A Nation of Shopkeepers: Five Centuries of British Retailing

by John Benson (Editor)

A Nation of Shopkeepers reflects some of the most exciting research on retail history and cultures of consumption. The contributors challenge existing ideas about retail development showing how, for example, large-scale retailers played a far lesser role in the development of the modern city than is generally thought, and how the success of department stores was determined less by ‘entrepreneurial’ spirit and more by the unforeseen consequences of legislation.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2002