This reminds me of the Reading Market in downtown Philadelphia, PA located under what were the commuter train platforms. A number of the vendors there have been on site for many years. There is a Mennonite deli there that makes the best subs that I have had.

The Beach Cliff brand of sardines was indeed packaged in Prospect Harbor, Maine, for over 70 years. The cannery was locally known as the Stinson Seafood plant, and was recently sold (2010). The plant is being changed to process lobster under new ownership, but has not restarted operations yet.

There are only a couple sardine cans I can identify in the lower left of the photo: the top right can is King Oscar; just to the left of it is Beach Cliff. I think the 3rd from the right top row can may not be sardines, but herring. Those three are still available in stores today, and I believe the Beach Cliff were packaged in my home state of Maine.

I work at an ad agency and I just showed the upper left corner of the large image to one of the copywriters. I said "This is a grocery store from 1910. Quick! Who makes those products?" And of course he knew it was Heinz. Almost 100 years and their brand is immediately recognizable.

There seems to be a lot of variety here but the food looks quite scary. I wonder what most of it is. Makes you thankful for today's food production and safety.

The first self-serve grocery store was the Piggly Wiggly store on 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It opened on September 6th, 1916 some six years after our photo above was taken.

More at Piggly Wiggly's web page.

Just wondering how fast the inventory turnover was. There's quite a lot of 'fresh' packaged/canned meat and fish products stocked, and a good portion of them seem to be only for display rather than sale (buried inside cabinets as they are).

Were there "sell by" dates back then, if not, how much product was already 'spoiled' by the time it was finally purchased?

[This is before grocery stores were self-service -- before markets became "super-markets." Generally speaking, you had to ask the man behind the counter for whatever you wanted: "Sam, I'd like a pound of butter, five-pound bag of flour and a pound of coffee." - Dave]

I hereby nominate this picture as the coolest picture of all time. WOW.

I can barely read the label on the big jar, but it looks like the rectangular label says "Preserved With" and the Heinz label below it says "White Premium Table Vinegar." So it really could be pickled anything.

[Including sliced pickled cucumbers -- pickles -- as we see below. - Dave]

One doesn't see lamb's tongues in jars every day (in front of the Yacht Club salmon).

All I see is a dust collecting nightmare.

What a fantastic store! The cabinetry alone is mind-boggling. Someone did a really good job designing and building the display cabinets and shelving. The only thing that seems to be missing is a rolling ladder to retrieve items from the upper shelves. Maybe it's out of sight.

Those jumbo Heinz apothecary-type jars are spectacular. Besides Heinz 57, did you notice how many brands of sardines they have (bottom left)?

I love it. I am pretty sure that jar says pickles and not olives. It looks like pickles cut into disks.

[You are right! I changed the caption, thanks. - Dave]

They really DO have 57 varieties -- look at all those Heinz products. Mmmm, mincemeat.