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Please direct individual enquiries about the history of Migros to the Historical Company Archives of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives.
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From a luxury item to a matter of course
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Advertisement for the sale of the first refrigerators (Wir Brückenbauer, 1952) 
The small, low-cost Alpina refrigerator (1955) 
Refrigerator sale in Lucerne’s Hertenstein Migros shop (ca. 1955) 
Launch of the SIGMA refrigerator (Wir Brückenbauer, 1960) 
Advertisement for the mio-fresh S173 (Wir Brückenbauer, 1971)
With the expansion of Migros shop sales areas, Migros began selling refrigerators in 1952. With a 100-litre capacity, the Nevada was half the price of conventional refrigerator models.
«The Swiss housewife probably has no greater wish – that even her husband completely understands – than to have a nice refrigerator», suggested the Brückenbauer magazine. Given that only one in ten Swiss households had a refrigerator, this wish was prevalent. So Gottlieb Duttweiler launched the Nevada refrigerator in 1952, which – at 650 francs – was still far beyond the average monthly salary, but much cheaper than competitors’ fridges. Anticipating great demand, Migros decided that the «sale is for members of the Migros cooperative only». As the «popular» price was still too high for many, the smaller Alpina model was introduced in 1955.
The trend, however, leaned the other way – to bigger and cheaper refrigerators, as initially demonstrated by the SIGMA, which Migros declared is «unbeatable in both price and quality». In 1971 the mio-fresh, a baby in Migrosʾ new line of household electrical items, is born offering 173-litre capacity for only 460 francs.