With home delivery slots hampered due to the lockdown, many of us have been spending longer in the supermarket lately than we’d normally like.

But these vintage photos bring back memories of a time when shoppers couldn’t wait to leave home to push their trollies around the aisles and to peruse the bargains on offer.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Pop - the fizzy drinks aisle where a bottle of lemonade was 20p

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Cards - The store’s greeting cards sections

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Treat - A young shoppers eyes up his Easter egg on the store’s opening day

The images all come from the first few days of the opening of the old Sainsbury Pitsea store.

The supermarket was built in Northlands Pavement and opened in the Easter of 1976. It served shoppers for more than two decades until it closed its doors for good in 1999.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Keeping the peas - a policeman outside the supermarket on opening day

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Spacious - social distancing wasn't a 'thing' in 1976

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Smiles in the aisles - a cheery customer waits at the delicatessen aisle

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Queues... - but not as we know it!

The photos come from the Sainsbury Archive Collection which is based at the Museum of London Docklands in Canary Wharf.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Clothing aisle - customers peruse the fashions. Skirts were on sale for £2.50 and cardigans for £3.95

Visit sainsburyarchive.org.uk