Those little roller-coaster things groceries traveled on

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marshd1000
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Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: Those little roller-coaster things groceries traveled on

Post by marshd1000 »

In the Pacific Northwest, Gov-Mart/Bazar, had these conveyor devices. That is the only chain around here that I remember having those.
dominion301
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Re: Those little roller-coaster things groceries traveled on

Post by dominion301 »

MassMan wrote:Someone mentioned the Star Market at Porter Square in Cambridge, MA. That store WAS remodeled a couple of years ago but I don't know if they have a conveyor system.

One store that may still have one is the Shaw's (now Star Market) on Commonwealth Ave in Allston, MA (Boston). Let me first say that this store remodeled last year and I haven't been in there since then so I don't know if they still have the conveyor system. But they did have one that ran along the front of the registers, down underneath and through the building, and out to a pickup area. There is a U-shaped 'driveway' underneath the building into which you drive your vehicle to pick up your groceries. The back end of the store is one level above the street although the front end of the store is at the same level as Commonwealth Ave. This store is located in the same neighborhood as Boston University and they get a huge number of students all year long, even in summer.
I know that quite a few Shaw's/Star Markets have bundle/parcel pickup. Here's a local newspaper story about the store's main parcel pickup girl at the Newtownville, MA store, who loves working there: http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/featu ... lle-Shaw-s.

All the A&Ps & Dominions in Ontario are now known as Metro. Unfortunately the stores in Picton, ON and Mississauga, ON that previously had parcel pickups don't anymore as the stores have sadly been 'renovated'. The only 2 Metros in Ontario that I know of in 2010 that definitively have car order/parcel pickup are 1 store in Kingston and 1 in London. I think 1 Metro (ex-Dominion) in Toronto still has parcel pickup - the store at Yonge & Eglington with underground parking - can anyone on here confirm this?
xsafeway
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Re: Those little roller-coaster things groceries traveled on

Post by xsafeway »

In the 1950s before they palletized the Washington DC Division Safeway used a conveyor system to unload trucks. Sections of rollers were set up from the truck, through a small door in the stores wall, and into the stockroom. Inside the store, clerks would pull the stock off and sort it to the appropriate storage.

In the 1960s many of the marina Safeways in the DC area had a conveyor Package Pick-Up. The groceries were bagged, the bags were put in a numbered tub, and the tub went on the conveyor. The tracks ran across the front of the store, out an opening in the windows, and came to a stop under a carport/awning. The customer drove around and showed the Courtesy Clerk their receipt with the tub numbers written on the back.

Both systems are now gone, the stock order conveyors disappeared as stores were palletized. Sometimes if you see a relatively unaltered pylon building you can still find the doors in the rear wall. The package pick-up conveyors were removed during the late 1970s as stores got away from loading groceries. Ironically, this was probably smart due to the increased liability (and maintenance costs) the stores would have had to face.
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