New Books in British Studies Bridget Salmon and Andrew Godley, "The Making of the Modern Supermarket: Self-Service Adoption in British Food Retailing, 1950-1975" (Oxford UP, 2025)
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Feb 12, 2026 
Andrew Godley, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, reflects on a coauthored book tracing how self-service supermarkets reshaped British retail between 1950 and 1975. Short scenes cover Sainsbury’s archival origins, the shift from specialist counters to one-stop stores, early computer experiments, labor and productivity effects, and how planning and technology shaped supermarket geography.
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Counter Service Dominated Prewar High Streets
- Prewar British food retailing featured many small specialist shops with counter service and long queues.
- Rationing and wartime policies frozen that structure until the early 1950s.
U.S. Model Had To Be Reimagined For Britain
- British self-service retailing was inspired by the U.S. model but faced very different constraints like low car ownership and limited building opportunities.
- UK retailers had to retrofit existing long, narrow counter shops into self-service formats.
Self-Service Didn't Always Cut Labor
- Self-service often aimed to raise labor productivity and free workers after WWII labor shortages.
- Sainsbury's bucked that pattern by investing heavily in capital while maintaining or increasing staff levels.
