Do you remember your first ever visit to a supermarket ?

A small Tesco supermarket had opened at the top of our road. I was excited about trying it.
I had put a few things in the basket, felt faint and passed out knocking down a display of cereals.
I was about six weeks pregnant and had never fainted before.
Not the best supermarket visit.

OMG AGAA4, That was a memorable trip ! How awful.

Victor Values which morphed into Tesco’s. When Jack Cohen said stack em high, sell them cheap he wasn’t joking.

I remember Lennons - which was all frozen food - a bit like Farmfoods I suppose. It was in the 70s when everyone was buying chest freezers.

I remember going to Fine Fare with my mum, in 1971. I was about 11 then.

No, recollection whatsoever. Self service sort of crept up on me, probably starting with quite a small corner shop and creeping up. I remember when I went to university the shop nearest my hall of residence was a Co-op self service.

I do remember the first timeI went into a really big supermarket. This, I think, was in the mid 70s, and was an ASDA somewhere near Helensburgh in Scotland, where we were staying with friends. I was gobsmacked by the size and quantity of goods.

I do remember buying 2 large plastic trolley bags there that lasted me well over 20 years before they fell apart. I like to dwell on how many hundreds or even thousands of disposable plastic bags were not used as a result of those bags, is a cosolation when I see the damage those disposable bags have done to the environment.

AGAA4 I fainted three weeks in a row in our local Sainsbury’s, when I was pregnant. I was so embarrassed I went to Tesco for a few months.

My first supermarket visit must have been in 1968.
The reason I can date it is because my mum bought me a colouring by numbers toy in the shop, and i remember taking one of the pictures in to school after I had done it, and i was in first year juniors at the time.

I don’t remember my first visit but I remember my parents coming back from their first visit to the new Tesco in 1961, the first outside of the London area and for some years the largest in Europe. I recall them bringing in a couple of cardboard boxes full of tinned stuff. Mum continued to shop locally for everything else.

I remember when I was still at school, our local co op changed to self service. as you went in the door there were baskets in a sort of wooden framework...about 16 of them all numbered
you took a basket and put your shopping bag in the space..getting checked out the girl at the desk new what bag to give you....if the baskets were all being used you had to wait your turn...I'd like to see that now...

I don’t recall the first time I went to a supermarket but I do remember my first encounter with a supermarket conveyor belt, which seemed to be absolutely magical! It was in Pricerite in Canterbury. The buildings are long gone, it’s Fenwicks nowadays.

The Co-op at our local shopping parade converted to self service. My Mum went in with my young brother, then about three. When she arrived home she found that he’d put two packs of fish fingers in her shopping bag while her back was turned. She had to take them back but I don’t know if they had defrosted by then!

I recall as a small child being totally mesmerised at how quickly the checkout operators fingers moved to hit the huge keys to enter the prices of all the goods into the cash register.

When we got home my mum would religiously check the till receipt for mistakes - I don’t remember her finding any.

It would have been in 1960. There was a small shop with baskets that allowed you to choose your food and put it in a basket. Then pay at a till. Up to then we lined up and asked the shopkeeper for the goods we wanted. It was very strange.

I remember going to a coop supermarket with my mum, not sure if it was the first time, she only bought tinned goods, she would always buy fray bentos steak and kidney pies in a tin. But she would still only but fresh goods from local shops as usual.

I think it was in Bromley and I have a vague memory of it . Not having to queue for meat etc and watching the slicing machine but just taking it to a till ready wrapped. I would have still been at primary school.

I have vague memories of going to Victor Value with my mother.
We returned to David Greigs and buying our food from individual shops as no one liked the food .
Things have changed .
Now I fo the bulk of my shop in Iceland -which I 4hink was once Bejams

Coopers in Byres Road in Glasgow, probably late 50s or early 60s. Presumably it was converted from a traditional shop. I still remember the wire baskets and the smell of ground coffee.

Wow, that a memory.. as a Child I remember a shop called "Victor Values" it had a grand opening, in our local area. It was a first in the city, I think.
Remember going with my mum and being miffed I was too big to sit in the little seat in the shopping cart, but perfect for my little sister.
It was almost magical all those goods, think I must have been about 6 years old. It eventually morphed into many names I can't remember but I do recall it opening.

I'm quite shocked! I remember going to Caters in the Market Square Bromley. It was one of the first supermarkets ever built and it was so exciting that the first time we went, it was like a family outing. There was my Mum and Dad and me, my Nan and Grandad and one of my Aunts and Uncles.

I'm shocked as I've just looked it up and it was 1957. A lifetimme ago.

My memory was Budgens in the Holloway road London

Sainsbury’s in Marylebone High Street, about 1962: was a small supermarket. I was a student in London and bought almost all my food there. I also have a faint memory of a Cohen’s supermarket at the same date, which became Tesco eventually.

Grandma70s

Sainsbury’s in Marylebone High Street, about 1962: was a small supermarket. I was a student in London and bought almost all my food there. I also have a faint memory of a Cohen’s supermarket at the same date, which became Tesco eventually.

I also remember this lovely Sainsbury's which I used when I was a student living in a bedsit in the area in the late 60's. They didn't really do much in the way of ready meals, but did quite delicious faggots in a foil tray which I cooked in my Baby Belling. Also rice which came uncooked in a sachet complete with herbs or spices.

I'd been in some small supermarkets in the early 60's but the first large one was around 1972, a Safeway which seemed huge and had a lovely deli counter.
Sad that Morrisons seem to be going the way of all UK supermarkets now and removing deli's, they were always very popular in the supermarkets that we visited and were a great way to avoid buying more prepacked food than we needed.

I remember when I was a very small child going in Sainsburys with my mother, each counter had a tiled wall behind it with illustrations of what each counter sold. Then we moved out of London and we used to go to the little corner shop across the road, Rowleys, where food like butter, flour, cheese and sugar etc were weighed out and wrapped in paper. Then great excitement when Budgens opened in the high street of our village. It was very full of shelves and very cramped, no trolleys could have been used. The biggest attraction was being given green shield stamps (double on certain days or offers) rushing home to stick them in the book and pour over the catalogue!