Evolution of the supermarket

Sainsbury’s first priority in store development was to replace its old counter service shops. The original shop at 173 Drury Lane had become overcrowded and was replaced in November 1958 by a new self-service branch.

Larger shops were built to accommodate new product ranges, checkouts, refrigerator and freezer units, bigger displays and increased customer numbers. Where replacement was not possible shops were brought up to modern standards, with improvements such as new shop fronts and refrigerated displays.

Sainsbury’s high street shops tended to be long and narrow, with insufficient frontage width for checkouts. Lack of space meant that some shops such as those at New Malden and Wood Green were only partially converted to grocery ‘self-selection’, while adjoining premises were used for meat and provisions counter service.

In 1962, Tony de Angeli, news editor of “The Grocer”, estimated that the 9,000 self-service shops operating in Britain accounted for about a quarter of the food sold by the nation’s 140,000 food shops. Sainsbury’s rate of conversion was slower than its competitors, but it was well ahead in terms of both turnover and size of new stores.

By 1960 only 10 per cent of Sainsbury’s shops had been converted to self-service. By the end of the decade this figure had risen to almost 50 per cent. During the same period sales increased two and half times and profits before tax almost doubled.

The transition to self-service supermarkets took more than 30 years to complete - the last Sainsbury’s counter service shop at Rye Lane Peckham, closed its doors in November 1982.