“Open Sesame”

Customers of the Migros branch on Goethestrasse were amazed when its new doors opened as if by magic. These sensor-operated doors were soon replaced by an air curtain, and the final barrier between passers-by and products was removed.

All the self-service shops, which Migros introduces in 1948, have a newly designed entrance area. The old shop door is now divided into an entrance and an exit. This enables the customer to move through the shop on a round route that leads from the shopping baskets to the checkout.
But the architects study how to make the entrance area more inviting. With self-service, the barrier between the customer and the goods, the counter, is gone. Similarly, the transition from the street to the shop should also be made barrier-free.
In 1949, the Zurich newspapers enthusiastically report on a new “magical door”. The talk is of the entrance door of the newly converted Migros branch on Goethestrasse by the Zurich-Stadelhofen train station. As soon as the customer approaches, a sensor opens it automatically. This sensation causes “extremely lively comments”, reports the Zürcher Woche, “above all from the technically interested gentlemen of the species”. The women, however, do not seem to be impressed by the new technology: “The daughter of Eve appears rather surprised, even shocked, at the completely novel phenomenon.” When the Goethestrasse branch is renovated in the mid-1950s into a Migros Market, even this minimal barrier is removed: Now, the shop doors stay open all day and are replaced in the colder seasons by an air curtain.