The first Migros Market

The first Migros Market at Zurich’s Limmatplatz was enormous compared to their previous stores. Its enticing range of groceries and consumer items delivered daily revenues that equalled the monthly turnover of just one of the smaller stores.

The first ‘real’ Migros Market opens in the autumn of 1952 at Limmatplatz in Zurich. For the people of that time, it is an absolute shopping paradise: more than 1,000 square metres of sales area on two floors, 1,200 articles, a fresh meat section, a demonstration space for household equipment, an Ex Libris book corner, its own bakery and the first snack bar in the history of Migros. What is really overwhelming for the customers is the huge consumer items department. It has the range of a small department store, but with the difference that it is self-service.
Migros has high expectations for its new sales concept and it is not disappointed: the new branch on Limmatplatz is so attractive that customers travel from throughout the city and its surroundings to shop. Ten thousand customers shop there daily, 16,000 on peak days, resulting in a daily turnover equivalent to the monthly turnover of a small branch.
The abundant range of products is unusual for a Migros branch and does not correspond with its image. Those responsible flatter the customer by saying: “Are we not correct in thinking that we should use all our resources to make shopping a pleasure for the housewife? The housewives’ working day remains, on the whole, the same: lots of work and little real variety. Why should they not look forward to their daily shopping, as women used to look forward to going to the market and the market atmosphere?” The principles of Migros are not changed by the introduction of the Migros Market: “All members and visitors of our Migros Markets can still say: ‘That all belongs to us’.”