A grocery store is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged.

Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer (or “purveyor”) was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, peppers, sugar, and (later) cocoa, tea, and coffee. From the late 1600s until the 1850s, the word “grocery” referred to a place where people went to drink.

As increasing numbers of staple food-stuffs became available in cans and other less-perishable packaging, the trade expanded its province. Today, grocers deal in a wide range of staple food-stuffs including such perishables as dairy products, meats, and produce. Such goods are, hence, called groceries.

Here is a set of amazing photos from Massillon Museum that shows what grocery stores of Massillon looked like in the 1880s and 1890s.

Albright & Co. Grocery Store, Massillon

Albright and Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon

Albright and Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon

C.G. Audi Grocery, Massillon

Charles Breckel Grocer, 10 North Erie St., Massillon

Ed. C. Segner Store, Flour, Feed, Lime, Hair, Cement, Massillon

G.F. Breckel, Massillon

Graber Bros. Meat Market, Massillon

Graber Brother’s Meat Market, Massillon

Graze and Sonnhalter Store, Massillon

Gust Breckel Grocery Store, Massillon

Herings Grocery Store, Massillon

Herman Bros. Fancy Groceries, Massillon

Krier’s Grocery Store, Massillon

Lutz and Graze Groceries, Massillon

Martin and Vogt Grocery Store, Massillon

North east corner Main and Clay Streets, Massillon

Paroz Grocery Store, Massillon

Paul’s Meat Market, Massillon

Pietzckers Grocery Store, Massillon

Pietzckers Grocery Store, Massillon

S.A. Conrad and Co., Massillon

Schworm Bros. Grocery, Massillon

Schworm Grocery Store interior, Massillon

Schworm Grocery store, Massillon

Sonnhalter and Brenner Grocery Store, Massillon

Sonnhalter Store, Massillon

Wade Bros. Meat Market, Massillon