New features & technical improvements
Handling equipment
The Croydon store featured four staircases linking the shop floor to the basement preparation areas. These allowed shelves to be filled with a minimum of disturbance to customers. In later stores, 'Push-Ups' were installed, using compressed air to lift heavy goods up from the basement to the shop floor. Later stores such as Coldhams included ground floor warehouses.
Perspex had been used in aircraft during the war and proved to be a light and hygienic substitute for glass. It was used extensively by Sainsbury’s for counters, lighting covers and display equipment, including a special ‘waterfall’ stand for displaying eggs.
Freestanding display shelving units known as ‘gondolas’ were designed for Sainsbury’s by John Jones of Frederick Sage & Co. They featured legs encased in stainless steel ‘sleeves’ which could be lifted up for cleaning. There was also space for special displays at each end of the units.
Find out more about self-service store layouts and displays
Lighting
Fluorescent lighting had been developed for use in wartime factories and provided improved visibility on the shop floor. At first the blue light cast by fluorescent lamps made food look unappetising. Over time colour rendering was improved and by 1957, fluorescent lighting was used to create ‘lumenated’ ceilings.
Refrigerators
In 1949, Sainsbury’s converted part of its Selsdon store into a laboratory for the design of new refrigeration techniques. Sainsbury’s innovations included open-topped refrigerated cabinets to chill perishable foods and patented air-cooled counters (which allowed perishable foods to be kept chilled under a Perspex canopy) as well as cold preparation rooms.
Find out more about in-store refrigeration
Electrics
New lighting, mechanical equipment and refrigerators meant that the new self-service shops required a great deal of power. Fire regulations also required that banks of batteries be set up in the store basements for emergency power.