Commerce in Sweden, Part 3, The trading stalls

The rural trade changed lives

Countryside store in Glava in Värmland around 1912.

During the second half of the 19th century, countryside traders became more common. Here you had most of what was offered on the Swedish product market of that time - from spices to utensils.

It was the smells and odors older people, who in the early 1940s were interviewed about the countryside trade in their childhood and youth in the 19th century, best remembered. The smells of kerosene and turpentine, salted herring and dried fish were perhaps not so pleasant in themselves, but they went up in a symphony of fragrance from other goods: spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and coriander, new cotton fabric, school leather and celery, coffee and cigars .

In the spring, the open seed bags with clover and timothy gave a foretaste of the coming summer, and in the autumn candles from Liljeholmen gave a taste of the Christmas atmosphere.

The countryside shops began to emerge after the business freedom reforms of 1846 and 1864. The great expansion came in the 1870s, and continued during the 1880s. In 1890, there were about 9,000 rural trade movements in Sweden.

It happened that farmers opened a shop at home on the farm, but most shops started where people used to meet: at an important road junction, at the church or at a railway station.

The connection between the expansion of the railway network and the emergence of new rural business movements - two lines of development that coincide in time - is clear. It often gave a good start for those who wanted to establish trade to start selling food, snus (moist snuff) and spirits to the rallies at a railway construction. When the track was completed, the location at a station became ideal. People and companies moved there, and it was easy to get goods home by train.

In the trade stalls in the countryside, there was most of what was offered on the Swedish goods market of that time, including tools for agriculture, tools and household utensils. If something was missing, the trader could usually "take it home".

Fabric and yarn were included from the beginning. Clothing such as trousers, shirts and blouses, vests, mens and womens coats, made their entrance in the last decades of the 19th century. The same was done by factory-made shoes, rubber boots and boots.

But it was the basic goods that were important in all households, such as flour of various kinds, groats, sugar, salt, salted herring and coffee that dominated the purchases and accounted for the largest turnover in the stores. All such was sold in bulk. The trader or assistant weighed up and wrapped in cones or wrapped paper. It was one of the professional requirements for a sales assistant to be able to make such tight paper cones that they did not even let water through.

Even spirits were usually sold in "loose weight" until the 1880s. The spirit was measured in jugs, which held almost two liters. But you could also buy half and quarter jugs. The customer had to bring bottles or other containers himself.

Goods ready in packaging from the factory, arrived later. The same applies to products marketed under a particular brand name or brand. Tobacco, snus (moist snuff) and cigars were among the first to go on sale under special brand names. Towards the end of the 19th century, there were about ten different snus (moist snuff) brands to choose from.

Fresh produce such as vegetables, fruit, fresh meat, fresh fish and milk were only sparse. It was too difficult to store before the time of the refrigerators and freezers. In addition, many had access to such on their own farm or plot. Others could buy or exchange with neighbors.

The trading stall was often also a post office and newspaper office, and a meeting place in general. Especially on pay days with many men in the store, it could be lively. Liquor consumption was not allowed inside, but you could always do it outside around the corner. The scales' five- and ten-kilo weights were used for strength tests, lifted on the middle finger and swung around with the grip between the thumb and forefinger.

The era of the old-fashioned countryside trade lasted for about a hundred years. In the decades after the Second World War, the customer base in the countryside was thinned out through the increased relocation to cities and towns. Many who lived in the countryside got a car and started shopping in the town's supermarket, where they themselves picked up factory-packaged goods from shelves, refrigerators and freezers. The small countryside traders could not keep up with that development. The investment costs of modernizing the stores had become too high in relation to the low turnover. One countryside store after another was closed down, missed by many, even those who themselves did not shop there so much towards the end.

//Daniel