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1. The Innovation of Grocery Stores Reading IELTS
1.1 Reading passage
The Innovation of Grocery Stores
A. At the beginning of the 20th century, grocery stores in the United States were full-service. A customer would ask a clerk behind the counter for specific items and the clerk would package the items, which were limited to dry goods. If they want to save some time, they have to ask a delivery boy or themselves to send the note of what they want to buy to the grocery store first and then go to pay for the goods later. These grocery stores usually carried only one brand of each good. There were early chain stores, such as the A&P Stores, but these were all entirely full-service and very time-consuming.
B. In 1885, a Virginia boy named Clarence Saunders began working part-time as a clerk in a grocery store when he was 14 years old, and quit school when the shopkeeper offered him full-time work with room and board. Later he worked in an Alabama coke plant and in a Tennessee sawmill before he returned to the grocery business. By 1900, when he was nineteen years old, he was earning $30 a month as a salesman for a wholesale grocer. During his years working in grocery stores, he found that it was very inconvenient and inefficient for people to buy things because more than a century ago, long before there were computers, shopping was done quite differently than it is today. Entering a store, the customer would approach the counter (or wait for a clerk to become available) and place an order, either verbally or, as was often the case for boys running errands, in the form of a note or list. While the customer waited, the clerk would move behind the counter and throughout the store, select the items on the list – some form shelves so high that a long-handled grasping device had to be used – and bring them back to the counter to be tallied and bagged or boxed. The process might be expedited by the customer calling or sending in the order beforehand, or by the order being handled by a delivery boy on a bike, but otherwise, it did not vary greatly. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.
C. So in 1902, he moved to Memphis where he developed his concept to form a grocery wholesale cooperative and a full-service grocery store. For his new “cafeteria grocery”, Saunders divided his grocery into three distinct areas: 1) A front “lobby” forming an entrance and exit and checkouts at the front. 2) A sales department, which was specially designed to allow customers to roam the aisles and select their own groceries. Removing unnecessary clerks, creating elaborate aisle displays, and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise and over the shelving and cabinets units of sales department were “galleries” where supervisors were allowed to keep an eye on the customers while not disturbing them. 3) And another section of his store is the room only allowed for the clerks which were called the “stockroom” or “storage room” where large refrigerators were situated to keep fresh products from being perishable. The new format allowed multiple customers to shop at the same time and led to the previously unknown phenomenon of impulse shopping. Though this format of grocery market was drastically different from its competitors, the style became the standard for the modern grocery store and later supermarket.
D. On September 6, 1916, Saunders launched the self-service revolution in the USA by opening the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store, at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, with its characteristic turnstile at the entrance. Customers paid cash and selected their own goods from the shelves. It was unlike any other grocery store of that time. Inside a Piggly Wiggly, shoppers were not at the mercy of shop clerks. They were free to roam the store, check out the merchandise and get what they needed with their own two hands and feet. Prices on items at Piggly Wiggly were clearly marked. No one pressured customers to buy milk or pickles. And the biggest benefit at the Piggly Wiggly was that shoppers saved money. Self-service was positive all around. “It’s good for both the consumer and retailer because it cuts costs,” noted George T. Haley, a professor at the University of New Haven and director of the Center for International Industry Competitiveness. “If you looked at the way grocery stores were run previous to Piggly Wiggly and Alpha Beta, what you find is that there was a tremendous amount of labor involved, and labor is a major expense.” Piggly Wiggly cut the fat.
E. Piggly Wiggly and the self-service concept took off. Saunders opened nine stores in the Memphis area within the first year of business. Consumers embraced the efficiency, the simplicity and most of all the lower food prices. Saunders soon patented his self-service concept and began franchising Piggly Wiggly stores. Thanks to the benefits of self-service and franchising, Piggly Wiggly ballooned to nearly 1,300 stores by 1923. Piggly Wiggle sold $100 million – worth $1.3 billion today – in groceries, making it the third-biggest grocery retailer in the nation. The company’s stock was even listed on the New York Stock Exchange, doubling from late 1922 to march 1923. Saunders had his hands all over Piggly Wiggly. He was instrumental in the design and layout of his stores. He even invented the turnstile.
