The Making of the Modern Supermarket: Self-service adoption in British food retailing, 1950-1975

The Making of the Modern Supermarket describes the emergence and growth of the modern supermarket format in Britain, showing how the original American innovation of self-service was adapted to the different postwar British context in a number of ways.

During the early 1960s various retailers began to experiment with larger formats, which became known as supermarkets. Sainsbury's was a late mover into self-service, but began to develop a different supermarket model, emphasising fresh foods a...