Business History

ISSN: 0007-6791 (Print) 1743-7938 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fbsh20

Introduction: The Emergence of Modern Retailing,

17501950
Nicholas Alexander & Gary Akehurst
To cite this article: Nicholas Alexander & Gary Akehurst (1998) Introduction: The Emergence of
Modern Retailing, 17501950, Business History, 40:4, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/00076799800000335
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076799800000335

Published online: 28 Jul 2006.

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Introduction: The Emergence of Modern

Retailing, 1750-1950

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N I C H O L A S ALEXANDER a n d GARY A K E H U R S T
Bournemouth University
Portsmouth University

This collection of essays is devoted to the history of retailing. There are

three primary motivations which lie behind this publication. First, it is
recognised that retailing has received limited attention within the discipline
of history. Secondly, where retailing has become an area considered worthy
of academic study, notably within management studies, the historical
dimension has been under-valued and under-explored. Thirdly, studies in
retail history must draw on both historical and management traditions if
valuable research is to be undertaken.
This publication is, therefore, intended both as an opportunity to bring
together academics working on retail business history from backgrounds in
history, historical-geography and management, and to indicate that there is
a rich vein of research to be explored in this subject area. The essays
included in this publication are examples of the work that has been done and
examples of the issues which deserve consideration in the context of this
important area of business, economic and social activity.
That history, as a discipline, has ignored retailing would be something of
an exaggeration, but it would certainly be correct to acknowledge that retail
history has been something of a poor relation within the study of business
history, which itself has had to assert its right to be seated at history's high
table. While business history journals, such as the Business History Review
and Business History, have published in the area of retail history, they also
illustrate the relative paucity of activity in the area of retailing. While
manufacturing industry and other service sectors have attracted interest,
retail history articles are few and far between in these journals. Indeed,
when articles on distribution and trade-related issues are excluded, the
number of articles on retailing per se are very few. While it may not be
surprising to find the service sector generally underrepresented (it has also
received insufficient attention within management studies), it is a little more
surprising to see research interest in retailing lagging behind areas such as
financial services. Indeed, it is particularly instructive to place the
development, or lack of development, of retail business history against the

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T H E E M E R G E N C E OF M O D E R N RETAILING

development of financial services history; where, as Pearson has pointed

out, the emergence of the Financial History Review in recent years is
illustrative of the increased interest in that area of the service economy
which contrasts clearly with the experience of distribution and retailing.'
Likewise, Godley and Ross's recent special issue of Business H i ~ t o r yand
,~
Jones's recent work on multinational banking: points toward a growing
literature and academic interest in this area. The service sector is clearly not
out of bounds, but retailing has clearly shown itself to be a slow developer.
Consideration of articles in Business History since 1958 shows that, while
important work has appeared, it has not been part of what might be
considered a sustained effort to explore the retail business history
dimension. Articles by Blackman, Scott, Hopkins, Mui and Mui, Porter,
Redlich, Rubin, and Shaw illustrate the work which has addressed retail
issues directly or comparatively,4 and other articles, such as those by Dixon,
Green, Harvey and Press, Jones, Sutton, and Weati~erill,~
shed light on retail
history through the primary consideration of other issues. While the subject
matter of these articles is informative, they have neither created a focused
debate, nor scrutinised particular issues beyond, arguably, the emergence of
modern retail systems during the nineteenth century. Indeed, the lack of
historical consideration has become self-perpetuating. As Christine Shaw
has noted with reference to the Dictionary of Business Biography: a
consequence of business history's neglect of retailing has been such that, at
the time of the dictionary's compilation, it was both difficult to identify
retailers who should be included in the dictionary and to compile
biographies with suitable depth.
The comparative failure of business history to embrace retailing as a
subject worthy of consideration is somewhat mirrored by retail
management's failure to embrace historical method and recognise the worth
of historical issues when considering management subjects. This failure,
which has been explored and lamented within retail studies journals in
recent years on both sides of the Atlantic,' remains a serious impediment to
the development of an understanding of retail change. Retail management
studies has emerged as a vital area of academic development in the last two
decades, but it has tended to ignore the historical dimension. In the UK, the
subject area has come into being through the synthesis of geographical and
marketing academic research and has been formalised into an area of
teaching through the needs of the commercial sector. Since the mid-1 980s,
universities in the UK have developed courses in retail management which
have drawn heavily on the research carried out by geographers and
marketers in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and have been strongly influenced
by the cognitive structures borrowed from marketing and retail academics
in the US.8

