Sylvan Goldman – RovingRaconteurs.com

Walking Into a Bookstore

Monday, August 23, 2020

Do you consider yourself a good shopper? I mean, do you look for bargains, value, quality? Do you try to stretch your dollars? Yeah, we do, too! Actually, we tend to think of ourselves as the consummate shoppers. We have shopped for our homes. We comparison shop for cars. We dig in and study cruises and vacation choices. We’re always looking for a good price on the best product. And we do so knowing full well that Realtors, car salesmen, travel agents, merchants and grocers are all doing their very best to get top dollar for their products!!! It is, after all, the way of commerce.

So, we were fascinated to find the article, “Rolling, Rolling”, in the September 2020 issue of Food Network Magazine. This single-page spread detailed Sylvan Goldman’s eureka-moment when he realized he could “help” his customers buy more!

1 (640x475) — The September 2020 issue of Food Network Magazine detailed the invention of the ubiquitous shopping cart. What would we do without it?

Back in the day, consumers would shop by asking a clerk for whatever product they wanted. The clerk would fetch each item. Not until 1916 was the “self-service” concept introduced. The Piggly-Wiggly grocery store, founded by Clarence Saunders, revolutionized the shopping experience by providing wicker baskets for customers to use while shopping and having a “cashier” to finalize the shopping transaction. And then, 20 years later, Sylvan Goldman noticed that customers in his Oklahoma Humpty-Dumpty grocery store chain (don’t you just love these grocery store names!!!) would finish shopping when their baskets were full. He experimented with two removable baskets on a rolling frame to entice his customers to stay longer and buy more. The shopping cart was born!!!

The handbaskets are useful for quick trips or small needs.

But the shopping cart is best for stocking up-especially during a pandemic!!! — But the shopping cart is best for stocking up—especially during a pandemic!!!

OK, I hear you saying, “So what? Why write a blog post about shopping carts?”

Well, just think, where would we be without the shopping cart during this pandemic? How could we stock-up on toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, water, jugs of wine and late-night TV snacks without a large, mobile, portable, transfer device?!? This pandemic is tough enough. Thank goodness for Sylvan Goldman who made it possible for us to, at least, transport the necessities of “stay-at-home” comforts.