{"id":23833,"date":"2023-03-30T14:59:37","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T12:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/?p=14279"},"modified":"2023-03-30T15:34:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T13:34:58","slug":"the-history-of-department-stores","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/rss_feed\/the-history-of-department-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of department stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

When were iconic British department stores like Debenham’s and John Lewis founded? Find out with our guide <\/p>

By Rosemary Collins\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 30 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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When William Whiteley boasted that his London department store sold \u201ceverything from a pin to an elephant\u201d, a clergyman decided to put him to the test. The elephant was duly delivered \u2013 compliments of William Whiteley \u2013 to the front garden of the clergyman\u2019s rectory. It was the end of the 19th century, an era of confidence, commerce and modernity. More leisure time and dramatically improved transport networks allowed retail to flourish. And no type of shop was better placed to service this new culture of commerce than the department store.<\/p>\n

Many modern-day department stores have become cultural institutions, but these household names have far humbler origins, in a time when shopping was very different from today.<\/p>\n

Shopping has existed for as long as people have needed to buy and sell goods, but it wasn\u2019t until the Georgian era that high-street retailing came to the fore. The 18th century<\/a> saw the emergence of retail markets, and shopping quickly became a fashionable activity among the well-heeled. High-class shops began to crowd the main thoroughfares in larger towns and cities \u2013 enjoying the footfall of wealthy clientele, who would browse for high-end goods from jewellers, tailors, milliners and furniture-makers.<\/p>\n

From the middle of the 19th century, the bazaar would bring together a variety of goods under one roof, with separate areas for ladies and gentlemen to ensure discretion. Rather than negotiate the cost, each item would be marked with its price and customers could also ask for a refund. An 1877 advertisement found in the British Library very clearly states that \u201cAnything not Approved [Will Be] Taken Back and Money Returned\u201d, and the popularity of bazaars grew thanks to their greater choice and more agreeable terms of sale.<\/p>\n

Property rates were high in commercial districts, and the up-and-coming shop owner wishing to expand his business would convert the shop storage and accommodation areas into selling spaces, rather than acquire adjacent property \u2013 creating the opportunity for individual departments. In 1870, Debenham and Freebody had 27, including furs, dresses, parasols and household drapery. Staff, work rooms and offices would be rehoused in cheaper properties in nearby side streets.<\/p>\n

The department store John Lewis began life as a draper\u2019s. The first John Lewis shop in Oxford Street stocked 50 shades of black silk to meet the needs of mourners. John Lewis was one of an original cohort of drapers who lent their name to department stores, along with William Whiteley (1867), Arthur Liberty (1875) and in Scotland Charles Jenner (Jenners, 1838), while both Harrods and Fortnum and Mason started out as grocery shops.<\/p>\n

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