Watkins sold extracts and spices, and various household items. The movie made in 2002 about Bill Porter was called Door to Door.
I haven’t seen any door-to-door salesmen of anything for a long time now.
The only people who have shown up at my apartment door are Jehovah Witness followers, and sales people from alternative gas and electric companies. Thankfully those have petered out. When they did show up, I never even opened the door to them, and simply said "Not interested," before they'd could start their spiel.