At time of writing, the ITV period television drama Mr Selfridge has aired and a fourth series been commissioned, to complete the story of one of the greatest retail magnates in British history. Selfridge’s flagship store in Oxford Street remains an impressive landmark today, an imposing edifice with elegant interiors and legendary window displays, but when American entrepreneur Gordon Selfridge opened his new dream emporium in 1909 he was flying in the face of tradition, for most department stores had much earlier origins, in the Georgian era.

Many of the large shops known as department stores began life as small local concerns supplying a particular product, such as books and stationery, ironmongery or drapery. Success in one aspect of shopkeeping could encourage expansion and diversification, especially if the proprietor had a large family of willing apprentices, for in time sons could join their fathers and might go on to run adjoining premises that stocked related but different goods. As families and shops grew, so larger or additional buildings were acquired, these often being knocked through into a maze of different departments selling various items such as groceries and fancy goods, in addition to the products in which the shop initially specialised.

By the 1830s and 1840s many resourceful provincial shopkeepers were offering local customers a variety of goods. As the concept of buying more articles from one outlet advanced, so the departmental store became established. Many originated as mercers and drapers selling cloth, although a notable exception is Bennetts of Derby, first established in 1734 as an ironmonger named Weatherhead Walters and Company, which later expanded into agricultural tools and animal feed and nowadays sells fashion, gifts, toys and diverse items. Bennetts is claimed to be the oldest surviving British department store, although this has been disputed, for it depends on one’s definition of a department store and at what stage in its history an expanding shop attained that status. Either way, by the mid-late 1800s hundreds of successful departmental stores existed in London and other urban centres up and down the country, vast emporia arranged into separate departments displaying and selling an ever-growing array of different consumer goods.

As competition grew among such businesses, it became important to keep pace with shifting demand and to appeal to customers from the rising Victorian middle classes. Many advertised themselves as ‘high-class’ outlets and typically publicised as many as ten different departments – more in the larger London stores. In the later 1800s when plate glass became affordable and shop fixtures and fittings became mass-produced, some of the older pokey, warren-like shops with multiple levels were completely refurbished or even demolished and rebuilt with an impressive gleaming street frontage, to present the desirable upmarket image. The key to the success of the evolving department store had much to do with its public image, especially as competition became keener.

A popular department store was often known by the name of the family that founded it and customers about to visit might announce I’m going to Hanningtons or I’m off to Whiteleys, the listener understanding immediately where the shop was and what the shopper expected to buy there. For while each outlet naturally hoped to become the pre-eminent department store in its town or city, in reality many retailers were content to be acknowledged for their excellence in one basic department, such as men’s outfitting or school uniforms.

Until at least the mid-20th century, many long-established department stores retained their special position on the high street as purveyors of quality goods while also offering something for every kind of customer. Many prided themselves on their high standards of service and, following improvements in staff working conditions, department stores also became recognised as respectable employers offering a steady job, generous benefits and pension schemes. However, as consumerism and shopping practises continued to evolve, gradually large areas of many department stores were given over to outside concessions and eventually some of the old establishments closed their doors for the last time, including London landmarks Swan and Edgar of Piccadilly and Dickins & Jones of Regent Street. Generations of our family members have shopped and worked in such emporia and those department stores still in existence today, such as House of Fraser and John Lewis, continue this long tradition.

In the print edition
Read about a variety of trades, plus early modern women’s beauty routines, in Issue 4 of Discover Your Ancestors, available at discoveryourancestors.co.uk .,>