555 Taraval Street

"16th Avenue Foods, at the SE corner of 16th avenue and Taraval, was our local market in the 1950s-60s. Owned by George. Clerks were Jim Brannigan, John, Nate and Dave (who eventually became the owner.) Just about anything we needed was available but I don't think you would call it a supermarket.

"Here is an amazing detail: every item displayed its actual price on a clever little sticker. At the checkout counter, the clerk would locate the sticker and type its cost into an ancient device called a "cash register." (The cash register might have been invented by Leonardo DaVinci.) The clerk could actually "ring up" all your purchases quickly because the sticker was red or white and easy to find. He didn't have to search all over for a barcode or smoothe out a wrinkled bag so a barcode could scan. If I didn't have enough money to pay for all of it, the clerk would make a notation on a something called a "tab." 16th Avenue Foods (and also other stores of the era) offered to "deliver" the purchases to one's house. This was a wonderful option to the elderly shoppers. Price-tags, cash registers, informal credit and home-deliveries... I miss them."

---from Ken on the WNP message board, October 21, 2006.