1940's SHOP

In the 1940s cash registers were operated by hand. Bar codes and scanning had not yet been invented. To open the drawer, you had to wind the lever at the side.



During the war years, the government produced posters to encourage people to help with the war effort. This one encourages people to grow their own food.



Packaging for food was very different in the 1940s. Nowadays, card would be used to package these Oxo cubes and plastic packaging is also very popular. 

In the 1940s, tins were the most popular way of packaging things to sell.



Money in the 1940s was completely different and was based on pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (d).



During the war years, food was rationed so that everyone had their fair share. Everyone was given a ration book, which had tokens in it for each type of rationed     food. You had to hand over your token to get your food, giving everybody a fair share each week.



Some types of food became rare during the war. Eggs were in short supply and so a government department invented egg powder, which was supposed to taste like eggs and could be used for baking.