{"id":11160,"date":"2018-03-22T16:06:53","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=11160"},"modified":"2020-10-23T09:49:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T13:49:11","slug":"its-1901-time-to-go-grocery-shopping-in-north-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2018\/03\/its-1901-time-to-go-grocery-shopping-in-north-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 1901: Time to go Grocery Shopping in North Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Butler's<\/a>
Butler’s Grocery Store, Northeast Corner – 12th and Diamond Streets, September 4, 1901 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century and I live in a tidy three-story rowhouse on Clarion Street<\/a>, near Diamond Street. North Philadelphia is such a great place to live. What\u2019s not accessible easily on foot is available by streetcar: schools (including Temple College at Berks Street and the Wagner Free Institute of Science at 17th<\/sup> and Montgomery). There\u2019s a tremendous variety of houses of worship, parks, cemeteries\u2026you name it\u2014North Philadelphia seems to have it.<\/p>\n

Especially convenient are food shopping options. Right next to the Grand Opera House at Broad and Montgomery is the well-stocked Broad Street Market. That\u2019s only a half a mile walk. A bit farther away is the Globe Market on Montgomery between 10th<\/sup> and Warnock. And if you don\u2019t mind the longer (2.6 mile) round trip, you can\u2019t beat the offerings at the giant Girard Farmers Market<\/a> down at Girard Avenue between 9th<\/sup> and Hutchinson, by Reading Railroad\u2019s tracks.<\/p>\n

The thing is, though, Clarion Street is nestled between 13th<\/sup> Street and Park Avenue, less than a block away from a new grocery store, one in Thomas P. Hunter\u2019s Acme Tea Company chain. There are 104 others pretty much like it on neighborhood corners throughout the city. But this one: this is my corner grocery store.<\/p>\n

And would you believe it? Only a block farther the east, at 12th<\/sup> and Diamond, there\u2019s\u00a0another<\/em> grocery store, one of the competing chain owned and operated by William Butler. By the time the city photographer got to it in September 1901, Butler\u2019s had opened 73 stores. By 1903 he\u2019d have 101; a few years after that he\u2019d have 117 well-stocked stores all around the city.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of a massive food-distribution system if you can believe E. M. Patterson from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. Why is there so much demand for groceries from the corner store? \u00a0Patterson explains: \u201cThe housewife lacks a large store room and so must buy in small quantities rather than in bulk. A limited supply of cash makes impossible large purchases from a distant point. \u2026 Unexpected guests and other emergencies create demands that must be promptly met. A lack of foresight in buying makes a local supply a convenience if not an actual necessity. These reasons and others seem to insure a steady, continued demand for the retail grocer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Butler\u2019s Grocery Store, Northeast Corner \u2013 12th and Diamond Streets, September 4, 1901. Detail. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so, by 1911, Philadelphia would come to have, according to Patterson, an astounding \u201c5,266 retail grocery stores in addition to 257 delicatessen stores that sell some groceries and 2,004 butchers and retail meat dealers, of whom probably 10 per cent or 200 also sold groceries.\u201d The total: 5,723 in a city of more than a million and a half. That\u2019s \u201cone store for every 270 people or one for every 54 families.\u201d<\/p>\n

No wonder there seems to be a grocery store on nearly every corner. There just about is.<\/em><\/p>\n

Take a look at Butler\u2019s bargains, as advertised in the Inquirer<\/em> from last March: \u00bc lb. \u201cvery best cooked corned beef\u201d for 3 cents (the price would soon rise to 5 cents); a \u201clarge glass of prepared mustard for 4 cents (a penny less than it was last week); 12 \u201cnice crisp pickles\u201d for 2 cents; a pound of the \u201cvery best full cream cheese\u201d for a dime. Also for a dime: a bottle of Manzanilla Olives . You like sweet biscuits? Butler\u2019s \u201cfresh Nic-Nacs,\u201d sell for 2 cents a quart. The \u201cbest evaporated peaches and apples are 7 cents per pound. And if you try their Crescent Gilt Edge Butter for 18 cents a pound, and are not fully satisfied<\/em>, Butler\u2019s will happily refund your money.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Butler\u2019s Grocery Store, Northeast Corner \u2013 12th and Diamond Streets, September 4, 1901. Detail. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let me tell you about their flour! \u201cButler\u2019s Best Flour is the best and most reliable brand of flour on earth,\u201d they say. \u00a0They claim it \u201cmakes more, whiter and better bread than any four milled.\u201d If you walk in their door with the advertisement printed in the Inquirer<\/em>, they\u2019ll sell you a 7 pound bag for 14 cents or a 24 \u00bd lb. bag for 46 cents\u2014your choice.<\/p>\n

Not convinced yet? Purchase a pound of Golden Santos Coffee for 25 cents and you’ll get a free \u201cimported china decorated cup and saucer.\u201d (That’ll keep me coming back until I have a full set.)<\/p>\n

But wait! Even closer to home, only half a block from Clarion Street, Acme Tea is selling their \u201cHead Coffee Roaster\u2019s Pet Coffee,\u201d at the bargain price of 20 cents per pound, or 3 pounds for 50 cents.<\/em> \u201cYou are not experimenting when you buy a pound of this coffee,\u201d they assure prospective customers, \u201cwe did the experimenting \u2026we know exactly what kind of a flavor suits the majority of coffee drinkers and it\u2019s right here in this blend.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed like a life and death struggle between the Butler and Hunter chains. They competed hard. They had to if they wanted to stay in business.<\/p>\n

And as a well-fed resident of North Philadelphia, I definitely want them to.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Sources: Marc Levinson, The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America<\/em> (New York: Hill and Wang, 2011); E. M. Patterson, “The Cost of Distributing Groceries<\/a>,\u201d The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 50, (Nov., 1913), pp. 74-82; Inquirer advertisements for Wm. Butler: March 30, 1900; April 7, 1900; April 23, 1900; June 18, 1903 and advertisements for Acme Tea Company June 18, 1902. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the turn of the 20th century and I live in a tidy three-story rowhouse on Clarion Street, near Diamond Street. North Philadelphia is such a great place to live. What\u2019s not accessible easily on foot is available by streetcar: schools (including Temple College at Berks Street and the Wagner Free Institute of Science at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}