University Avenue Green Stamps Then and Now
Green Stamps on University in 1969 and 2012
Green Stamps were used as retail trading stamps from the 1930s until the late 1980s. They were distributed as part of a rewards program operated by the Sperry and Hutchinson company. During the 1960s, the rewards catalog printed by the company was the largest publication in the United States and the company issued three times as many stamps as the post office.Green Stamps peaked out in the mid 1960′s. At the turn of the century only about a 100 American stores were offering Green Stamps. S&H almost made it into the age of the internet. In 2006, S&H Solutions was purchased by San Francisco based Pay By Touch for over $100 million. Unfortunately Pay By Touch sold its assets to other corporations and went out of business in 2008.
Did you know University Avenue used to run several blocks north of where it is now? The original route was built to connect the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota to Hamline University in Saint Paul. When the construction of the Minnesota Transfer Railway yards got in the way, the street was moved a half mile south to what was then Melrose Avenue. The old University Avenue was renamed Minnehaha.
I think that’s where I went to get some things with my stamps about 1969. I used to get Green Stamps at Red Owl. They gave extra ones if you bought more than $5 worth of groceries. You could get a lot for $5 then.
and you didn’t even have to give them your email!