Dairy Store Bags
Description: Lawson’s Dairy Stores began in 1939 when J.J. Lawson opened a retail counter at his Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio milk company to sell milk by the gallon. Since most milk came in quart bottles, his wider-mouthed jug with a wire handle let customers carry one bottle instead of four, saving money and driving sales. Lawson soon opened his first store, offering his dairy products along with a range of food and staples—an early version of today’s convenience store. Within a year, he had ten locations; by 1943, twice that. By 1959, the chain had grown to over 700 stores when Consolidated Foods bought it. The stores kept the Lawson’s name until a rebrand in the mid-1980s changed it to Dairy Mart.
Description: Ken McGowen opened up his first Mac's Milk convenience store on Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto. Ken came up with the name as it sounded like a friendly neighborhood guy, and included milk, as that's a core staple they would be stocking. As a nod to McGowen's Scottish roots, the mascot for Mac's was a cat named MacTavish, wearing a Tam o' shanter and a kilt, holding a jug of milk. McGowen opened seven more stores in 1962, but soon realized he needed capital to continue to grow, so Silverwood Dairies acquired 40% of Mac's Milk in 1963, allowing expansion to continue, and gave Mac's an edge on Silverwood's dairy products. Silverwood increased its holding to 80% in 1968, and 100% in 1972.