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INTRODUCTION

The influence of geography and marketing on retail management studies

has made the subject area both intellectually and commercially accessible,
but it has largely done so to the exclusion of the historical perspective. This
lack of recognition for the historical dimension within retail management
studies is somewhat surprising given the early interest in this area by
economists such as Jefferys? whose contribution has certainly influenced
those perceptions of UK retail change which are accepted today, and whose
interpretative framework has become embedded in the research
assumptions of geographers and marketers working in the area of retail
management, but which has had limited direct impact on contemporary
research agendas.I0 As Shaw et al. note in this publication, the common
research interests of 'timing, pattern and process of growth' have linked
economic historians and historical geographers and this has led to a crossfertilisation of ideas between the economists and the geographers. However,
within the mainstream of retail management research, such influences have
been somewhat over-shadowed by the contributions of other disciplines and
the needs of the commercial perspective which has been taken to exclude
the 'wasteful luxury' of historical understanding."

Retail business history is an underexplored area, but it is not an unexplored

one, and the influences upon this area of research deserve consideration if
problems and opportunities are be fully understood and if a lack of
awareness of existing research and subsequent replication of effort is to be
avoided.
There are a number of different influences which come together within
the study of retail business history. These influences emanate from the
disciplines of economics, geography, history and management. Each
discipline has made a contribution, and is likely to provide continued
contributions; each discipline has absorbed influence from the other in
varying degrees but an identifiable body of well-informed retail business
literature with an historical understanding has not been produced through a
synthesis of these elements, nor is it likely to appear unless there is a greater
focusing of research effort.
To a considerable extent, the most likely context in which to find a
synthesis of ideas should be retail management studies, which, as noted
above, has not only been influenced by marketing and hence management
theory and methods but has also been influenced by geographical and
economic theory and research. The subject area has assimilated
contributions from older, more established disciplines. Likewise, it has
generated, particularly in the US environment, theories which attempt to

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T H E E M E R G E N C E O F MODERN RETAILING

explain structural development of retail institutions. It has begun to produce

frameworks within which debate may occur and to which reference may be
made as studies challenge or support theoretical constructs.
This promising environment, however, has not led to the exploitation of
historical method nor to a considerable extent has it seen the acceptance of
history as a means by which greater understanding of commercial problems
and opportunities may be achieved. Alexander has suggested, that, despitc
the efforts of retail researchers to establish the validity of historical method,
there are essentially five inhibitors - psychology, focus, methodology,
capacity and publication - which restrict the use of history in the
development of the subject area.12 That is, psychological barriers exist
through the assumptions of the business community and the intellectual
perspectives many academics engaged in retail studies will bring to the
subject, while the focus of much of the historical material already produced
appears remote from the concerns of contemporary management studies,
methodologies are unfamiliar, the capacity for study of subjects which
demand commitment and resources are lacking and the opportunities for
publication within retail management journals are limited.
Likewise, the theories which have emerged within retail management
studies have developed without the historical analysis which would allow
for their validation or contradiction. As Hollander has noted from a
marketing perspective in the context of the 'accordion' theory of retail
change, it is not possible to acknowledge the universality of the wide
assortment to narrow assortment alternation which appears to occur within
the retail environment or to prove that such an alternation exists, because
'there are no valid historical statistics on merchandise assortments7." These
thoughts echo his earlier comments on the 'wheel of retailing', where he
observed that historical data on such as 'retail expense rates is very scarce'
and hence undermine the theoretical framework of the wheel theory.'"
Gareth Shaw has more recently echoed these sentiments from an historical
geography perspective, when he noted that 'few empirical studies of a
historical nature have been undertaken to help establish either the
usefulness or validity of such historical perspective^'.^^ That Shaw is still
able to make the same assertions as Hollander a quarter of a century later
illustrates that very few attempts have been made to test those models which
have come to influence thinking within retail management. Savitt's study of
Comet Radiovision is one of the few examples of an attempt to test the
'wheel of retailing' theory through the use of historical methods and data,'"
and serves to illustrate that, apart from a few prominent individuals,
historical method has not been accepted by the retail management
community as a useful or even legitimate tool in the development of retail
management studies. Indeed, the lack of understanding as to the validity of

INTRODUCTION

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retail change models has not so much led to the testing of such models as to
their abandonment in favour of research which focuses on micro rather than
macro developments. The universality of such models has been called into
question and the subject has found refuge in positivism on a micro-scale.

