What USED to be in shops?

angchris

my grandfather ran the village shop from the 30`s till when the shop closed in the 70`s and all his kids had a specific job in the shop. the counter had a meat slicing machine and you could buy meat per slice. the salt came in big blocks and was sold in slices and vinegar was decanted out of a big barrel into jars/bottles etc that the customers brought in.
i remember my grandad telling me that when the shop first had electric (due to a big generator) he bought the first freezer in the village and none of the villagers would buy anything out of the freezer as they didn`t trust it because it was modern jiggerypokery and freezing food couldn`t possibly work :rotfl: bread was baked daily by the ovens that are still in situe in my mum n dads dining room. it was my aunts and uncles job to deliver food every friday and as well as food they delivered the post.
i love looking at old piccys of my family behind the counter selling homemade sweets and cakes, preserves and chutneys, cheese and meatpies.
the robert opie museum was fantastic, sadly it has moved to london now.

exlibris

Angchris

Thanks for the news about the Robert Opie museum. My sister used to live in Gloucester and I used to love visiting the museum and all the small shops in the dock area.

Skint_Catt

If anyones in the Midlands the shops at both the Black Country Museum and Bliss Hill, Ironbridge are fantastic places to browse! Golden Lyle Syrup, Colemans Mustard, the old marble cheese blocks with cutting wire, rabbits hanging from the ceiling, old weighing scales, prices in old money (which at Bliss Hill you can exchange 'current' money for and try and work it out!)! We got some freshly baked still hot cinnamon roll at the Bliss Hill bakery - lush! The lady in the Pharmacy at Bliss Hill is a fountain of knowledge!
(They both have the old sweet shops too )

Catt xx

Kadeeae

thriftlady wrote: »

:wave: I'm here

Very interesting question. I have a book called Food Glorious Food -Eating and Drinking with Good Housekeeping 1922-1942. It is full of articles and adverts from the magazine during those years. The thing that stands out is the amount of adverts for manufactured foods.

Do you KNOW what you are costing me in books? :rotfl:As we don't have lots of space, usually when I want to read a book I 'order' it from the local library, but these sorts of books I buy because I want to keep them for reference later. I'm starting quite a collection! I just knew I could count on you to come up with something :T

jinny - Thanks, it's really very interesting to me and I look forward to you adding to the list!

I have a couple of Robert Opie book ( or two?) and a few of the tin signs in my kitchen, and will be visiting Yesterday's World near me in Great Yarmouth in a few weeks time.
Hopefully there will be a 'Corner Shop' set up somewhere inside.

Kadeeae

thriftlady wrote: »

:hello: I'm here:D

Very interesting question. I have a book called Food Glorious Food -Eating and Drinking with Good Housekeeping 1922-1942.

Sorry for the double post Is the book by Brian Braithwaite? If so, I think I've found tons of used ones on Amazon - starting at just £1.29.

If he's the author, I'm gettin' me one!

THIRZAH

I remember biscuits being sold loose out of deep, square tins. Our village grocer had a chair by the counter too but my mother usually had her weekly grocery order delivered. It used to come in a small cardboard box. If she'd ordered a packet of soap powder it would be wrapped in newspaper.

The butcher delivered too and the baker's van came three times a week.

I used to like a pudding called "Honeycomb Mould" which was like a milk jelly that seperated into layers. Also we used to get a kind of lemonade crystal that came in a tube with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the end.When mixed with water it made a large jugful of bright yellow lemonade. The butcher-the only shop with a freezer-used to sell little individual lemon mousses in cardboard packets.

I'd probably hate all those things now. I bought some "coconut tabacco" from a sweet shop in Canterbury last week-I loved it as a child but it was far too sweet now.

mother_noah

I remember going into the local coop with my mum in the early sixties.No tills ,instead they had a system of brass canisters suspended form the ceiling that went to the cashiers office at the back.Home and colonial store had wonderful tiling and lots of assistants.A small shop nearby had lots of tins of biscuits you could select from ,but never fancied them because it was the favoured sleeping place for her cat!

MoaningMyrtle

We used to have a grocery van in the 1970's. I remember sawdust on the floor of butchers shops and the smell too.

Our local bakery still puts bread in tissue paper.

There are museums with mock-ups of shops, one I have been to is in St Fagans in Cardiff.

Churchmouse

Kadeeae wrote: »

Do you KNOW what you are costing me in books? :rotfl:As we don't have lots of space, usually when I want to read a book I 'order' it from the local library, but these sorts of books I buy because I want to keep them for reference later. I'm starting quite a collection! I just knew I could count on you to come up with something :T

jinny - Thanks, it's really very interesting to me and I look forward to you adding to the list!

I have a couple of Robert Opie book ( or two?) and a few of the tin signs in my kitchen, and will be visiting Yesterday's World near me in Great Yarmouth in a few weeks time.
Hopefully there will be a 'Corner Shop' set up somewhere inside.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Join the queue.:D My Dh loses colour and groans when I say *Guess what, thriftlady recommends............* ( I think she's secretly on commission with amazon;) )

thriftlady_2

Kadeeae wrote: »

Sorry for the double post Is the book by Brian Braithwaite? If so, I think I've found tons of used ones on Amazon - starting at just £1.29.

If he's the author, I'm gettin' me one!

That's the one;) There are several others in a similar vein. I often see them in the library. Talking of which this one is one of my faves to borrow from the library. It has a big double spread showing a wartime larder. It's by Robert Opie and there is a whole series of them.