$1.49 Day

Thinking about how we 1950's housewives tried to stretch our household funds made me remember the days of the old Woodward’s $1.49 grocery department sale. 

On arrival on this special day, the first challenge was to locate a parking space, the next, a shopping cart.  It was advantageous to shop with a partner, leaving one party to guard the prized cart, while the other sallied forth, unhampered, into the fray.  If you were smart, you first tore off several plastic bags and located the necessary twist ties.  This in itself was no easy matter as one had to reach through a mass of other shoppers intent on the very same task. 

Woodward’s always offered a certain number of oranges or grapefruit for $1.49. As you intently counted out your allotted fruit, concentrating on the selection of thin-skinned, juicy but not over ripe fruit, inevitably someone at your elbow asked “How many are we allowed?” Not wanting to be rude, you replied, lost count of your own stash and had to count all over again.

Once you wormed (oops) your way to the salad section, through a maze of carts and customers, you faced crowds of people pawing through the lettuce, feeling for the firmest and tossing their rejects in your direction.  Arms loaded, you wove your way back to your patiently waiting partner, encountering en route many who insisted on pushing their carts into the narrowest possible spot, or others who came across an old friend or former neighbour, deciding to stop and chat, completely oblivious to the congestion they caused.  I remember meeting an acquaintance who, because she was a grandmother many times over, stood gently rocking her cart to and fro while we talked, forgetting it was not her usual baby buggy.

In the meat department, there were other obstructions; a cart parked plumb in the middle of the aisle, its absent owner completely engrossed in the business of converting grams to ounces.  It could not have been more accurately centered, had the owner made use of a tape measure.

Waiting in the long check-out line ups, it was entertaining to overhear conversations.  Tired, distraught husbands muttered “If I had known it would be like this, I never would have come” or “It sure isn’t worth it”.  Often a naive shopper who sauntered in, stared in horror at the milling crowd and exclaimed “Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize it was $1.49 day!”

Eventually you reached the next-one-in-line category, only to find the cashier had either to replace the cash register tape,  go for coffee, take time out to exchange some of her large bills for smaller ones or become embroiled in controversy with a patron over an item purchased.  The only way to deal with frustrations of this sort was to laugh and chat with a fellow shopper.

Many bored customers succumbed to the tantalizing display of reading material conveniently set out within arm’s reach of the cash register.  How could anyone resist headlines like “Baby Sings in the Womb” or “85 Year Old Grandmother has twins”?

Over the years, Mayfair Mall has expanded in many directions to become a very sophisticated shopping complex. It is difficult to picture that Mayfair, Victoria’s first regional shopping mall, opened October 16, 1963. The variety of shops now offered to the consumer is mind boggling.  In the resulting maze, it is difficult to visualize exactly where the old groceteria was located.

Times change, other malls have been built, huge food emporiums with giant bulk food areas have come into being, but for many Victorians, that old  jingle “$1.49 Woodwards, $1.49 Day, Tuesday” evokes a fond memory.