London: market streets

Victorian London was the world's largest city, with 3.2 million inhabitants in 1861.

Each year there were more people to feed and so there were plenty of opportunities for new food retailers. The traditional style of trading was through street markets, and these were crowded, busy places. The market streets were the ideal location to trade from and the surrounding businesses complimented the sale of Sainsbury’s goods.

The first Sainsbury shops were set up in the busy market streets of  Drury Lane, Kentish Town, Stepney and Islington. These shops were small  - often under 500 square feet.

To increase the total sales area, Sainsbury’s therefore traded both through the open windows of the shops and from market stalls set up on the street outside. The outdoor stalls enabled more customers to be served and also provided an advertisement for the goods inside the shop.