1 Cent - Food Town Las Vegas, New Mexico

Food Town was a regional grocery chain that issued cardboard scrip in small denominations for use within its own stores — a practice common among American retailers in the mid-twentieth century as a way to avoid making change in coin during periods of minor currency shortages or simply as a customer retention mechanism. Las Vegas, New Mexico should not be confused with its Nevada namesake; this is the historic northeastern New Mexico town on the Santa Fe Trail.

Cardboard scrip of this type survives poorly. The material warps, splits at corners, and stains readily, meaning genuinely intact examples are harder to find than their original ubiquity would suggest.