In 1936, Samuel Goldman came up with an idea for a rolling cart. He noticed customers would stop shopping once their basket became too heavy. He attached wheels to a folding chair and put a basket on top.

But few shoppers took to the carts. To convince customers, Goldman hired people to walk around the store with shopping carts and fill them up. Customers eventually started following the example.

In 1946, Orla Watson patented the "telescope cart" allowing them to slide together in horizontal stacks to solve the storage dilemma. Seatbelts were added to the child seats in the 1960s.

However, carts were often abandoned in back alleys, rivers, and forests, leading lawmakers to impose regulations and fines on businesses that didn't keep track of their trolleys.

Carts also became a symbol of urban blight and poverty, often used by homeless people to store and transport their belongings.