What was so revolutionary about Wood’s Grocerteria?

Photographs offer important evidence of the origins of self-service store design. In this photograph of Wood’s Grocerteria, notice that the selling floor was fenced off. The only way into the store was through an entrance gate to the right in the photograph. Once customers entered the retail space, Wood arranged the store fixtures to create a long shopping aisle. Customers had to walk all the way to the back of the store selecting their own merchandise from open shelves. Price tags hanging from the shelves alerted them to item prices. Wood kept the height of the shelving low in the center of the room so that there was a clear view of customers serving themselves. He didn’t fill the whole store with shelves because he needed open space for customers to gather at the butcher counter in the back left corner. It was not possible to sell fresh meat using self service methods until after World War II. The last stop on the shoppers’ pathway was the cash register where they paid for merchandise before exiting the enclosed space through a swinging gate. Wood’s store arrangement was designed to automate retailing work that was typically done by store clerks.