The articles contained within this issue highlight both those areas which
have attracted the focus of academic concern to date and some of the areas
which deserve greater attention. The articles are written by academics from
those disciplines which have already contributed to the development of
retail business history: from history, Christina Fowler, Matthew Hilton,
Deborah Hodson and Jonathan Morris; from geography, Martin Purvis;
from management, Joshua Bamfield; and from all three areas, contributing
to one article, Gareth Shaw, Andrew Alexander, John Benson and John
Jones.
This collection of essays reflects the interest shown by researchers in the
development of retailing during the late nineteenth century and early
twentieth century. It also challenges the accepted view that the genesis of
modem retail systems occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Therefore, the theme which brings together the essays in this publication is
the emergence of modem retail systems during the period 1750-1950.
Hilton, Hodson, Purvis and Shaw et al. focus on the period 1850-1950,
which is associated with a dynamic period of change in retail systems, a
period which witnessed considerable structural and operational changes
within retailing. However, this publication also shows that the retail
innovations associated with this period may be seen to have their origins in
an earlier period and that, in west European markets, the innovations which
are commonly associated with the period 1875-1914 occurred at a later
date, in some contexts. As Bamfield's and Fowler's articles illustrate,
modem retail systems may be seen to have their origins in the late
eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Likewise, Morris's essay
illustrates that the adoption of modem retail practices did not occur in the
Italian context until relatively late, the 1930s, and then in the face of
considerable opposition.
Interest in nineteenth-century retailing has, in great part, focused on the
development of multiple branch operations and the development and role of
the co-operative societies. Both these themes are considered in this
publication. However, before the contributions presented here may be
considered in greater depth, it is necessary to establish the context in which
recent and current research on these issues should be placed.
The importance of multiple branch operations to the development of

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T H E E M E R G E N C E O F MODERN R E T A I L I N G

modem retail forms is well established within the literature. Jefferys'

seminal work in this area," which concentrated on the development of
multiple retailing in the period 1850-1939, has set an agenda which
historians of retail business development within the UK have adopted and
developed. In Phillips' opinion, such 'monumental empirical studies' have
not only established a focus for other work but have also established
'assumptions and incontestable "factY".'* Indeed, Jefferys' work has
provided such an important reference point for research that the very dates
used by him have established a form of periodisation within this research
area. For retail historians working in the shadow of Jefferys, the nineteenth
century has become in great part a century of two halves. For Jefferys, 'the
wholesale and retail trades in Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century
were examples of those trades that still bore the marks of the old system
rather than of the new', where the old system was defined by the first phase
of the industrial revolution, where Britain was not in the full sense of the
term an industrial state and where some trades were still 'more familiar with
handicraft methods and outworking than with power-driven machines and
fact~ries'.'~
For Jefferys, it was the 100 years after 1850, but in particular
the period 1875 to 1914, which saw a transformation in the distributive
trades to the same degree that the manufacturing sectors of the economy had
seen change in the previous 100 years. Three key aspects of change were
described and established as the basis for future growth. He identified the
importance of the methods of operation which came to characterise the
retail function after 1900: flamboyant window displays, advertising, marked
and fixed prices clearly displayed. He identified the retailers' changing role
within the distribution channel and the factors which were effecting that
change: the branding of manufacturers' products, producer advertising,
resale price maintenance. He identified the changing institutional form
retailing was adopting: large-scale retailing of a departmental, co-operative
or multiple branch nature. Thus, there were both factors which forced
change on the retail sector and changes within retailing which transformed
the nature of distribution outlets. It was these external and internal factors
which brought about institutional change and the development of such as
the multiple store operation and the operating and distribution procedures
associated with it.
Jefferys' perceptions of the development of multiple store retailing and
the periodisation of retail development was firther supported by David
Alexander in his consideration of retailing in England during the industrial
rev~lution.~'For Alexander, multiple retailing required the separation of
production and retailing, an advanced system of transportation and the
existence of staff who could oversee the branch operation. In his opinion,
none of these factors existed to a sufficient degree in 1850 to support

