David Roth

It’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects post – This weeks object is The Chain Store

The origins of modern chain store retailing date back several millennia to ancient China. Merchants in China and later Japan recognised there were advantages to centralised management and selling through multiple distribution points which to day serve as the defining characteristics of chain store retailing. Chain stores emerged in North America in the 1700s when the Hudson’s Bay Company created a network of branded trading posts. However, it wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the chain store approach to retail gained momentum in Europe and the United States. The era of chain store expansion began in earnest in the early 20th century as retailers recognised the profit potential associated with leveraging a variety of fixed and variable costs across an expanding base of stores whereby the sales volume generated by each additional location produced incremental profits. The superiority of the chain store business model became evident following the Second World War when global consumption surged for all manner of consumer goods. This set off an unprecedented wave of chain store expansion across all types of merchandise classifications. Definitions on the number of units that constitute a chain may vary, but there is no disputing the chain store’s impact on retailing. Chain stores led a dramatic restructuring of the retail industry during the past 100 years and today many of the world’s largest corporations are chain store operations.

Contribution to Retail History

The chain store method of retailing brought about arguably the greatest structural change the industry has seen during the past 100 years. The retail industry today is dominated by those who operate chain stores to effectively serve consumers’ wants and needs in a profitable manner.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast

It’s Tuesday so it’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects post – This weeks object is Galaries du Bois.

Shopping in Paris is just as important as eating, walking, and visiting museums, and the pre-20th Century shopping Malls of Paris are still an attraction for tourists to day. The malls have long iron structured glass roofs, and original features such as marble and black and white tiled floors. They house restaurants, shops and boutiques. The passages were built in the style of a ‘souk’ – a covered area in which to shop, browse and meet friends. The Galeries du Bois au Palais-Royal was built in 1786 and housed 120 luxury boutiques; after shopping there you could pop in to the central gardens that housed the Palais Royal. The Galeries du Bois became the prototype for the other passages of Paris that followed. The upper classes loved these malls. They could shop and meet, away from noise, smells, weather and ‘unsightly riff-raff’. Famous writers and other notables visited them. Balzac and Zola wrote about them in their books. By 1850 Paris had 150 passages, but today just 30 remain. Department stores such as Bon Marché, which opened in 1852, began to replace them.

Contribution to Retail History

The Galeries du Bois form another link in the chain of the history of public shopping ‘centres’, which stretches back to the forums of Ancient Rome. The 18th century Parisian ‘galleries’ share many features with today’s modern malls – a covered, pleasant retail environment where shopping is a social pastime, as well as, a commercial activity.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast