Rural communities have historically been viewed as synonymous with agricultural processes and a dependence upon the land. This tendency to filter rural life through the perspective of agricultural interest has obscured the vital role of rural retailers within such communities who have been similarly overlooked in studies of retailing in favour of their urban counterparts. The notion of rural self-sufficiency disguises the role of the village shopkeeper in the provision of necessities, particularly perishable goods like food and drink, the purchase of which is too often presumed and rarely expanded upon or quantified. Therefore very little is known about rural supply networks and, more specifically, the interaction and flow of goods between the country house and the village shop. Drawing on a wealth of evidence on the purchasing habits of a rural lesser gentry family in Bedfordshire, themselves a rather neglected social group, this study aims to reveal the mutually beneficial relationship between the country squire (in the daily process of sustaining a large household) and his village suppliers (eager to fulfil his requirements and retain his patronage) at the end of the Georgian period. The findings shed light on village life and society, providing a valuable insight into the complex, intimate and often mutually beneficial relationships that existed in rural communities.
Village shops have been largely overlooked in the recent literature on British retailing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which has sought to redefine the parameters and timing of retail transformation. While urban shops have been explored in detail, often in ways that highlight their role in a parallel transformation in consumption patterns, little attempt has been made to look inside village shops or examine the character and practices of rural retailers. This article addresses this lacuna and offers fresh insights into the shifting position of village shops in these broader economic, business, and social changes. Taking a long view of the period c. 1660-1860, it draws on a wide range of sources to examine the stock sold and the degree of specialization exhibited by village shops, and the changing trading practices of village shopkeepers, including the provision of credit, the pricing of goods, and marketing activities. In doing so, the article highlights both long-term continuities and important innovations of the type that also characterize urban shops, and argues that village shops, while central to rural social and economic networks, were also intimately bound into broader retail systems.
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