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INTRODUCTION

multiple operations on any scale. Alexander's evidence for multiple

operations suggested that they existed either in the form of a satellite shop
staffed by a trustworthy individual or as a market stall.
For the retail historian, and particularly for academics looking at the
history of retailing from a retail management perspective, 1850 has been
perceived as a watershed. It has been suggested that, from 1850, modern
forms of retailing began to take shape. Before that date, retailing existed in
a less recognisable and essentially historical form which bore little
relationship to the modem environment. For retail management, this has
had the implication that earlier forms were taken to be irrelevant and less
worthy of study. In this context, for example, Savitt's consideration of New
England retailing stands out as somewhat unusual,2' particularly in the retail
management context, for its consideration of pre-modern retail periods.
However, in this, Savitt was following in the footsteps of Nystr0m,2~who
suggested the history of American retailing fell into five periods: the
prehistoric Indian trade, the trading post period, the general merchandise
era, the period of rise and development of single-line independent speciality
stores, the modern period of large-scale retailing. Indeed, US economic and
management academics' willingness to consider pre-industrial retailing is
noteworthy in comparison to UK retail management academics' general
reluctance to look at their pre-history of retailing, which for them is
anything before 1850. US academics' willingness to look beyond that date
may in part be the product of a clearly definable date at which, to use
Nystrom's periodisation,z3American retail pre-history ends: that is, with
arrival of European traders. Thus, US management academics have the
comfort of knowing they do not have to look beyond the Colonial period,
while European academics are faced with a pre-modern and Medieval
period of retailing which they need to divide from the supposed relevance
of retail innovation post-1850. Thus, 1850 is a useful cut-off point beyond
which all may be considered rudimentary and essentially unrelated to
modem retail structures and development patterns. It is therefore convenient
to speak about the innovation of fixed pricing in a late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century context and label this as one of the factors which underpin
contemporary retail forms. It provides a useful bullet-point for textbooks.
To have to integrate or at least consider Defoe's comments on the fixed
prices used by Quaker retailers around 1 70024may be avoided if all before
1850 is conveniently considered part of some primordial retail swamp.
However, that is not to suggest that US academics have explored retail
history in considerable depth. Indeed, US academics have recognised the
major works of retail history which have been produced within the UK. In
his review of the three books on the development of the department store in
the US, Samson criticises the lack of contextualisation to be found within

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THE EMERGENCE O F MODERN RETAILING

US
and notes the broader perspectives adopted by U# academics
and in particular in their consideration of retail history.*"
The 1850 divide within the history of retail development within the UK
has not been established as an impermeable boundary, as Scola has noted
with reference to food retailers and producer- retailer^.^' The debate on the
changing market importance of these two forms of retailer has been
differently interpreted by Clapham, Jefferys, Blackman, and Davis, and
further developed by Wild and Shaw, with reference to Hull, and in this
publication by Hodson, with reference to L a n ~ a s h i r e . ~ ~
Within this historiographical context, where the development of large
store retailing was considered appropriate and valuable, co-operative
retailing has emerged as an appropriate focus for study. Clearly, this theme
has been influenced by a wider socio-economic interest in the issue of cooperative activity, but it has contributed considerably to the debate on retail
development, not least with reference to the decline in co-operative retailing
in the face of multiple store retailing since the 1940s. Again, the chronology
of development has focused on the period after the mid-nineteenth century,
and in particular the work of the Rochdale Pioneers from 1844. However,
as Bamfield demonstrates in this publication, while the Rochdale Pioneers
may claim an important place in the development of co-operative activity at
the consumer level, the bread and flour societies of the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries had already adopted many of the principles and
operating practices of the co-operative movement as it developed after
1850. These societies were not isolated and unconnected instances of cooperative activity. As Bamfield notes, some were still active when the
Rochdale Pioneers had established their society. Indeed, the Sheerness
society was to develop into a general co-operative retail operation.
Bamfield provides an interesting study of a co-operative retailing which
encapsulates many of the features and characteristics of later forms. As he
notes, these co-operatives were not providing food to the poorest groups in
society as the subscription rates would have prevented such groups from
joining. They were formed by individuals who were able to manage the
distribution system to their advantage and were prompted to do so because
of its limitations at times of bread shortages.
These were societies which were able to sustain their existence.
Societies were able to sustain decades and even a century of trading activity.
These societies, it would appear, were, at least in part, the product of
changing distribution patterns within the economy as a whole, both of a
long-term and a short-term nature. In the long term, the better movement of
goods nationally and internationally was creating scarcity of product where
none was usually expected and, in the short term, the conditions between
1795 and 1816 gave particular purpose to the establishment of societies.

