Popular stereotypes of Rockwellian storekeepers have characterized grocery retailers as backward and resistant to modernizing impulses. Cornering the Market challenges these conventions to show that early grocers were important but unsung innovators, revolutionizing business practices from the bottom, and transforming the grocery trade from local enterprises to a nationwide industry. [Spellman] provides readers with a fascinating description of the role of independent grocers in spurring innovation within the retail function in the 19th century ... Highly recommended.