The making of the modern supermarket : self-service adoption in British food retailing, 1950-1975 / Bridget Salmon, Andrew Godley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salmon, Bridget, 1957- author.

Godley, Andrew, 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Supermarkets--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Supermarkets.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Other Title:

Self-service adoption in British food retailing, 1950-1975

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

The Making of the Modern Supermarket describes the emergence and growth of the modern supermarket format in Britain, showing how the original American innovation of self-service was adapted to the different postwar British context in a number of ways.

"This book describes the emergence and growth of the modern supermarket format in Britain, showing how the original American innovation of self-service adapted to the different postwar British context in a number of ways. During the early 1960s various retailers began to experiment with supermarket formats. Sainsbury’s moved slowly into self-service, but began to develop a different model, emphasizing fresh foods and perishable goods. This led it to pursue a more expensive path as it invested in self-service, creating a novel supermarket format by the end of the 1960s that became the most popular and the template for others to follow"-- Oxford Academic

Contents:

The scholarly history of supermarkets and the poverty of data

The diffusion of the self-service format to Britain and to Europe

The early adopters and self-service format experimentation

Comparative performance in British food retailing and the Sainsbury self-service format experiments from the 1950s to c. 1970

Comparing investment strategies across the food retailing sector in the 1960s

Sainsbury’s capital investments in self-service, 1958-1972

Labour : the transformation of staffing roles

The evolution of one-stop shopping and the Sainsbury supermarket format

The impact of the Sainsbury family on the development of the Sainsbury’s supermarket.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from digital title page (Oxford Academic, viewed January 5, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Salmon, Bridget, 1957- Making of the modern supermarket

ISBN:

9780191747762

0191747769

9780198956235

0198956231

9780198956228

0198956223

OCLC:

1517246969

Publisher Number:

CIPO000226287

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license