The story takes place during the 1960’s, in a A&P grocery store in a small Massachusetts town. The grocery store was also not too far from the beach, and the girl beach attire was clearly inappropriate during that time. The tone of the story shows that during the 1960s, women did not dress in the way the girls were dressing. “The women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street” (Updike 165). Meaning, the girls’ attire was not allowed and should have been fully dressed before entering the store.