Childs IGA Supermarket

March 25, 1950 Southeast Missourian

Formal Opening for New Market

Cape Girardeau's newest supermarket, Walker Childs' $75,000 IGA store on West Broadway, a building replacing his grocery business destroyed in last May's tornado, will hold its formal opening Wednesday.

The new structure is designed to provide the latest in grocery and meat service. Not only is the building itself new, but all shelving and merchandising equipment will be put to its first use on opening day. Fresh stocks of goods are now being placed on the rows and tiers of shelves.

The customer, when he walks in, will head for the first aisle at the west side of the building. There he will find juices and canned goods on the left and glass packed goods on the right. At the end on the left is the dairy department.

Up the next aisle he will find baked goods and flours, ready mixed goods, etc., on the left and to the right foods for pets, cereals and bottled beverages. In the third aisle the customer will find a section for crackers, cookies, cooking oils, coffee, tea and beverages, and adjacent to the wall fresh fruits and vegetables. As he moves toward the three check-out lanes he will find a row of health and beauty aids and household needs.

Special Meat Service

A brand new feature of the market that will attract the eye of many housewives is the self-service meat section. There she will find meats already weighed and marked, readily viewed in cellophane wrappings. The weight and unit price will be marked on them. A special scale will be operated by two pre-package girls. But if the housewife wishes, she can also be served from the meat case by one of two butchers.

There will be no inconvenience in finding parking places at the new store. At the east side a surfaced parking lot 97 feet by 180 feet in size awaits customers. It was estimated by Mr. Childs that it would accommodate 70 automobiles.

The new store is entirely home-owned and operated. It is affiliated with the Independent Grocers Alliance of Chicago, said to be the world's largest voluntary group of grocers with service to 10,000 stores, about 600 of them in Missouri.

Started 18 Years Ago

The alliance allows local grocers to secure goods at lesser cost, which can be passed on to the customer, Childs said. The nearest supply depot of the association is at Desloge, the Wetterau Grocer Co., which serves IGA stores in this area.

The supermarket is the outgrowth of a one-room store Walker Childs opened 18 years ago in a house at 514 Emerald street. That tiny one-room affair grew in the 18 years it was at that location, was altered and expanded four or five times, Mr. Childs recalls, and then was obliterated May 21 when it was caught in the direct path of the tornado.