-=> Quoting Ruth Haffly to Nancy Backus on 07-28-19  17:30 <=-

 RH>>> You can always Google to find out. (G) IIRC, they were the first
 RH>>> store to have shopping carts and brown grocery bags.
 NB>>> One could Google, anyway...  I'd've thought A&P likely to have
 NB>>> had the first carts and brown bags, though.... I suppose they
 NB>>> might have come up with them about the same time...   I don't
 NB>>> remember any major grocery stores without them, to be honest...
 RH>> I've always known them from the time I could remember.
 NB>> So any knowledge of who might have been first would be from some
 NB>> store's claims, not from actual knowledge...

 RH> IIRC, they were invented somewhere in the early part of the 20th
 RH> century. Can't tell you exactly when, but somehow this seems to stick
 RH> in my memory.

So, before our times, in any case...   
 
 NB>>> I was still fairly young when we moved to MS... I remember
 NB>>> roller skating down to the corner store in Crawfordsville IN,
 NB>>> though, to pick up bread or such... I was no more than 5
 NB>>> there...  
 RH>> I wasn't allowed to go to the store by myself until somewhat
 RH>> older but the store was more of a distance from where we
 RH>> lived. Road (no sidewalks until we got to town proper) wasn't
 RH>> condusive for skating either, had we the skates. (G)
 NB>> Mommy had 2-3 younger children (one an infant, if it were 3), and
 NB>> Daddy off at the college... besides, the store was closer than the
 NB>> school I walked to for kindergarten... we did have sidewalks, but,
 NB>> as I recall, there was a bit of a hill, downhill to the store...

 RH> The stores were further away from where we lived, on the other side of
 RH> the school, in more the middle of town (small town of about 800
 RH> people). The first few years my parents lived in the area, they rented
 RH> a house across the street from where they eventually built a house. The
 RH> rental was just outside village limits so when my brother started
 RH> school, he was bussed. The school kept up with the bussing when we
 RH> moved across the street, inside the village limits, but if we stayed
 RH> after for activities, walking home was not a problem.
 
When I was older (and we were living somewhere else), I didn't have a
problem with walking home from school, even when it was measured in
miles (maybe 4 or 5?)... but then, I was also a highschooler by then...
and it was in the Philly outer suburbs.... 

 NB>> As to school, one day I brought my 3-y-o sister with me (it was a
 NB>> special day when we were encouraged to bring a family member, as
 NB>> I recall)....

 RH> You probably gave your parents a good scare there. (G)

No, I think that it was all planned out ahead of time, so they knew I
was going to be doing it.... I already would go with her a couple of
blocks to the Baptist church where there was a Bible club or
something... we did that on our own, with me being in charge... We'd go
there as a family on a Sunday night for the evening service fairly
often, as the closest church, even of a sister denomination, was quite a
ways away, in Indianapolis....
 
 NB>> I had to cross one busy street, there was a crossing guard/
 NB>> policeman there to get me across safely... 

 RH> And the guard didn't think it unusual for you to have a younger
 RH> sibling with you?

I'm sure that I gravely explained it all to him...   I was already
very responsible for my age... (G)
 
 RH>> Had a mom and pop grocery store, A&P & Victory Market in town for
 RH>> the longest time, then two were closed down. A&P was sold out to
 RH>> another chain (Freshtown) some years ago, can't say the store is
 RH>> much of any better for the change.
 NB>> They all tend to be a lot alike, in most cases....    I have
 NB>> vague memories at best of the specific stores, now... but then
 NB>> we were only in IN for 2 years, and then in MS for 4... and
 NB>> Jackson MS was a pretty big place, even then.... 

 RH> I lived in M'ville until I went to college, then was in and out for 4
 RH> years. Got married, moved away and have been back off and on since.
 RH> When Freshtown took over the A&P, people there were complaining about
 RH> the higher prices. Steve and I shopped there a number of times, found
 RH> the prices about the same as we pay here in NC. Guess it's just a
 RH> matter of perspective.

Perspective does play a large part.... 

ttyl      neb

... "Th-th-that's easy t-t-to f-f-fix."  "That's easy for you to say."

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