HISTORY OF DEPARTMENTAL STORES

The birthplace of the department store was Paris. The Bon Marché
opened in 1852, soon followed by Printemps (1865) and the
Samaritaine (1869). Existing shops in the United States- Stewart in
New York, Wanamaker in Philadelphia and Marshall Field in Chicago-
adopted the format during the 1870s. The department store brought
together a series of retail methods tested out in smaller European and
American shops earlier in the century, for example, the proto-
department stores in industrial cities in the north of Britain
(Lancaster, chapter 1). The department store proper was distinctive
from previous experiments in its scale, lavishness, and resonance with
the society that spawned it. The early Parisian stores were hugely
influential models for subsequent stores springing up all over the
world. The history of the department store has been largely located in
Western Europe and North America. The arrival of the format in East
Asian cities such as Shanghai and Tokyo in the early twentieth century
has been associated with westernization, but the stores were often
locally owned and managed, creating complex issues surrounding
their identity.
The conditions for the rise of the department store lay in late-eighteenth-and
early-nineteenth-century industrialization and urbanization, which led to the
growth of prosperous, urban, middle-class populations and the ready availability
of mass-produced consumer goods, along with an increasingly sophisticated
understanding of the pleasurable rather than merely utilitarian possibilities of
consuming them. Important department stores were situated in urban centers,
on principal shopping streets, working in conjunction with other shops,
entertainment venues, and transport networks. However, well-heeled suburbs
also had department stores in their high streets. By the late nineteenth century,
considered the hey-day of the department store, these shops had become
emblematic of metropolitan modernity and were famously made the backdrop of
Émile Zola's novel The Ladies' Paradise.

The major department stores of each important city- for example, Harrods,
Liberty's and Selfridges in London- quickly became urban landmarks and cultural
institutions, cited in guide books as tourist attractions. During the early twentieth
century, American stores took the lead as innovators, becoming increasingly
influential on their European counterparts. During the interwar and early
postwar periods, while alternative shopping sites were developing, fashion
magazines such as Vogue show that the big department stores retained their
central position within urban consumption practices in many cities. However,
despite stores' attempts to address broader sections of the population, the
opening of teen departments and the provision of new buildings, fundamental
modernization of the format did not occur. The combined competition from the
multiple store and alternative boutique in the urban high street and from the
suburban shopping center and out-of-town mall led to a slow decline in the
cultural and economic importance of the department store from the 1960s,
accelerating during the 1980s. There were several factors that increased a store's
chances of survival: possession of an international reputation, such as that of
Harrods, London; absorption into a larger group, such as the House of Fraser or
the John Lewis Partnership; positioning on a major metropolitan shopping
thoroughfare or as the anchor in a shopping center. The early twenty-first century
has witnessed a revival of the metropolitan department store, connected with a
renewed focus on luxury goods and designer fashion, prime examples being
Selfridges and Liberty in London. The department store has proved to be
enduring.

Stock Diversity and New Selling Methods

An important innovation of department stores was their wide variety of
merchandise, breaching the boundaries of previously largely trade-specific shop-
keeping. Many of the early department stores actually developed from smaller
existing shops, most commonly drapers. They grew department by department,
taking over neighboring properties to house the expanding businesses, until it
was necessary to provide a new building or reface the existing ones to provide
coherence. Department store pioneer William Whiteley famously boasted that he
sold "everything from a pin to an elephant." The system worked on a basis of low
margins and high turnover. The stores were certainly a place for the sale of mass-
produced goods and have been associated with the rise of ready-to-wear clothing.
However, most stores continued to provide traditional tailoring and drapery well
into the twentieth century. The diversity of stock was matched by an array of
amenities and entertainments, including banks, restaurants, travel agents,
fashion shows and live music, and services such as free delivery and alteration of
garments.