Main entry:

Lancaster, William, 1938-

Title & Author:

The department store : a social history / Bill Lancaster.

Publication:

London ; New York : Leicester University Press, 1995.

Description:

vii, 212 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The North British proto-department store: origins and developments -- Luxury democratised -- Buildings, fixtures and fittings -- The drummer from the Land of Oz -- The department store 1920-39: mergers, realignment and growth -- The midway comes to High Street -- Pedlars, nonconformists and scientific managers: department store entrepreneurs -- Behind the counter: workers and the department store -- Theories on consumer society: themes, trends and problems -- Women and department stores: some economic, sexual and political ambiguities -- The department store and society: themes and trends.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

The book traces the origins of the department store in the cities of northern Britain, the impact of Parisian grand magasins upon British stores after 1870 and the development of the large London stores. The importance of Gordon Selfridge upon British retailing is highlighted, drawing attention to his background as manager of Chicago's Marshall Field's. The ambiguous role of women in the large stores is examined in the key areas of economics, sexuality and politics. Department store entrepreneurs established highly successful paternalistic systems of industrial relations and the experience of workers in these regimes forms an important chapter in this study. The volume concludes with a survey of department stores since 1945 and how they have met the challenges set by urban dislocation, the ending of retail price maintenance, shifts in consumer income distribution and the emergence of the shopping mall.

Resources:
Table of contents

ISBN:

0718513746
9780718513740
071851985X (pbk.)
9780718519858 (pbk.)

Subject:

Department stores Great Britain History.
Industrial relations Great Britain History.
Department stores Social aspects Great Britain History.
Grands magasins Grande-Bretagne Histoire.
Relations industrielles Grande-Bretagne Histoire.
Grands magasins Aspect social Grande-Bretagne Histoire.
Department stores.
Department stores Social aspects.
Industrial relations.
Warenhuizen.
Arbeidsverhoudingen.
Sociale aspecten.
Comercio.
Great Britain.

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 120841
Call No.: ID HF5465.G73.L36; ID:96-B560
Status: Available