"An innovation in shopping!"

Refrigerators kept food safe for longer periods, so shoppers could make less frequent  trips to the grocery store. But that required buying more food each time. Sylvan Goldman of the Standard Grocery chain in Oklahoma City enabled a change in shopping habits—and increased his sales—by introducing the first grocery carts in 1937. 

The Saturday Evening Post cover, August 31, 1940

The Saturday Evening Post cover, August 31, 1940

“Can you imagine wending your way through a spacious food market without having to carry a cumbersome shopping basket on your arm?”

—Advertisement in the Oklahoma City Times, June 4, 1937

Cart big enough to hold several days' worth of groceries, 1937

Cart big enough to hold several days' worth of groceries, 1937

Gift of S. N. Goldman

U. S. Patent  for Goldman’s cart, 1939

U. S. Patent  for Goldman’s cart, 1939