From Main Street to Mall

Global and Local: Retail Transformation and the Department Store in Britain and Japan, 1900–1940

“…In terms of retail practice, we examine the customer service and the provision of facilities that created a "modern" leisurely shopping environment; from the perspective of the customer, we explore changing shopping experiences, especially for women. 60 A high level of customer service was not new, but department stores often sought to exploit it as something that made them distinctive. Japanese department stores that had grown from silk drapers drew on their long tradition of customer service.…”

Loss of Department Stores’ Dominant Status in China’s Apparel Retail Industry

“…American department stores began to "fulfil their long-delayed dreams of expansion and modernization," and the heads of major stores supported urban renewal plans. 7 Department stores in London invested in visual merchandising to attract customers and rebuild their fashionable reputations. 8 In China, the planned economy was formed during the first several years of the founding of the PRC (1949).…”

“…For example, an advertisement indicated that Beijing Department Store (BDS) provided many cheap products (RMB 1 cent) to meet basic needs. Consequently, department stores in China underwent a dramatic change from their initial format, in which they "had based their reputation on providing high levels of service, amenities, and even luxury"; 9 thus, their modernization was delayed. Chinese department stores had to wait until the planned economy system transformed to a market economy system before they could return to the initial format and fulfill their long-delayed modernization.…”

“Taking Paradise”: A Target Distribution Center and a Battle in the Midwest

“…For instance, an excellent recent tracing of the geography of American retail takes us from Main Street to the mall but stops short of the sprawling parking lots and brightly lit aisles of Walmart or Target. 14 This volume uses the questions and tools of the business-environment nexus honed over the last two decades to interrogate the rise of the world's largest retailers.…”