What were the shops like in world war 2?

Answer 1

During World War 2 in all the countries both allied and axis did not have super markets, super stores or large conglomerate stores for foods or commodities.

Stores of all types were normally independently owned and operated. They were small and often on a main street in a town or village. There were some department stores such as Macy's or Bon Marche or Sears.

Some of the independent stores even had boys who would deliver products to their customers. Some customers could even run up a tab and pay their bill at the end of the month.

During the war era the nations had to invoke rationing of certain food items so the shop owners had to cooperate with the rationing boards and enforce the rationing programs in their stores. They did a good job of it too. The customers basically cooperated with the rationing programs but sometimes gave the shop owners grief about it or their lack of supplies.

In those days the Pharmacies were also the suppliers of medical supplies for the hospitals. Today that is not true. We have manufacturers warehouses for that now.

You would get a kick out of the music stores in the USA. They had little rooms with large glass windows. There were record players in the rooms. Customers could pre-view albums on the record players before they purchased them. There were even musicians who would play written music on a piano so the purchaser could hear the written music. If the customer could not afford and album they would buy a "45 RPM" record (about the size of a CD). It had two songs on it.

The Butcher Shops could sell an entire cow or pig and make the cuts according to the needs of the customer who wanted the entire meat supply from the animal. This was not true during the rationing time however so some rich folks flooded the butchers with orders for whole animals before the rationing program started and when it ended.

The restaurants were not large chain restaurants but rather medium or large sized restaurants or small cafes, diners or grills owned by independent owners.

Many had themes or specific menus to attract customers. Some of the cafeterias in New York City were large and fed hundreds at a time. They usually had a buffet style service or little cubby holes with the food the customers would select. McDonalds would have gone broke during the war.

Clothing stores could be product oriented or family oriented. A store could focus on hats, gloves, umbrellas and other accessories. Another store could be for lingerie or for coats and other outerwear. Some were for children and adults while others could be exclusively for babies and young children. Only the large department stores carried all the products for clothing and perhaps household goods or even large appliances and furniture.

If you know anyone who is over fifty years old ask them about 5 and 10 Stores known as five and dime stores. Ask them about Newberrys, Woolworth s, and Grants stores. Ask about Kresge, Walgreens, Longs Drug Stores and Rite Aid stores.

In the Soviet Union the stores were owned by the government since they were governed by a communist government. They had small shops too but no large department stores. The people had rationing and some high up government people could get more food and goods than the average Soviet Union citizen. This continued to be true after the war too.