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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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“The liberation of the shopper”
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Illustration in the first article about self-service in the Brückenbauer (Hanny Fries, 1948) 
Self-service in the Zurich Kreuzplatz branch (circa 1950) 
Self-service in the Migros branch (circa 1960) 
Self-service shop at Bucheggstrasse 130 in Zurich (circa 1955) 
Illustration in the first article about self-service in the Brückenbauer (Hanny Fries, 1948)
Die Selbstbedienung ermöglicht individuelleres Verhalten als ein Laden mit Bedienung. Die Verantwortlichen der Migros sind überzeugt, dass sie sich vor allem für gehetzte Städter eignet, für Büroangestellte und für Männer, die vorher nie eingekauft haben.
After the introduction of self-service in 1948, Migros’s annual report reflects on this ”small revolution“: It is progress that the ”arguments about who is next“, the waiting and the ”talkative people chatting” in the queue are things of the past. The customers can now ”hesitate and think again“, can choose the cheaper quality ”unobserved” and make their purchasing decisions “quietly and contemplatively”. In short, self-service brings a ”type of liberation to the shoppers”.
”Self-service“ is, according to Migros, attractive above all for ”impatient, critical, always in a hurry“ customers. Within this stressed group, three types of typical ”self-servers“ can be identified: Office employees who work late, hurried people who do not want to miss the train, and people who live their lives ”stressed by the speed of modern times“. An additional category is men who have never waited in the queue with the women in a shop with service.
Migros concludes that self-service will take over above all in the towns and cities, as the new system “ to a large extent takes into account the urban shopper’s psychological situation”.