Streamline.com put a refrigerator and a freezer in its customers' garages. Once a week, a driver let himself in and filled them with groceries the family had ordered online. Nobody had to be home. The Boston-area company aimed at busy suburban families and offered far more than food. It picked up dry cleaning, returned bottles, and dropped off rental videos. When Streamline went public in June 1999, it was betting that people would hand over a garage key to save a Saturday.

The Streamline Box

Timothy DeMello founded Streamline in 1993. The company called its home setup the Streamline box: a refrigerator, a freezer, and a storage unit installed on the customer's property. Unattended delivery let Streamline plan efficient routes instead of chasing narrow time windows. Orders came from a warehouse with separate temperature zones. Customers paid for the service, and Streamline hoped to earn more from each family by handling every weekly errand.

Ten Dollars to Peapod

Streamline priced its IPO at $10 a share in June 1999 and listed on Nasdaq as SLNE. It expanded beyond Boston into Washington, D.C., and Chicago. The cost of new markets outran sales, and investors stopped funding online grocers in 2000. In September 2000 Streamline sold its Washington and Chicago operations to Peapod for $11.6 million. It stopped all service on November 22, 2000.

Cover: The Market-Woman, Hans Sebald Beham. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a market woman with her basket (groceries delivered).