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INTRODUCTION

Bamfield suggests that societies developed in locations where the corn

market itself may have led to shortages.
Many of the practices perceived as the prerequisites of modem retailing
are associated with retailing during the late nineteenth century. However,
such associations are not entirely justified. As Fowler illustrates, many of
these innovative practices were evident at an earlier date and were used
within the eighteenth-century retail context. Fowler suggests that practices
such as fixed pricing, branding and the use of promotional tools such as loss
leaders and advertising were used in the eighteenth-century retail context.
Likewise, she suggests that retailers' use of cash-based trade and the
concomitant restriction of credit sales were also clearly evident. Fowler
places these retail practices within the changing distribution channel
relationships, changing retail structural relationships and evolving social
environment of the period.
Fowler primarily considers conditions within central-southem England,
and further research in other areas will create a fuller picture in due course.
However, the issues which emerge from her research are important, both for
the understanding of the historical process within the changing retail
environment and for the understanding of modern retail management. The
article clearly challenges the accepted interpretation of the time at which
retailing began to take a modem form: that is, the form which served the
urbanised, industrialised society of late nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury west European countries such as the UK. Given the Italian retail
practices discussed by Morris in this publication, and Fowler's research, it
is evident that the practices associated with modern retailing must be
considered in their spatial and temporal context in a manner, and with a
thoroughness, which has not previously been undertaken.
Fowler's and Bamfield's articles provide a picture of retail practices
before what has been interpreted to be the birth of modem retail forms. In
so doing, they challenge such assumptions and illustrate how, despite the
problems associated with the period, such as sparse archival material, the
period deserves greater attention from researchers. This attention is
deserved, not least because further research may modify assumptions about
retailing in the nineteenth century and the origins of modem retail forms.
In contrast, the history of general co-operative retailing has attracted
considerable attention. Indeed, this area of study has passed to the stage
where greater qualification and reinterpretation is now both possible and
desirable. In this publication, Purvis discusses the development of cooperative buying practices in the north-east of England. His study explores
the use or the lack of use, of existing co-operative wholesale operations. It
is a valuable perspective on the tensions within the retail movement and the
commercial realities within the distribution function. Both Purvis' and

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T H E E M E R G E N C E O F MODERN RETAILING

Bamfield's studies develop an understanding of the development of the cooperative movement.

Purvis' contribution to this volume sheds light on the relationships
which existed between retailers and suppliers in the latter half of the
nineteenth century and the market power which these relationships gave, or
failed to give, different forms of retailing. It therefore not only shows the
demands and tensions within the co-operative movement but also illustrates
the importance of channel relationships within the commercial environment
of the period. It shows how retail co-operative product sourcing integrated
the societies far more with the general distribution systems than has been
previously assumed. Indeed, as Pumis notes, this integration within the
wider distribution system may have been a distinct attraction to consumers
who wished to have access to products within the co-operative store which
they would otherwise have had to source from other retailers.
The theme of individual organisational experience is taken up by Shaw
et al., who consider the structural and spatial trends which are an important
key to understanding the development of retail forms. They consider these
issues with reference to firm-level studies and their work in this area. They
note the need for a closer and better understanding of spatial and structural
issues within retail management studies. In this, they have focused on an
important aspect of interdisciplinary research. Within retail management
studies, the organisation will inevitably remain an important starting point
for research; there has been, however, a distinct lack of contextualisation.
Shaw et al. discuss research which has already been carried out in their
chosen area and detail future research which they have begun. They build
on the work which has been carried out on the development of retailing in
the UK within the period 1850-1950. It sheds light not only on the regional
but also on the national and even international nature of retail competition
within this period. The essay discusses the development of Marks &
Spencer and Woolworth within the south-west of England and highlights the
research questions which this development poses. The essay, and the
research undertaken, represents an important and valuable attempt to bring
a combined historical, geographical and management perspective to the area
of retail business history.
Hodson's essay is concerned with the development of markets within
nineteenth-century Lancashire: it makes an important contribution to the
debate on the changing nature of retailing within the industrial period and
how perceptions need to be modified. As Hodson notes, markets have been
traditionally associated with pre-industrial economic environments;
however, the essay illustrates that detailed consideration of retail
environments shows that the picture is far from simple. In this, therefore,
the essay helps to redefine the interpretations that have emerged on retail

