Air raid trading

The only damage recorded to a Sainsbury’s store because of First World War air raids was in Streatham. The shop at 168 High Road was bombed by a Zeppelin in 1916.

When war was declared in September 1939, air raid procedures were immediately sent to branch managers. Staff were instructed to close their shops during an air raid and direct customers to the nearest ARP shelter.

In reality many customers stayed on the premises, sheltering in the basement on benches made from egg stall boards. Where no basement was available, it was suggested that ‘quite good cover is to be had beneath the counter or the back shelf’.

At the height of the Blitz, daytime raids had become so common that Sainsbury’s shops could continue trading at the discretion of the manager. Where shops remained open during an air raid, staff with whistles were positioned at door as ‘spotters’.

Members of staff often displayed great determination, despite the raids. A customer at Walthamstow recalled queued up outside the wrecked shop after a bad night of bombing, to find that the elderly manager had been there since 2am, ‘dusting the bacon and scraping soot etc. off the margarine’.

Find out more about the temporary 'shop in a church' at East Grinstead