Old Michigan Grocers, from Adrian to Vermontville: 1900-1950
Okay, you may be thinking “we've seen the old general stores, and now grocers...so what's the difference between general stores and grocery stores?” It's a fine line, but there is a difference.
A general store sells a large variety of things, without specializing in any particular type of merchandise.
A grocery store sells mostly food and household supplies.
General stores are thought by many to be actual grocers, and to be fair, they do carry many, many food stuffs, so it can get a little quizzical. Okay, so where does that leave convenience stores? How do they differ from general stores and grocery stores? Surely there isn't much difference, right? Just mostly interchangeable? Nope.
The difference in a convenience store is found in the type of food they sell: mostly packaged instead of fresh produce and meat, like regular grocery stores.
What about party stores?
According to urbandictionary.com, 'party store' is a “Michigan slang term that describes a small convenience store that sells soda, beer, liquor, snacks such as potato chips and hot dogs, and some household goods such as plastic cups and paper plates.”
So now since all that is somewhat settled, here's a gallery of 20 old Michigan grocers, from Adrian to Vermontville, 1900-1960s...more to come!