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INTRODUCTION

l1

structural change in the mid-nineteenth century. As Bamfield's and

Fowler's contributions show, retail forms pre-date recognised periods of
development; similarly, Hodson's essay shows how retail forms remain
important to the distribution system long after the supposed value of those
forms has disappeared.
Hodson's essay is also of value when considered together with Morris'
essay on Italian retailing, in that it illustrates the role of regulation and
public authorities in the development and restriction of retail activity.
Likewise, Hodson provides a valuable perspective on the competition which
existed between different retail forms in the period but also the CO-existence
which is evident.
Hilton's essay considers the development of a retail trade. In this, it
illustrates the fundamental changes which occur within a single retail trade
to the extent that the operation becomes a very different commercial entity.
One of the fundamental weaknesses evident within the management
literature on retail change is the failure to appreciate fully the changing
qualities of a retail trade within the historical commercial environment.
Hilton directly considers this issue with reference to the specialist
tobacconist between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth
century. In essence, Hilton discusses the de-skilling within the tobacconist's
trade which occurred during this period. In this, the article describes a
process which was also occurring in other trades. Hilton describes the
tobacconists' dilemma. Despite their best efforts, specialist tobacconists
found themselves with limited room for manoeuvre, as a changing customer
group, and the commercial power of large manufacturing firms, who,
through their market presence, were able to inform and influence consumer
tastes, thereby redefined the tobacconists' role for them.
Morris' essay takes this publication beyond the UK environment, but
also identifies important themes which are relevant to the development of
retailing throughout Europe. The essay is concerned with the Italian
retailing sector between 1922 and 1940 and the Fascist government's
attempt to 'discipline' the sector. In this, it has in important message, not
only for the development of retailing in the Italian environment, which
remains a pertinent issue within retailing today, but also draws attention to
the eficiencies which do or do not develop within channels of distribution.
One of the retail techniques commonly associated with the
modernisation of UK retailing in the late nineteenth century was the
adoption of fixed pricing and clear labelling within the store. This issue is
considered by Morris in the Italian context. He shows how this issue was an
important aspect of the regulating authorities' attempts to alter retail
practices in Italy. Likewise, the issue of shops per head of population, which
has been an important aspect of economists' interest in retailing? provides

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T H E E M E R G E N C E O F M O D E R N RETAILING

an informative parallel. In this, Italy provides a useful comparison with

developments in the UK in terms of how two markets subject to similar
pressures have experienced different historical structural developments.
The essay also shows how the Italian market was influenced by
innovations from outside Italy and how these innovations were exploited
within the country. The development of the prezzo unico stores are a
valuable example of the different fortunes of internationally exploited
innovations, both in terms of the time at which they were exploited (see
Shaw et al. on Woolworth and Marks & Spencer in the UK) and how they
fared within the market.
Morris' work is also extremely valuable in that it addresses the issue of
public policy and regulation within retailing. While this area has been
considered within the retail management environment, notably by
Boddewyn with reference to Belgian retailing,'O it is an area which demands
greater attention and an historical perspective.
The essays in this publication, therefore, provide consideration of the
structural development of retailing both before and after the 1850
watershed. The research shows that the comparative lack of retail business
history has produced a distorted picture of development and that retail
management theories have contributed to this picture in an attempt to
establish a management framework within which to understand the dynamic
of retail change. These essays clearly illustrate that work needs to be carried
out which considers retail change on the local or regional level so that
unnecessary misinterpretations of national trends are avoided, and on the
international level so that illuminating comparisons may be made across
national boundaries.

