Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter

by Pamela Cox, Annabel Hobley

Published to tie in with the forthcoming BBC series, Shopgirls is a nostalgic, sweeping history full of the life stories of the women behind the counters of Britain's most famous -- and not so famous -- stores.
     Shopgirls should be heroines, as celebrated as steelworkers in the Industrial Revolution. A million of us were shop assistants by the turn of the twentieth century and since then retail has grown exponentially to become Britain's largest area of economic activity. But the young women at the heart of this economic and cultural revolution, the shop assistants themselves, have largely been ignored.
      Shopgirls will tell the story of the lives of the girls who have worked behind the counters of our nation's shops from the drapery stores of the 1860s when young women's employment outside the home was taking off, through the Edwardian era's tumultuous social upheavals, two world wars and all the way to the working class revolution of the 1960s and the shock of the Biba bombing. This lively and ambitious book sets out to uncover the shopgirls' life stories, work cultures and economic contributions in a way never done before.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 10, 2014

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent research into the history of shopgirls in the United Kingdom. Some very interesting sections, some a little dry. I felt it didn't quite go far enough in bring each era to life. Enjoyed it, though.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book and then watched the 3 part series on You Tube. The televised series was more informative because the interviews with historians and former shop assistants were longer than the sentence or two in the book. The pictures and videos enlarged the understanding, of course. Nothing like seeing a newsreel of John Lewis of Oxford Street afire during World War II to appreciate the stoic pluck of the saleswomen who directed their customers out of the buildings and the hard work later of salvaging what remained of the stock. Or the woman rolling her eyes and declaring an emphatic "No!" when asked if she had enjoyed her work in a Chelsea boutique in the 1960s. (It had its moments, but Mick Jagger did hang out there every day, and one was always on one's feet.)

The interesting thing about the book and the series was the history of 150 years of face-to-face shopping in Great Britain from the shop-girl's side of the counter. Long, tedious hours of standing, fetching, sorting, keeping one eye on the lady in front, the other on the floorwalker watching your performance and the side of the first eye on what you fetched for the previous customer so that it's not stolen. Pay so low that some girls agreed to sex after store hours. Smiling and polite to rude or demanding customers. Fired if you don't push the customer to buy. Conditions improved slowly but immensely during the 150 years; but the whole shopping experience has changed too. Self-service checkout and e-mail ordering are the latest. The end of book and program asked "How do we, the customer, want to be served? What will we expect or demand from our shopkeepers and their staffs."

[Michelle Hockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt I was in good hands with Pamela Cox who takes us on the most enjoyable journey from the humble trade to the sophisticated department stores as the commercial world gains momentum and the demands of the workforce are incorporated and their position strengthened. As each generation before us navigates their way through some incredible social changes and habits it is difficult not to note some familiar echos of today as our High Streets adapt to e-commerce. This work provides some delightful anecdotes that stay with you long after turning the last page and images that are really quite absorbing.

[lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey! I’ve been reading your story and really enjoyed it the emotions and flow felt very natural. While reading, I kept picturing how some scenes would look as comic panels.
I’m a commission-based comic/webtoon artist, and if you’re ever curious about a visual adaptation, I’d love to chat.
📩 Discord & Instagram: lizziedoesitall

[Alison Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read, in regards to social history. This book is jam-packed with information both general and specific. At times it can be rather overwhelming and may have been better approached as a dip-in-dip-out book, rather than a beginning-to-end marathon.

[Siobhan Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like the way the book was written. It had anecdotes and various stories but It annoyed me as it didn't flow very well and didn't have chapters. I was bored with it after just a few pages.

[Ainsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, well researched.

[Victoria Frow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. Interesting to read about the history of my job and to see how far we have come and to see that some things haven't changed at all. Recommend.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather more about the shops than the shopgirls themselves, to be honest. It is a bit of an occupational hazard, when writing about groups of people who have, in the authors' words "slipped through the cracks" of history, that since history often plain hasn't bothered to record their voices, it can be hard for the historian to recover them. That seems to be the problem here, so while there is a certain amount of first-hand detail, the authors often have to fall back on padding out the book with Context, and while Margaret Bondfield's memoirs are a key source and she does feature prominently, such figures as Chili Bouchier and Miss Austin are only covered in passing, for all their honourable mentions in the blurb. It's probably inevitable, given the bias of the existing sources, but I feel I learned more about male shopowners such as William Whiteley and John Lewis, than about the women who worked for them.

However, despite this caveat, this book still provides a fascinating slice of social history, examining how shops (and shopgirls) reflected social developments from the 1820s to the 1970s, the formation of trade unions, etc. And each chapter is fully referenced, so there are plenty of other sources to chase up. It's definitely worth a look if you're interested in the history of women's work in Britain.

[Thebruce1314 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover endorsement sold this for me. I was promised that I would learn personal stories of shock and wonder from behind Britain's shop counters. These endorsements were untrue.

While the book was interesting, the content focussed heavily on the political side of shop life: the push for equal wages, better living conditions and female job opportunities. While these elements are worthy of inclusion, they make for some dry reading. As well, more than half of the book was devoted to the 19th-century, with only one chapter each for World War II (selling goods in bombed out buildings - much more interesting!) and the counter-culture (pun intended) of the 1960s. Based on those things alone, it was a good book, but it lost a star because I was misled on the subject matter.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book, but I do see what some other reviewers meant when they felt that when it got to the 1920s and onwards, multiple decades were skimmed over very quickly. I enjoyed the individual stories of each woman and the backdrop of the culture and politics during their time, but I could have given it that elusive 5th star if it had gone into that much depth for more than just the first few decades that it covered.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first few chapters of this book which were really in depth about the rise of the shopgirl from the 1800's onwards. However once the book got to the 20s and onwards it didn't go into as much detail and skimmed over many decades in one chapter. I would recommend this book as an interesting read.

[Agatha The Battleaxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

What took me so long? I was reading other books concurrently. This was a fascinating history of not only British retail working over the last 150 years, but also a history of one of my favourite pastimes: SHOPPING!

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and entertaining. a good in depth study on the shop girl throughout modern British history. Covered all in the tv show and more.

[Mills College Library]

331.48138 C8779 2015

[Jules Gianneschi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good historical read. Would have enjoyed more of the actual stories later in book.