A grocery store is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged.
Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer (or “purveyor”) was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, peppers, sugar, and (later) cocoa, tea, and coffee. From the late 1600s until the 1850s, the word “grocery” referred to a place where people went to drink.
As increasing numbers of staple food-stuffs became available in cans and other less-perishable packaging, the trade expanded its province. Today, grocers deal in a wide range of staple food-stuffs including such perishables as dairy products, meats, and produce. Such goods are, hence, called groceries.
Here is a set of amazing photos from Massillon Museum that shows what grocery stores of Massillon looked like in the 1880s and 1890s.
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| Albright & Co. Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Albright and Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Albright and Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| C.G. Audi Grocery, Massillon |
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| Charles Breckel Grocer, 10 North Erie St., Massillon |
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| Ed. C. Segner Store, Flour, Feed, Lime, Hair, Cement, Massillon |
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| G.F. Breckel, Massillon |
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| Graber Bros. Meat Market, Massillon |
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| Graber Brother's Meat Market, Massillon |
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| Graze and Sonnhalter Store, Massillon |
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| Gust Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Herings Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Herman Bros. Fancy Groceries, Massillon |
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| Krier's Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Lutz and Graze Groceries, Massillon |
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| Martin and Vogt Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| North east corner Main and Clay Streets, Massillon |
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| Paroz Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Paul's Meat Market, Massillon |
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| Pietzckers Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Pietzckers Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| S.A. Conrad and Co., Massillon |
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| Schworm Bros. Grocery, Massillon |
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| Schworm Grocery Store interior, Massillon |
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| Schworm Grocery store, Massillon |
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| Sonnhalter and Brenner Grocery Store, Massillon |
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| Sonnhalter Store, Massillon |
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| Wade Bros. Meat Market, Massillon |