The developers of large retail malls will place large units at the end of
walkways in order to 'anchor' the mall and build traffic flow along those
walkways. Between these anchors and at the intersection of walkways
designers will place a focus for consumers using the mall. This focus often
takes the form of a design feature and restaurants. It is tempting to see retail
business history within the context of a mall, with four anchor disciplines
and hence the need for a focus at the intersection of the four walkways. The
anchor disciplines of history, geography, economics and management have
already contributed to the development of retail business history, but, as yet,
the contribution has not created a true meeting of minds. From their
experience of editing this publication, it is evident to the editors that, while,
through its own development, retail management is able to accommodate an
economics and historical-geography perspective, there remains a

13

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INTRODUCTION

considerable gulf between history, and hence historical methodology, and

the methodologies employed within retail management. Ideally, these two
disciplines need to build a greater volume of traffic between them.
However, in reality it is recognised that this may be a considerable
undertaking and that it will require a greater mutual understanding of the
two fundamental perspectives employed within each academic area.
It is not surprising that retailing has attracted limited attention. Retailing
within society has a chequered history and poor reputation. The wasteful
luxury of the distribution trades is an ancient theme. Nystrom observed that
for Plato, in well-regulated cities, retailers were the 'weakest in body and
are unfit for any other work' and that in Cicero's opinion retailing is
'dishonest and baseY.j'Benson has noted that retailing is 'the Cinderella of
occupation^'.^^ In the words of Davies et al.," despite the economic and
employment significance of retailing 'there continues to be a widely
accepted and fallacious belief that retailing is only a secondary response to
economic prosperity and does not have a wealth-creating, employmentcreating role of its own'. Socially, retailing is the bottom of the heap, the
last-chance saloon for employment, and, it would often appear, for
academic study.
Retailing has fallen between the two historical stools. It has not, in great
part, provided academics with major commercial enterprises to study, because
retail organisations, with some notable exceptions, have been traditionally
more localised in their market impact. Neither has it appealed to the school of
social history which has focused on the fortunes of the working class, except
in the context of the co-operative movement where it has attracted
considerable attention. Its petit bourgeoise associations, which Bechofer and
Elliot have recognised within a social-science environment, have perhaps not
proved attractive and deserving of the same attention.I4 However, in the
contemporary commercial environment, retailers are major commercial
entities with considerable power to influence the development of those very
manufacturing operations which have previously attracted academic interest.
Likewise, even if retailers may rightly be considered essentially unproductive
and unattractive participants in the channel of distribution, essentially
'dishonest and base', they are worthy of consideration for this fact alone.
After all, political history would be a shallow stream if all of those who
qualified for such a description were excluded.
NOTES
1. R. Pearson, 'British Business History: A Review of the Periodical Literature for 1995',
Business History, Vo1.39 (1997), p.3.

