girl named Tessa. Which led to our lines being the longest. My boss would have to walk out to the customers and ask them to please allow one of the other girls to check them out. Yes, we knew every price by heart and were so fast, we had flying hands. 😂 &nbsp;Usually had to bag the items as well, because when you called for a bag boy, they were always outside having a smoke. 🤬<br> &nbsp; &nbsp; Great video. Thank you for the memory reload!<br> &nbsp; <b>*EDIT*</b> &nbsp;It was a different time. We had a young guy once, who was caught trying to steal a 6 pack of Similac (baby formula) My boss told him to go ahead and take it. Then my boss came to me and said, &quot;Pam, ring it up hon&quot; then he took the money from his wallet and paid for it. &quot;Someone stealing baby formula is desperate&quot; , he told me

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• VI

  @VirginaCarbery · 1 month ago

  Two things I remember that aren’t mentioned are: boxes of laundry soap having pieces of bath towel sets included with the detergent, and grocery stores that gave you the opportunity to purchase non-grocery items like dinner were, glasses, silverware, books and other items for little money, specializing in one item each week or month.

  6

• SA

  @samiam4u2003 · 1 month ago

  When I was a kid, 1970’s, we used to shop at IGA in Stuart’s Draft Va. &nbsp;it’s long gone now but I remember the smell of the produce section, especially the bananas….the Coca Cola Christmas decorations that used to hang from the ceiling at Christmas and the cashier that we used to always see. &nbsp;Her name was Jean Brown. &nbsp;Such great memories!

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• AM

  @AM-ek5rm · 1 month ago

  Piggly wiggly. Getting s&amp;h stamps and also it might have been Safeway but I loved how things were much more personable at the register and the sackers were fast and knew what they were doing for the most part.

  8

• RO

  @robinking7744 · 1 month ago (edited)

  In the early 80s I worked in &nbsp;a small local market on the California coast. Sam owned the grocery store and Duane was the butcher that owned the meat counter within the store. Fresh produce was brought in each morning and I had to memorize every single price for each item. The stock boys had their price guns, faced the shelves and after closing mopped the floors. I had to individually enter each price by hand on an old-school register and counted back the change to the customer. There was a &quot;shame list&quot; next to the register of the names of those who were not allowed to pay with a personal check. I had to reconcile my drawer at the end of my shift. Those were the days... ✌️

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