A JOURNEY INTO THINGS

The Shopping Trolley.

  We take them for granted but those shiney chariots many of which perish in the River lee and other city riverways have a story. Of course firstly there were baskets. The first self-service food market was called Piggly Wiggly, great name, and opened in Memphis in 1916. Before that people handed the shopping list to the staff, who’d get together all the items from behind the counter, why get rid of that. But at the Piggly Wiggly, shoppers had wooden baskets to grab their own bits and pieces Piggly Wiggly became a chain, and two decades later, the trolley man himself Sylvan Goldman owned a few in Oklahoma City. In the 1930s, fridges became more popular, with only 8% of homes having one at the beginning of the decade and 44% by the end. Obviously tthis meant people could keep more snacks for longer. The lad Goldman however, noticed that when a basket was full, shoppers set off for the tills even if they had a few more things on the list. Eureka!! From a folding chair, the inspired Goldman figured one basket could go about where the seat was, another below, and that wheels could be added. When the trolleys were first introduced in stores, shoppers didn’t take to the new contraptions. The sneaky Goldman however hired women of all ages to walk around his stores using them and sure the rest is history. With help from an inventor Orla Watson the trolley was refined a bit further and is now the utility vehicle we have today whether it’s loaded to the brim with all sorts of munch and liquids, a method for drunk heads to get around/race and again as water craft 🙁 There ya go, the story of the famous trolley. Sam