Fancy a historic store-check via Sainsbury's reopening of first supermarket site?

Sainsbury’s has gone back to its roots today with the opening of its new West Croydon Local store. The new convenience store, which is on London Road, is on the same site as one of Britain’s earliest ever self-service supermarkets. It was the first store to be converted to self-service in 1950. This innovation was the idea of Alan Sainsbury, grandson of founder John James Sainsbury, who decided to launch the format after visiting the United States to study retail. At that time most store were counters where customers gave staff their shopping lists and waited whilst their goods were packaged for them. This new format put the power in the hands of the shopper making it a much more enjoyable experience for customers.

The original self-service process (click for larger image)
   

Win a few, lose a few…?

The only drawback was the fact that some shoppers took self-service literally, and thus ushered in the era of shrinkage…