The History of Shopping

1
The History of Shopping

• from the back room to the hypermarket in 150
  years

2
This information will form your essay
introduction.

• Read the information, pick out important points
  and put them into your own words.
• There are also hyperlinks in blue to extra
  websites which will give you more information.

3

• As recently as the 1950s, British shops were
  mostly corner stores, and there was a huge number
  of them - in Oldham, Lancashire, there was one
  shop for every 41 residents ! If the shop sold
  fresh food, the owner would go early each morning
  to the market or wholesaler to see what was
  available and thats what he would sell in his
  shop that day. (For more information, see the
  Sainsburys website)
• People would go up to the counter and ask for
  what they wanted. They were not allowed to pick
  things off the shelves themselves !

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In those days shops were small and cramped, and
were often conversions of old houses. They were
highly specialised stationers sold stationery,
greengrocers sold vegetables etc. It was not
fun to reach the end of the High Street to find
you had forgotten one item that was only sold in
one shop a quarter of a mile back. There was
rarely any protection from the weather , and
opening hours were much shorter than they are
now. There were no supermarkets which sold
everything.
5

• In the 1950s Britain eventually changed to this
  method when Jack Cohen sold food from a large
  free-standing shed, instead of a little shop.
  Cohens shops became the Tesco chain, which is
  now the largest supermarket chain with 16.8 of
  the market. Small shops and chainstores like
  Somerfield are often in danger of being taken
  over by such supermarket giants.

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• As the number of cars increases on British roads,
  the problem of parking gets worse. New
  supermarkets attract the public by having their
  own car park at the back .
• Out of town centres like the Gyle are popular
  with those who want to get everything under one
  roof, be able to have a meal, and have somewhere
  to park.

7
Chain Stores use lots of tricks to entice us in
- e.g.

• Sometimes the architecture is particularly
  attractive - some Tescos have traditional
  gable-ends and clock towers the newer Safeways
  have some glass ceilings to let light in.
• In supermarkets, essentials like bread are
  positioned at the back of the store, so the
  customer has to walk past lots of tempting
  luxury goods on the way.
• Some shops pump pleasant smells like coffee and
  bread into the air, to persuade the customer to
  buy them.
• Store cards and financial services, to hold onto
  customers
• Café, drycleaning, photographic and chemist
  facilities.

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The government is ,however, very concerned
about sites like these taking over the
countryside, especially the green
belt.Planning permission is sometimes not given,
and the developer may have to build the access
roads themselves. It can also be damaging for
the environment as people have to drive there
and that can lead to pollution from the
fumes.Most competitive companies now have a
website , and may sell their products on-line
we can now do the weekly shop by visiting the
Tesco website , and have it delivered for
5.So , what is the future of shopping , do
you think ??(Now search these hyperlinks for
more information on aspects of shopfront design
- eastherts.gov.uk gosport.gov.uk )