🏪 Shop

A store is where shoppers meet milk: chilled milk sits in refrigerated display cases so the cold chain stays unbroken. Self-service was devised by the American Clarence Saunders, who filed a patent application for a “self-serving store” on 21 October 1916, and the first Piggly Wiggly store opened the same year.

According to its text, the patent’s aim was to let the customer serve themselves. Cullen, according to Wikipedia, added separate departments, volume discounts and parking, and by his death in 1936 seventeen King Kullen stores were operating. Goods that need continuous cold are kept in temperature-controlled cases. Wikipedia names Michael Cullen as the pioneer of supermarkets; on 4 August 1930 he opened a store in a former garage in Queens. In the layout of a sales floor, according to Wikipedia, bread and milk stand at the back of the store.

Temperature matters. In the US, Grade A milk has to be kept at no more than 45 °F (7 °C), yet Clemson Extension advises keeping it well below 40 °F (≈4 °C), because above that limit a sour smell and taste appear. That is why milk is not stacked in high piles, and at home it goes into the refrigerator right after purchase, without delay.

Why it matters to you. Before buying, check the date on the package and whether the case is cold, and carry the milk home without stops. According to Clemson, fresh milk that was chilled quickly keeps its flavor for another 1–5 days after the “sell by” date; do not pour milk that has already been in a glass or pitcher back into the package.