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The UK’s first self-service supermarket opened 75 years ago, changing the way we shop forever. The store in East London\u2019s Manor Park was opened by the Co-op in January 1948.<\/p>\n
Before the advent of the supermarket, shopkeepers would serve customers individually, asking what they needed and getting it from shelves and measuring out items to order.<\/p>\n
This process, due to the long amount of time it took, was often a pleasurable and social pastime rather than a chore.<\/p>\n
But when large numbers of women entered the workforce during the war, queues in grocery stores got longer and free time was reduced.<\/p>\n
One organisation took it upon itself to modernise.<\/p>\n
READ MORE <\/strong> Tesco founder’s unique inspiration behind company name revealed[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n With self-service supermarkets, they could walk among the stock on shelves and choose items for themselves. Items were already priced and pre-packed.<\/p>\n They were already popular in the US, with the first Piggly-Wiggly supermarket opening in 1916. Self-service stores were common by the 1930s.<\/p>\n By the end of the 1950s, they were all over the UK. Tesco, which started as a market stall in London, opened a self-service store in St Albans later in 1948.<\/p>\n DON’T MISS <\/strong> ![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/141\/590x\/secondary\/5082033.jpg?r=1700821782320\")
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