Photograph taken from a United States supermarket in 1948, 'where Britain's queues and rations are unknown'. The concept of the supermarket where all manner of goods could be bought in one place, without the assistance of a shop keeper, and then paid for at a checkout, was first introduced in America where rationing did not feature following World War II. This picture was one of a series taken in an A&P supermarket; America's largest chain begun in 1937 and with 1670 supermarkets by 1948.