The supermarket, like network radio, also began about 1930. What distinguished the supermarket was its parking lot, not what was inside the store. (“Self-service” had started fifteen years earlier.) The supermarket rose to prominence because it recognized the automobile, something that department stores did not recognize until after World War II. Because of this, early supermarkets were free-standing or carved into existing business districts next to stores that themselves had no parking. “Shopping centers” are mostly a post–World War II phenomenon. The supermarket was then perfected by yet
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