F. However, Saunders was forced into bankruptcy in 1923 after a dramatic spat which the New York Stock Exchange and he went on to create the “Clarence Saunders sole-owner-of-my-name” chain, which went into bankruptcy.
G. Until the time of his death in October 1953, Saunders was developing plans for another automatic store system called the Foodelectric. But the store, which was to be located two blocks from the first Piggly Wiggly store, never opened. But his name was well-remembered along with the name Piggly Wiggly.
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1.2 Questions
Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
- layout of Clarence Saunders’ store
- a reference to a reduction by chain stores in labor costs
- how Clarence Saunders’ idea had been carried out
- how people used to shop before Clarence Saunders’ stores opened
- a description of economic success brought by Clarence Saunders’s stores
Questions 6-10
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.
- Clarence Saunders’ first job was as ….. in a grocery store.
- In Clarence Saunders’ store, people should pay for goods in the ….
- Customers would be under surveillance when shopping in the…
- Another area in his store was called “…..”, which was only accessible to the internal staff.
- In Clarence Saunders’ shopping design, much work was done by the ….
Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D,
Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
- Why did Clarence Saunders want to propel the improvement of grocery stores at his age?
A. He wanted to transfer business to retailing.
B. He thought it was profitable.
C. He thought this could enable customers’ life to be more convenient.
D. He wanted to create a new shop by himself.
- The Piggly Wiggly store was
A. located in Virginia.
B. mainly featured self-service.
C. initially very unpopular with customers.
D. developed with a pessimistic future.
- Today, the main thing associated with Clarence Saunders is that
A. a fully automatic store system opened soon near his first store.
B. his Piggly Wiggly store was very popular at that time.
C. his name was usually connected with Piggly Wiggly stores.
D. his name was printed together with that of his famous store.
2. The Innovation of Grocery Stores Answers
| Câu hỏi | Đáp án |
| 1 | C |
| 2 | D |
| 3 | C |
| 4 | A |
| 5 | E |
| 6 | a (clerk) |
| 7 | front lobby |
| 8 | gallery |
| 9 | stockroom |
| 10 | customers |
| 11 | C |
| 12 | B |
| 13 | C |
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3. The Innovation of Grocery Stores Explanation
Question 1-5
Câu hỏi 1: Từ khóa: layout, Clarence Saunders’ store
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn C: “In his newly designed grocery store, he divided the store into three different areas”, tức là trong cửa hàng tạp hóa mới do mình thiết kế, ông đã chia cửa hàng thành ba khu vực riêng biệt.
ĐÁP ÁN: C
Câu hỏi 2: Từ khóa: a reference, reduction, chain stores in labor costs
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn D: “if you look at the way in which ….great number of workers involved, and labour is a major expense”, tức là nếu bạn quan sát cách thức hoạt động của các cửa hàng tạp hóa (trước khi Piggly Wiggly và Alpha Beta ra đời), bạn sẽ thấy rằng có rất nhiều công nhân tham gia và chi phí lao động là một khoản lớn.
ĐÁP ÁN: D
Câu hỏi 3: Từ khóa: how, Clarence Saunders’ idea, carried out
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn C: “In 1902, Saunders moved to Memphis to …. grocery store, he divided the store into three different areas”, nghĩa là vào năm 1902, Saunders chuyển đến Memphis để thực hiện ý tưởng của mình, thành lập một hợp tác xã bán buôn hàng tạp hóa. Trong cửa hàng tạp hóa mới do ông thiết kế, ông đã chia cửa hàng thành ba khu vực riêng biệt.
ĐÁP ÁN: C
Câu hỏi 4: Từ khóa: how, shop before Clarence Saunders’ stores opened
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn A: “the American grocery stores … the items they liked, and then the clerks would wrap the items up.”, nghĩa là các cửa hàng tạp hóa ở Mỹ cung cấp dịch vụ toàn diện: khách hàng sẽ yêu cầu nhân viên đứng sau quầy hỗ trợ lấy những món đồ họ cần, sau đó nhân viên sẽ gói các món hàng đó lại.
