In 1956, Alan Sainsbury became chairman after the death of his father, John Benjamin Sainsbury. During the 1950s and 1960s, Sainsbury's was a keen early adopter of self-service supermarkets in the United Kingdom; the first self-service shop within the country was a co-operative shop opened in 1942. On a trip to the United States of America, Alan Sainsbury realised the benefits of self-service shops and believed the future of Sainsbury's was self-service supermarkets of , with eventually the added bonus of a car park for extra convenience. The first self-service branch opened in Croydon in 1950.