20 Photos That Show What Grocery Shopping Looked Like in the 1960s
These vintage photos reveal what grocery stores looked like in the 1960s, from paper bags to glass bottles. Long before self-checkout and mobile apps, shoppers wandered bright aisles filled with jingling registers, tidy uniforms, and the unmistakable rhythm of small-town life. This gallery offers a colorful look back at the simple, bustling charm of the neighborhood market.
1. The Cash Registers Clacked
Remember when every sale came with the satisfying ka-ching of a sturdy metal register, the kind that sent a tiny puff of paper curling out with every purchase? Plus, in the ’60s, cashiers wore crisp white uniforms and tallied totals by hand.
2. Women Wore Rollers in Their Hair Without a Care
Who are all these women putting on a full face of makeup before running errands nowadays? It’s tragic.
3. Cash Only
No swiping, no tapping, and no punching in PINS were required in the 1960s. Cash was king.
4. Supermarket Socializing
Be honest: You’ve seen someone you know at the grocery store and have averted your eyes, tucked your chin, and pressed on. In the ’60s, if you saw a friend in the baking aisle, you stopped to say hello and then got into a lengthy conversation about what you were going to go home and bake, then somehow wound up talking about what Sally’s husband said to her at the fondue party last Saturday.
5. Shoppers Took Their Time
Remember not needing to rush through the grocery store (or your other errands) because life was just slower? Not anymore.
6. Low Prices?!
What we wouldn’t give for a grocery store touting low prices … or straightforward advertising, for that matter.
7. The Branding
Nothing evokes grocery-driven nostalgia quite like 1960s branding.
8. All Hands on Deck
The grand opening of this Piggly Wiggly store required an army of cashiers at the ready. We can’t even imagine a scene like this today.
9. Barely Any Plastic in Sight
Tin cans, cardboard, and glass ruled packaging in the ’60s. Everything now is overrun with plastic waste.
10. Bring Back Sample Girls
Shoppers today would feel like celebrities standing on a red carpet if they walked up to the grocery entrance and were met with a free sample of Pepsi.
11. Aisle Signs Were More Descriptive
Did you even have to ask a clerk where something was when the signs were so detailed?
12. Different Design Choices
Carpet. In the grocery store?! Anyone who has experienced this needs to sound off in the comments with what it was like because this ’90s baby writer is baffled.
13. The Place To Be
Today’s grocery stores are typically only overly crowded when the date is hugging a holiday, but in the ’60s — before curbside was commonplace — grocery stores were a bustling place to be.
14. Christmas Magic
The commitment to being festive was palpable in the ’60s. What’s up, 2025 grocery stores? Ya Scrooges.
15. Bring Back Mom and Pops
Sure, we still have small-town IGAs, but those tiny mom-and-pop grocery stores need to make a comeback. Who remembers visiting one of these as a kid, no parents necessary?
16. Where Products Collide
I wonder if the reason why kids started eating Tide Pods stemmed from the fact that you used to be able to buy detergent and cereal in the same aisle.
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