I remember those meters too. I thought they were unique and wonder why they are not used today. I've been sewing since I was about twelve and I think we got our fabric at a dry goods store in the neighborhood. Later on it was JC Penney and Krauss. Thanks for the memories, that was a good time in my life.
Incidentally, I was going through my mother's sewing machine accessories looking for a brush to clean my machine, could not find mine, and came upon some spools of thread that she had. The large spool was marked 29 cents and the small one 15 cents, those were the good old days.