Women shopped locally when I was a child in the early 1900s, and I sometimes
went with my mother to our local shops
in Edmonton. (Never with my father, as it
was unheard of for men to be seen doing women's work.)
We paid in pounds, shillings and pence, i.e.
£-s-d. Farthings [quarters
of old pennies] were used a lot. If something cost one penny and three farthings, ie 1¾d, everyone said "a penny three" in everyday speech. In practice, though,
most things we ever bought in the early 1900s only cost a few
coppers. More expensive things were normally
priced at a penny below the next shilling. For how these prices were
displayed and
pronounced, see the separate
pages.
Why shopping took such a long time
There were no supermarkets
to sell everything in one visit. So we had to go to all sorts if different shops
- see the side menu. So shopping was a lengthy business. This was especially so because even
everyone was served individually and had to wait while the shopkeeper went
to get or took out every single item. Also many of
the goods had to be weighed out and wrapped for each customer, and social
chit-chat was expected. It was, though,
quite interesting for me to stand and watch the shopkeepers rapidly manipulating the
weights on the
scales as we waited in turn to be
served. They did it so quickly
and they always seemed to get nearly right just from size alone.
Why shopping was such hard work
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Wicker-work (cane) shopping basket. Such baskets were
heavy even when empty, made in the early 1900s by a professional basket
maker, courtesy of Richard Cole.
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Quite apart from the time that shopping took, it really was physical work.
This was because we had no cars to carry our purchases
back home, and the wickerwork baskets were heavy even before anything was put
in them.
Fortunately it was common for shops to deliver. It was also common
to send children on small errands. I often had to go and pick something up when my
mother ran out.
How goods were wrapped
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My mother wrote nothing about how loose goods were
wrapped, but I understand that that it was much as I remember in the
early 1940s.
Paper bags on a string, ready for one to be torn off for use.
Some goods like potatoes were tipped
straight into the customer's bag, suitably lined with newspaper.
Small goods were packed in white
paper bags which were often printed with the name of the shop for
publicity purposes - although this was an extravagance that could
not be maintained during the austerity of the Second World War.
Larger goods went into brown paper bags. The paper bags were supplied by the shopkeeper who kept them
on a thin string and tore one off as it was needed.
Heavy goods into sacks.
In my mother's time in the early 1900s,
children's sweets went into a cone of twisted newspaper, but I never
saw this.
If you can add
more information, please let me know.
Pat Cryer, webmaster
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When shops were open
My mother never mentioned shopping hours apart from
at Christmas. So if you can provide any information, I would be pleased
to hear from you
Pat Cryer, webmaster
Men worked a five and a half day week and were paid
on a Saturday morning. After that there was money in people's pockets. So
shops would be open till perhaps 8 pm.
Bert Felgate
whose family owned a greengrocer shop
Shop buildings
Although most of the shops were built as shops with flats
for the shop keepers above the shop, some people opened shops from the front
rooms of their Victorian/Edwardian terraced houses - see for example, the photo
of the shop front in Leicester.
Pat Cryer, webmaster
This website Join me in the 1900s is a contribution to the social history of everyday life in early to mid 20th century Britain, seen through personal recollections and illustrations, with the emphasis on what it was like to live in those times. It is © Pat Cryer.
