Schreiner Cash and Carry Grocery

What we think of as the Schreiner Store building is actually several buildings erected over many years.  This art deco building at 214 Earl Garrett, now home to Schreiner Goods, was erected in 1936 for the Schreiner cash and carry grocery.
Schreiner's original cash and carry grocery, which opened in 1926, was in the basement of the building at the corner of Water and Earl Garrett Streets.  In 1926 the cash and carry grocery was a fairly new concept.  Prior to the development of "cash and carry", customers used to call in or deliver their grocery orders to the store, the groceries would be charged to the customer's account, and then delivered later in the day.  As cars became more common, stores moved to a cash and carry concept, whereby customers would select groceries from the shelves themselves, pay cash, rather than on credit, in order to save money and then carry their groceries home themselves.  When the Schreiner grocery department closed in 1963, the hardware department moved in. The department store closed in 2007.