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14

T H E E M E R G E N C E O F MODERN RETAILING

2. A. Godley and D. Ross (eds.), Bunb. Networks and Small Firm Finance: Business History,
Vo1.38 (1996).
3. G. Jones, British Multinational Banking, 1830-1990 (Oxford, 1993).
4. J. Blackman, 'The Development of the Retail Grocery Trade in the Nineteenth Century',
Business Histoq,, Vo1.9 (1967); P. Scoa, 'Learning to Multiply: The Property Market and the
Growth of Multiple Retailing in Britain, 1919-39', Business History, Vo1.36 (1994); E.
Hopkins, 'The Trading and Service Sectors of the Birmingham Economy', Business Histoty,
Vo1.28 (1986); H. Mui and L. Mui, 'Andrew Melrose, Tea Dealer and Grocer of Edinburgh,
1812-1833', Business History, Vo1.9 (1967); J . Porter, 'The Development of a Provincial
Department Store, 1870-1939', Business History, Vo1.13 (1971); F. Redlich, 'Some English
Stationers of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: In the Light of their
Autobiographies, Part l', Business History, Vo1.8 (1966); idem, 'Some English Stationers of
the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: In the Light of their Autobiographies, Part 11'.
Business History, Vo1.8 (1966); G. Rubin, 'From Packmen, Tallymen and "Perambulating
Scotchmen" to Credit Drapers' Associations, c.1840-1914', Businets Histoty, Vo1.28
(1986); C. Shaw, 'British Entrepreneurs in Distribution and the Steel Industry', Business
History, Vo1.3 1 (1989).
5. D. Dixon, 'Petrol Distribution in the United Kingdom, 1900-1950', Business History, Vo1.6
(1963164); D. Green, 'Distance to Work in Victorian London: A Case Study of Henry Poole,
Bespoke Tailors', Business History, Vo1.30 (1988); C. Harvey and J. Press, 'William Monis
and the Marketing of Art', Business History, Vo1.28 (1986); S. Jones, 'The Country Trade
and the Marketing and Distribution of Birmingham Hardware, 1750-1 8 1O', Business
History, Vo1.26 (1984); G. Sutton, 'The Marketing of Ready-Made Footwear in the
Nineteenth Century', Business History, Vo1.6 (1963164); L. Weatherill, 'The Business of
Middleman in the English Pottery Trade before 1780', Business History, Vo1.28 (1986).
6. Shaw, 'British Entrepreneurs', p.48.
7. S. Hollander, 'A Rearview Mirror Might Help Us Drive Forward: A Call for More Historical
Studies in Retailing', Journal of Retailing, Vo1.62 (1986); R. Savitt, 'Looking Back to See
Ahead: Writing the History of American Retailing', Journal of Retailing, Vo1.65 (1989); N.
Alexander, 'Objects in the Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are', The
International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Vo1.7 (1997).
8. For a discussion of these issues see Alexander, 'Objects', pp.383403.
9. J. Jefferys, Retail Trading in Britain, 1858-1950 (Cambridge, 1954).
10. Alexander, 'Objects'.
11. N. Vnk, 'Historical Perspective in Marketing Management: Explicating Experience',
Journal of Marketing Alanagement, Vo1.8 (1992). p.220.
12. Alexander, 'Objects', pp.391-7.
13. S. Hollander, 'Notes on the Retail Accordion', Journal of Retrriling, Vo1.42 (1966). p.29.
14. S. Hollander, 'The Wheel of Retailing', Journal of Retailing, Vo1.36 (1960), p.38
15. G. Shaw, 'The Study of Retail Development', in J. Benson and G. Shaw (eds.), The Evolution
of Retail Systems c. 1800-1914 (Leicester, 1992), p.4.
16. R. Savitt, 'The "Wheel of Retailing" and Retail Product Management'. European Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 18 (1984).
17. Jefferys, Retail Trading.
18. M. Phillips, 'The Evolution of Markets and Shops in Britain', in Benson and Shaw (eds.).
Evolution of Retail Systems, p.53.
19. Jefferys, Rerail Trading, p. l.
20. D. Alexander, Retailing in England during the Industrial Revolution (London, 1970).
21. Savitt, 'Looking Back to See Ahead, pp.342-50.
22. P. Nystrom, Economics of Retailing (New York, 1930), p.70.
23. Ibid., p.73.
24. Originally published in 1726 as a complete volume, D. Defoe, The Complete English
Tradesman (Gloucester, 1987 edition), p.159.
25. P. Samson, 'The Department Store, Its Past and Its Future: A Review Article', Business
History Review, Vol.LV (1981), p.32; L. Cordon, Sears. Roehuck. U.S.A.: The Great
American Catalog Store and How it Grew (New York, 1977); L. Harris, Merchant Princes:

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INTRODUCTION

15

An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores (New York,
1979); R. Hendrickson, The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great
Department Stores (New York, 1979).
A. Aldburgham, Shopping in Style: London fmm the Restoration to Edwardian Elegance
(London, 1979).
R. Scola, 'Food Markets and Shops in Manchester, 1770-1870', Journal of Historical
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J. Clapham, An Economic History of Modern Britain (Cambridge, 1932); Jefferys, Retail
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and G. Shaw, 'Locational Behaviour of Urban Retailing during the Nineteenth Century: The
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P. Ford, 'Excessive Competition in the Retail Trades', Economic Journal, Vo1.45 (1935); P.
Ford, 'Decentralisation and Changes in the Number of Shops, 190 1-1 93 1 ', Economic
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J . Boddewyn, Belgian Public Policy Toward Retailing Since 1789 (East Lansing, 1971).
Nystrom, Economics of Retailing, pp.48-9.
S. Benson, 'The Cinderella of Occupations: Managing the Work of Department Store
Saleswomen, 1900-1940', Business History Review, Vol.LV (1 981), p.1.
K. Davies, C. Gilligan and C. Sutton, 'The Changing Competitive Structure of British
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Stratum (Basingstoke, 198 1).