Many years ago there weren’t any self-serve grocery stores. Shoppers were served by clerks who chose products for them. When the first self-serve market was opened, no one thought that it would be successful. Owners of the full-service grocery stores laughed at the idea and said that the public would probably boycott the stores.

Clarence Saunders, the man who came up with this innovative system, thought that he could save money by having shoppers help themselves from the open shelves. He was warned by many of his competitors that customers would boycott this type of grocery store and put him out of business.

What is the meaning of the word boycott in the above text?