Self-Service

As every housewife knows--and almost every businessman--the place where the money goes these days is to the U.S. supermarket, which piles up billions selling everything from aspirin to zwieback. Last week a suburban St. Louis housewife showed one and all just how profitable the supermarket business can be. Into St. Louis County circuit court came Florence Toft Bettendorf, 47, charging desertion against her husband, Supermarketeer Joseph Bettendorf, 51. until lately the proprietor of nine big St. Louis markets. Out went Mrs. Bettendorf wheeling a shopping cart full of money: $1,175,000 in a divorce settlement, plus $12,000 a year for the Bettendorfs' four children.

Joe Bettendorf could afford the bite. Starting with a single market and a $5,000 loan in 1929, he had expanded to two high-quality stores by 1945, kept on growing with the city until last year's sales totaled $33 million, with profits of $600,000. Early this year he decided to rest, and sold out to the Midwestern ACF-Wrigley Stores, Inc. Price: $8,540,000 in stock and cash, which still leaves him a nice little grubstake, Mrs. Bettendorf or no.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.