The Transformation of the Shop

Abstract

The working class, by shopping in the streets or in the corner store, got neither cheapness nor quality. They paid dearly for their small quantities and for any credit obtained. The quality was abysmal, with frequent adulteration of the most common products to squeeze a few pence more profit from the poor. Nor was there much effort to attract customers, and the only sales technique applied in the better-off shops was servility and deference. From about the 1870s onwards, however, there were signs of change, and of an awareness of new, potentially lucrative markets to be tapped. A few shopkeepers began to perceive that there was a place for cheapness and reasonable quality. The change came partly as a response to the demand generated by rising incomes and partly as a response to the supply of goods. A new range, first of foodstuffs and then gradually of manufactured goods, was available in almost limitless quantities as the five continents were opened up by railway and steamboat. For supplies of meat, dairy produce, fruit and vegetables the British consumer could now draw upon the whole world, and within the British Isles goods could be transported rapidly from port to market and from country to town.

From floor to ceiling the walls are covered with rows of hams, and there is also a large assortment of bacon, butter, and Dunlop, Stilton, Cheddar and American cheese. A substantial horse-shoe counter gives a large space for salesmen, and it is evident that Mr Lipton intends to carry on an extensive business, for we understand that he has a staff of from twelve to fifteen salesmen, besides three cash boys.

Description of Lipton’s new branch in Dundee, 1878.

Depot, emporium, bazaar, warehouse — none of these seem to possess the slightest descriptive power. Whiteley’s is an immense symposium of the arts and industries of the nation and of the world; a grand review of everything that goes to make life worth living passing in seemingly endless array before critical but bewildered humanity.

Description of Whiteley’s, in Modern London (1887).