10 
BULLETIN" 1317, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
total of 227 meat stalls and 9 quasi-public markets with a total of 21 
meat stalls. It has no combination meat and grocery stores and but 
few meat stores. The Louisiana sanitary code is the only instance of 
State legislation that is of any consequence in determining the type of 
store. In general, cities in the Southern States were found to have 
the highest percentage of stalls in public markets; in Baleigh, N. C, 
Lynchburg, Va., and Winston-Salem, N. C, 50 per cent, 30 per cent, 
and 25 per cent, respectively, of the stores retailing fresh meats were 
of this type. 
RECENT GROWTH OF CHAIN-STORE SYSTEMS 
Chain stores have become an important factor in the grocery trade 
in recent years, but their development in the sale of fresh meats has 
been of much less importance. One grocery system in the year 1922 
(Table 2) had more than 5,000 stores (4,952 on January 1), with 
sales of more than $200,000,000 in each of the years 1920 and 1921, 
the result of a gradual growth covering more than 60 years. As the 
result of a thorough canvass of the trade, 26 additional systems car- 
rying a full line of groceries, and cured meats in some instances, with 
more than 75 stores each, reported the total number of stores in their 
systems as 5,114 on January 1, 1922. 
Table 2. — Growth of 10 chain-store systems from 1916 to 1922 
[Number of stores on Jan. 1 of each year] 
27 systems sell- 
24 systems selling both groceries and 
meats 
19 
sys- 
tems 
sell- 
ing 
meats 
only 
Total of 70 systems 
Year 
only 
2 large systems 
22 additional 
systems 
Stores 
selling 
grocer- 
ies only 
Combi- 
nation 
stores 
Stores 
sell- 
ing 
meats 
only 
1 large 
system 
26 addi- 
tional 
systems 
Grocery 
stores 
Com- 
bina- 
tion 
stores 
Meat 
stores 
Grocery 
stores 
Com- 
bina- 
tion 
stores 
Meat 
store 
1916 
1,817 
2,867 
3,782 
3,799 
4,150 
4,647 
4,952 
1,600 
1,929 
2,536 
3,003 
3,700 
4,604 
5,114 
1,246 
1,254 
1,359 
1,375 
1,422 
1,635 
1,663 
275 
330 
338 
385 
521 
599 
716 
421 
539 
672 
878 
1,044 
1,107 
1,160 
258 
293 
339 
394 
445 
552 
701 
10 
12 
18 
25 
37 
66 
67 
148 
5.084 
533 
623 
677 
779 
966 
1,151 
1,417 
158 
1917. . 
170 6, 589 
200 8. 349 
182 
1918 
218 
1919 
229 
267 
299 
357 
9, 055 
10, 316 
11,993 
12,889 
254 
1920-. 
304 
1921 
365 
1922 
424 
In this table are included 27 grocery systems with 75 or more stores each, 24 combination systems with 
25 or more stores each, and 19 meat systems with 10 or more stores each. Five of the grocery systems, one 
combination system, and one meat system began operations since January 1, 1916. All the others were in 
existence on January 1, 1916. Three additional straight-grocery systems were found, 4 additional com- 
bination systems and 2 additional straight-meat systems of the size indicated, but data could not be obtained 
showing their annual growth. It is believed that there are not many additional systems with such large 
numbers of stores, although considerable numbers of systems exist with smaller numbers of stores. There 
are, moreover, a few systems with from but 5 to 10 stores each, but with sales larger than some of those 
included in this table. Such concerns are located principally in the business districts of large cities and 
cater primarily to transient trade rather than to family trade in the residence districts, as is characteristic 
of the typical chain store. 
Of systems selling fresh meats in addition to groceries, two had 
more than 1,000 stores each; one of these was the result of a com- 
bination of five systems at the close of 1916 and the other was built 
up over a period of 20 years, absorbing several small systems in 
recent years. Three additional combination systems reported more 
than 100 stores each, and 19 additional svstems at least 25 stores 