ĐÁP ÁN: A
Câu hỏi 5: Từ khóa: description of economic success, Clarence Saunders’s stores
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn E: “Thanks to the employment…. grocery retailer in the nation.”, nghĩa là nhờ áp dụng mô hình tự phục vụ và nhượng quyền thương mại, số lượng cửa hàng Piggly Wiggly đã tăng lên gần 1.300 vào năm 1923. Piggly Wiggly đạt doanh thu 100 triệu đô la (tương đương 1,3 tỷ đô la ngày nay) trong ngành tạp hóa, trở thành nhà bán lẻ tạp hóa lớn thứ ba trên toàn quốc.
ĐÁP ÁN: E
Question 6-10
Câu hỏi 6: Từ khóa: Clarence Saunders’ first job, a grocery store.
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn A: “Clarence Saunders left school at the age of 14 in 1895 to work first as a clerk in a grocery store”, nghĩa là Clarence Saunders rời trường học năm 14 tuổi vào năm 1895 để làm công việc đầu tiên là nhân viên bán hàng trong một cửa hàng tạp hóa.
ĐÁP ÁN: (a) clerk
Câu hỏi 7: Từ khóa: In Clarence Saunders’ store, pay for goods
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn C: “‘A front lobby’ served as an entrance, an exit, as well as the checkouts at the front”, nghĩa là “Sảnh trước” đóng vai trò là lối vào, lối ra và cũng là khu vực thanh toán ở phía trước.
ĐÁP ÁN: front lobby
Câu hỏi 8: Từ khóa: Customer, under surveillance when shopping
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn C: “In the gallery above the sales department, supervisors can monitor the customers without disturbing them.”, nghĩa là trong phòng trưng bày phía trên bộ phận bán hàng, người giám sát có thể quan sát khách hàng mà không làm phiền họ.
ĐÁP ÁN: gallery
Câu hỏi 9: Từ khóa: Another area, only accessible to the internal staff.
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn C: “‘Stockroom’, where large fridges were placed to maintain fresh products, is another section of his grocery store only for the staff to enter.”, nghĩa là “Phòng chứa hàng”, nơi đặt các tủ lạnh lớn để bảo quản thực phẩm tươi sống, là khu vực khác trong cửa hàng của ông mà chỉ nhân viên mới được phép vào.
ĐÁP ÁN: stockroom
Câu hỏi 10: Từ khóa: In Clarence Saunders’ shopping design, work, done
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn D: “As a matter of fact… improvement.”, nghĩa là trên thực tế, lợi ích lớn nhất mà Piggly Wiggly mang lại cho khách hàng chính là sự tiết kiệm hiệu quả. Mô hình tự phục vụ đã mở ra cơ hội cải tiến.
ĐÁP ÁN: customers
Question 11-13
Câu hỏi 11: Từ khóa: Clarence Saunders, propel the improvement of grocery stores, at his age
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn B: “Having noticed that this …. industry.”, nghĩa là nhận thấy phương thức mua sắm bất tiện này có thể tiêu tốn nhiều thời gian và tiền bạc, Saunders, với sự sáng tạo và nhiệt huyết tuyệt vời, đã đề xuất một giải pháp chưa từng có—cho phép người tiêu dùng tự phục vụ trong quá trình mua sắm—tạo ra một cuộc cách mạng triệt để cho toàn ngành.
ĐÁP ÁN: C
Câu hỏi 12: Từ khóa: Piggly Wiggly store
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn D: “Saunders performed the self-service … Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee.”, nghĩa là Saunders đã thực hiện cuộc cách mạng tự phục vụ ở Hoa Kỳ bằng cách mở cửa hàng Piggly Wiggly đầu tiên có cửa quay tại lối vào, tọa lạc ở số 79 phố Jefferson, Memphis, Tennessee.
ĐÁP ÁN: B
Câu hỏi 13: Từ khóa: main thing, associated with Clarence Saunders
Thông tin nằm ở đoạn E: “Clarence Saunders died in 1… lasted permanently.”, nghĩa là Clarence Saunders qua đời vào năm 1953, để lại một di sản phong phú, trong đó Piggly Wiggly là biểu tượng quan trọng nhất, với mô hình kinh doanh đã lan rộng và tồn tại lâu dài.
ĐÁP ÁN: C
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