Which grocery chain was the first to introduce shopping carts in 1937?

Which grocery chain was the first to introduce shopping carts in 1937? Humpty Dumpty introduced them.

The first widely recognized shopping cart was introduced on June 4, 1937, at a Humpty Dumpty supermarket in Oklahoma City. The invention came from Sylvan Goldman, who owned the Humpty Dumpty grocery chain and wanted customers to carry more goods comfortably through a self-service store.

Goldman’s early design was inspired by a folding chair. With mechanic Fred Young, he developed a wheeled metal frame that held baskets, creating what was initially called a “folding basket carrier.” The design allowed shoppers to collect more items without juggling hand baskets, directly supporting the supermarket’s goal of increasing convenience and sales.

Customers did not immediately embrace the invention. Some women associated pushing a cart with baby strollers, while some men considered it undignified. Goldman hired models to demonstrate the carts in stores, helping normalize their use. Piggly Wiggly is sometimes credited in popular retellings because it pioneered self-service grocery shopping, but Humpty Dumpty is the canonical chain for the 1937 cart introduction.