Save for the crockery, this might be any of a number of US neighborhood grocery stores before supermarkets drove them to extinction. The chairs are for madam to take her ease whilst the attendant fetches each item on her list, one can or packet at a time. Not immediately evident but certainly present are the extension tongs used to grab merchandise on high shelves. Produce and meats would, of course, be sold in other establishments. All that appears to be lacking is the sawdust spread on the floor to absorb spills -- and, of course, to provide bored and impatient five-year-olds the opportunity to practice the old soft shoe.

A quarter of laudanum, please. Oh, and some arsenic.

>>[That's Betty. Betty Crockery. - Dave]

I like the little kittens and puppies in cute little outfits. I can take the WWII cuties playing strip poker. I don't mind the occasional snarky comment from the distinguished moderators.

But the puns! There should be a warning of some sort before Shorpy's gentle readers are confronted with a facer like the above.

--Jim

The bowl and pitcher sets appear to have a third component, which I assume to be a matching nightsoil receptacle. I recall seeing only two-piece sets here in the U.S. A difference in style, or maybe the pots were not so desirable as antiques.

In the event of an earthquake, the manner in which those groceries and breakable items have been stacked would spell disaster for the employees and their entire inventory of merchandise, never mind if someone thoughtlessly took a can from the bottom row of that tower of tins. Oy vey!

I think it's a WOMAN! Isn't she supposed to be hiding behind the crockery? And she's smiling! A nice change from those dour menfolk, I say.

[That's Betty. Betty Crockery. - Dave]