Description:
We often take for granted the everyday things we use to accomplish mundane tasks like buying groceries. Have you ever been in the grocery store, pushing a cart like you’ve probably done a thousand times, and wondered who came up with the idea to design the shopping cart? It might surprise you to learn the shopping cart was first created here in Oklahoma.
Born in Ardmore, Sylvan “Syl” Goldman (1898-1984) was the son of immigrants. His father, Michael, came to the US from Latvia in 1880 and made the land run in 1889. His mother, Hortense, came to the US later from Alsace-Lorraine, then a part of the German Empire. The two married in 1894 and had two sons, one of whom was Sylvan Goldman. One of only a handful of Jewish children in the city of Ardmore, young Syl went to Ardmore public schools for eight years. The Goldman family moved to Tulsa in 1913, where Syl began working in the family grocery business. In 1917, with war raging in Europe, Syl Goldman lied about his age and enlisted to serve in WWI. Due to his experience in the grocery business, he served as a mess sergeant during the war. Upon his return from the war, he formed a partnership with brother Alfred in the wholesale produce business in Texas. They later worked in California to learn more about the grocery business and eventually returned to Tulsa where they opened Sun Grocery.
The stores were a success, and a buyer came calling after the Goldman brothers in the late 1920s. Shortly after selling Sun Grocery to Safeway, Syl lost most of his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. It was then that he and Alfred decided to open a new grocery chain. Since a clause in their contract with Safeway prevented them from competing in Tulsa, the brothers decided to set up shop in Oklahoma City, where they would go on to run many successful grocery operations.
Despite his success in the grocery business, Syl Goldman is primarily known for one thing: inventing the shopping cart. Inspired by folding chairs in 1936 Goldman, along with maintenance man and carpenter Fred Young, designed the first shopping cart. In June 1937 he began advertising the invention, marketing to shoppers weary of carrying baskets. The new invention was initially met with reluctance by shoppers, however. People believed they were perfectly capable of carrying around their own baskets, so why would they need the help of a basket on wheels? Always the imaginative innovator, Goldman hired actors to push the carts around in his stores, demonstrating to other customers their convenience and ease. The trend caught on and the cart revolutionized self-service shopping around the world. The shopping cart was Goldman’s most famous invention, but not his only one. Other Goldman grocery-related inventions included the grocery sacker and milk bottle racks. Baggage carts were one of his non-grocery inventions.
Sylvan Goldman was also known for his philanthropic work. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1971. He died on November 25, 1984, at the age of 86, and is buried at Fairlawn Cemetery. Syl Goldman Park at 5353 South Independence Avenue in southwest Oklahoma City was named for him.
em>Image courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.