Q 01/05

Which chain, opened in Memphis in 1916, is credited as the first true self-service grocery store?

A) King Kullen

B) Alpha Beta

C) Piggly Wiggly

D) Kroger's Cash

Answer · why

C) Piggly Wiggly

Customers entered through a turnstile and walked four aisles past 605 packaged items; founder Clarence Saunders patented the idea in 1917.

Q 02/05

What did the founder of the first self-service chain say his store's odd two-word name meant?

A) It was his childhood nickname

B) Nothing, he made it up

C) It came from a nursery rhyme

D) It honoured his farm's pigs

Answer · why

B) Nothing, he made it up

He gave the same answer for his later automated store, Keedoozle, which people assumed meant "key does it all".

Q 03/05

The first true supermarket, King Kullen, opened in 1930 inside what kind of building in Queens?

A) A disused cinema

B) An old dairy barn

C) A bankrupt department store

D) A former garage

Answer · why

D) A former garage

Founder Michael J. Cullen was a former Kroger employee, and the Smithsonian recognises his 6,000-square-foot store as the first.

Q 04/05

Who introduced one of the first shopping carts in 1937, in his Humpty Dumpty stores in Oklahoma?

A) Clarence Saunders

B) Michael Cullen

C) Sylvan Goldman

D) Bernard Kroger

Answer · why

C) Sylvan Goldman

Customers ignored them at first, so he hired models to push carts around the store until they caught on.

Q 05/05

What everyday object inspired the design of the first shopping cart?

A) A baby pram

B) A folding chair

C) A wheelbarrow

D) A golf trolley

Answer · why

B) A folding chair

Goldman put a basket on the seat and wheels on the legs, and called them "folding basket carriers".