The geographic and cultural diversity of the United States, coupled with comprehensive transportation and refrigeration, insured a cornucopia of foods distributed through central markets to both neighborhood stores and daily buyers from the nineteenth century onwards. Yet suburban sprawl and automobiles favored multi-service megastores (supermarkets) connected by corporate chains like A&P or Acme, surrounded by acres of parking, where groceries, household goods, pharmaceuticals and other needs may be met for the week (or months in the case of bulk-sales warehouses). Meanwhile, neighborhood stores have adapted or disappeared, while urban markets themselves have altered drastically In the 1960s, urban renewal often saw city markets as antiquated, unhygienic, congested and ugly Lands were cleared for center city developments and distribution processes to aseptic warehouses accessible to trucking and highways. In hindsight, however, many cities realized the character of these markets and their value for tourism.

Hence, Lexington Market in Baltimore, MD, the Italian Market and Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, PA and other centers have been modernized with a retail orientation—adding cafes, souvenirs and prepared foods, for example. Moreover, regional growers and craftspeople learned to transform buildings (including movie theaters, banks and storefronts), public squares and parking lots into “farmer’s markets” offering fresh produce and prepared goods to middle-class consumers. Such suppliers still presume the existence of supermarkets for basic sundries. Here, specialty stands within supermarkets often mirror market stands and shops, especially with regard to prepared foods.

Squeezed in this consumer evolution have been smaller stores—butchers, greengrocers, etc.—unless they serve the needs of poor communities where national supermarket chains have refused to move to “risky” neighborhoods. Some have also become expensive boutiques delivering to or catering for upper-class neighborhoods.

Ethnic specialty shops also survive, although the consolidation of Asian American and Latino supermarkets has become noticeable in suburban enclaves where space is available and cars allow mega-stores to serve more dispersed and varied populations.

Organic and health-food stores also have carved out specialty niches. Convenience stores, open 24-hours, offer emergency items, junk foods and, depending on local codes and setting, alcohol, tobacco and gasoline.

Time as well as taste continues to shape food buying in the early twenty-first century Internet shopping and television purchases have been discussed as alternatives for the two-career family Most striking is the quantity of “prepared” foods, beyond the canned food of the 1950s and the frozen specialties of the 1960s, which promise fresh gourmet treats.

All these markets have cultural meanings, ranging from nostalgia to alienation, within American cultural representations. Traditional urban markets convey a sense of ethnic time and place in movies like Godfather II (1974). The supermarkets, as hallmarks of suburban domesticity and anonymity also become public social spaces (urban markets may in fact, sponsor singles’ nights). The mom-and-pop store often surfaces in urban crime stories. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) showcases not only an Italian family pizzeria at odds with a black neighborhood, but also a Korean greengrocer, an immigrant specialization that has become widespread in New York City and other cities.

The transition from smaller local stores to convenience stores is also apparent in crime and road movies, in which the latter have tended to replace the former as sites of dramatic action.