1255, "one who buys and sells in gross," from Anglo-Fr.
grosser, from M.L.
grossarius "wholesaler," lit. "dealer in quantity," from L.L.
grossus "coarse (of food), great, gross" (see
gross). Sense of "a merchant selling individual items of food" is 16c.
Grocery "a grocer's shop" is 1828, Amer.Eng. Self-service groceries were a novelty in 1913 when a Montana, U.S., firm copyrighted the word
groceteria (with the ending from
cafeteria used in an un-etymological sense) to name them. The term existed through the 1920s.