A Revolution in Food Shopping
Supermarkets transformed the food shopping experience by providing a wide variety of goods, self-service, and consistent pricing. Dependent on volume sales and a large customer base, supermarkets thrived in newly built suburban shopping centers that offered plenty of free parking, a necessity for car-dependent suburbanites.
Shopping center postcard, around 1960
Courtesy of Special Collections, Lakeland Public Library
Publix Super Markets built suburban strip malls in Florida, anchored by their own stores. Their supermarkets were early to offer air-conditioning, bright lighting, expansive frozen food cases, and magic-eye automatic doors.