This week, a founder reminded me of a story I told him years ago that made an impression. If, like me, you're fascinated with the history of American retail, you may enjoy it. Americans used to shop for groceries in marvelously inefficient ways. A century ago, different categories of products were sold in different stores. A family would go from one store to another to buy their weekly staples. Each store had a counter, and the clerk behind the counter would take your order, write it down, and head to the back of the store to weigh and sort everything. Your final package would come several minutes later all wrapped up by the grocer. You never touched goods yourself, and in the meantime you socialized with other patrons. Grocery shopping was a great time to catch up with your community.