Selling by Supermarket : article in : Art & Industry : Studio Ltd. : London : June 1956 : pages 182 & 183
By the mid-1950s the concept of supermarket and self-service reatil shopping was becoming established in the UK. This article from the June 1956 issue of "Art & Industry" magazine looks as the trend and the changes in design this required. This was two-fold; firstly the shelving units, or 'gondolas', that allowed visibilty of products as well as flexibility of layout for the shop, and the changes to the packaging design for goods to be sold via supermarkets and self-service. This latter involved ensuring that packaging was durable and was highly legible for shoppers to allow for recognition.
In terms of shopping fittings and equipments various interiors and layouts are shown as well as examples of units from manufacturers such as Parnall's and their 'Shomore' range.
I've scanned some sample double page spreads.
This, the opening pages, shows a colourful array of goods in a "bigger" supermarket using 'Gondola" units made by Parnall & Sons Ltd. Parnall's had a long an fasciating history dating back to the 1820s and based in Bristol. They moved into shop and ship fittings as well as aircraft and component manufacturing.
The coffee tin is of "supermarket coffee" and is for Premier Supermarkets who were a division of the Express Dairies company and may well have used various branches of their retail shops as early branches of the chain. Their first supermarket shop was opened in Streatham, South London, in 1951. A decade later management attempts to expand by buying an existing chain of shops in N W England failed to attract the board's support and the chain was sold off to Tesco who sold it on to Unilever/MacFisheries in 1964.
Selling by Supermarket : article in : Art & Industry : Studio Ltd. : London : June 1956 : pages 182 & 183
By the mid-1950s the concept of supermarket and self-service reatil shopping was becoming established in the UK. This article from the June 1956 issue of "Art & Industry" magazine looks as the trend and the changes in design this required. This was two-fold; firstly the shelving units, or 'gondolas', that allowed visibilty of products as well as flexibility of layout for the shop, and the changes to the packaging design for goods to be sold via supermarkets and self-service. This latter involved ensuring that packaging was durable and was highly legible for shoppers to allow for recognition.
In terms of shopping fittings and equipments various interiors and layouts are shown as well as examples of units from manufacturers such as Parnall's and their 'Shomore' range.
I've scanned some sample double page spreads.
This, the opening pages, shows a colourful array of goods in a "bigger" supermarket using 'Gondola" units made by Parnall & Sons Ltd. Parnall's had a long an fasciating history dating back to the 1820s and based in Bristol. They moved into shop and ship fittings as well as aircraft and component manufacturing.
The coffee tin is of "supermarket coffee" and is for Premier Supermarkets who were a division of the Express Dairies company and may well have used various branches of their retail shops as early branches of the chain. Their first supermarket shop was opened in Streatham, South London, in 1951. A decade later management attempts to expand by buying an existing chain of shops in N W England failed to attract the board's support and the chain was sold off to Tesco who sold it on to Unilever/MacFisheries in 1964.