The curb market played a critical role in the 1960s and 1970s in pumping money into the economy and in assisting the growth of smaller corporations.
The curb market served individuals who needed cash urgently, less reputable businesspeople who engaged in speculation, and the multitudes of smaller companies that needed operating funds but could not procure bank financing.
With the discovery of oil in the later half of the 19th century, even oil stocks entered into the curb market.
In big families, the cook customarily went to her own garden or to the curb market , now called the farmers' marker , to lay in a big supply of vegetables and fruit.
The JOD Hosiery Mill became Durham's first Farmers' Market - what was referred to as a "curb market" at the time - where the farmers would sell some of their produce directly.
The clubwomen supported this by creating the idea of local curb markets to sell Georgia produce and the Sweet Auburn Curb market, known today as the Municipal Market was formed and still thrives today.
"It provided competition for the curb market, which by necessity was forced to better organize itself to ward off the rivalry," Professor Geisst explained.
To raise this kind of money often requires a pooling of funds from many relatives, who cram in together, or a resort to the "curb" market, where interest rates are high.
The stock of United Copper was traded outside the hall of the New York Stock Exchange, literally an outdoor market "on the curb" (this curb market would later become the American Stock Exchange).
She never saw him buying grapefruit at the curb market, or ordering up a soft-serve chocolate and vanilla swirl at the convenience store, or trying to trade in a stereo speaker at the pawn shop.