Shops and Shopping
Oral History

The experience of shopping has changed almost out of recognition since the late 19th century. Shopping used to be a matter of personal service. The customer stayed on one side of the counter and the shop assistant stayed on the other, finding the goods requested by the customer. There was no element of self-service, there were no supermarkets and there were certainly no shopping trolleys!

Out-of-town shopping complexes did not exist. All the main shops were in the town. In Woking, for example, Chertsey Road had a wide variety of shops in 1913. These included 4 boot and shoe makers and 4 butchers. There was also the shop of Mrs Caroline Helena Needham, ‘fancy draper’, and that of Mrs Harriett Ablett, ‘fancy repository’. Mr Sydney Henry Cullum, ‘saddle and harness maker’, was in the street, along with two cycle makers, as bicycles had recently become very popular (they were also much used for making deliveries).

Very often customers were known and addressed by name, as few people travelled far to do their shopping. Many shops supplied chairs for their customers to sit on while the assistants scurried round them.

There was no pre-cut or pre-wrapped meat, as meat was cut to order. There were no ready meals. There were no bar codes, so every item was individually priced, or, as in the case of butter or lard, individually weighed and wrapped. Most sweets were kept in large glass jars. All payment was in cash. In some larger shops money was sent directly to the cashier via a system of overhead pulleys. The Woking and District Co-operative Society, which opened in the 1930s, used this system.