Many supermarkets reuse old carts from other stores. Some stores have their own fleet of ancient carts.
This cart, from between 1976 and 2002 (but likely the earlier end of that), was spotted at the
Elizabeth, NJ ShopRite. I don't think Village ShopRite has used those coin-deposit carts in my lifetime! This store also had at least one of these carts...
Ha! That's great. It reminds me of the Giant in Hellertown... they get 'new' carts every month or so. It's like the cart lottery there. You can get carts with other names on it, old logos, and REALLY smashed up ones.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I started back up my P's and Q's blog! I was wondering if I could borrow some of your photos from your photostream, of course, with credit.
Cool! In the Elizabeth ShopRite's defense, they did recently get all-new carts, so while a few of these are still around, most of them are gone.
DeleteCongrats on restarting your blog! I look forward to what you have, and of course, you can use anything you like of mine.
Too bad that they're taking them out! You should see if you can at least take the cart flap. Those things are worth A FORTUNE, especially if they're from a defunct chain. An Acme one is selling on eBay right now for $75-80, but it's in terrible condition. I wonder how much this one would go for!
DeleteAnd Thanks! I hope to keep this blog permanent now. I have high hopes for it this year. I already have posts planned and scheduled until mid March! I wish I could post them all now, they're really great.
That Food Fair cart is really cool, especially since the entire chain has been gone for so long. It's also strange seeing those coin deposit things on carts from stores that aren't from Aldi (at least to me, although one of my local Save A Lot stores did try them one for a while). I actually like the coin deposit concept for carts, as it keeps them from being left in the parking lot and being placed in places where they can be left to scratch my car!
ReplyDeleteA couple of the ShopRites around here have them, but really no one else does. More common (at least in this area, especially urban neighborhoods) are the cart posts or gates surrounding the front of the store to prevent shoppers from taking the carts into the parking lot...
Deletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/142408586@N05/28042156954/in/album-72157669536366416/
I've seen that post/gate setup in other photos online, but never in person. I guess those take away the "annoyance" factor of having to use the quarter and gives shoppers a bit more freedom, and still helps to keep the carts from wandering off.
DeleteWhile I guess it takes away the annoyance of the quarter, it adds the annoyance of carrying six full shopping bags from the front of the store to your car. Of course, in many cases, the stores that use this system are in urban areas where many people (1) don't drive and (2) shop in small orders.
DeleteOf course at one time many of those stores with the fences also used to offer to hold your items while you drove up to pick them up (Parcel Pickup) - not sure if any do now or not
DeleteTrue. I'm not aware of any that do now, although I know some Inserra ShopRites offer a carryout service, so they will have someone help you bring your groceries to your car. Other stores offer delivery, so that if you shop in the store, they'll drive you home in their van.
DeleteOh God, do I remember finding other stores' carts at Shoprite. I live near the Passaic store and any time I went before their massive remodel you were always guaranteed to find carts from Pathmark down the hill in there. They also got carts from the A&P in Passaic there as well, which boggled my mind considering how much legwork one would have to do.
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