The shopping cart is a staple of grocery stores today, but when it was first introduced, customers refused to use it!
In 1937, Sylvan Goldman, the owner of the Humpty Dumpty grocery chain in Oklahoma, invented the first shopping cart. He noticed that customers stopped shopping when their handheld baskets became too heavy, limiting their purchases. To solve this, he attached wheels to a folding chair and added baskets, creating the first rolling shopping cart.
Surprisingly, shoppers resisted the idea at first—men thought carts looked weak, and women felt they resembled baby strollers. To change public perception, Goldman hired actors to push carts around his stores, making them seem trendy. The strategy worked, and soon, carts became a grocery store essential.
Today, shopping carts come in many forms, from self-scanning smart carts to miniature kid-sized versions, proving that even simple innovations can transform daily life!
