Many of our ancestors worked in shops of various descriptions and during the 1800s as urban communities and commerce expanded, retailing became a significant occupation. Initially most counter staff were men, including drapery store assistants, but from the 1860s onwards large establishments and department stores employed more female staff. Shop work appealed to smart, semi-educated girls and by the late 1800s new retailing opportunities also attracted independent middle-class women.

Reflecting the wider development of more standardised workwear, in many Victorian shops a formal black dress became the correct mode for females behind the counter. Typically a silk, wool or mixed-fabric black gown was accessorised with a starched white collar and white cuffs. Styles generally followed fashion, for ideally shop girls should look up-to-date, whilst avoiding extreme dress. The store proprietor John Lewis insisted in the mid 1880s on black, high-necked woollen dresses, boots and black stockings for his sales girls. Employers often prohibited jewellery and other trinkets, so that sales staff appearances did not overshadow the merchandise. Most female staff had to provide their own workwear, even though an apprentice or junior assistant’s annual wages were only £10-£15.

Shop girls were typically young and single, often chosen for their tall, elegant figures, pleasing features and luxuriant hair. Some became the first live ‘mannequins’ (models) from around 1900 – statuesque store staff selected to demonstrate to clients new seasonal fashions. Senior saleswomen and department supervisors could earn £60 annually and dressed more handsomely in finer dresses, cultivating an air of efficient, courteous elegance. Despite their professional image, young female shop staff ‘on display’ often attracted unwanted male attention. In 1894 The Shop Girl, a romantic musical comedy, opened at London’s Gaiety Theatre, highlighting the lives of sales assistants who were now a major workforce.

By 1900 about 250,000 women worked in shops, this rising to one million by the 1960s, due to the continued growth of department stores, and emergence of interwar high street multiples such as Woolworths and C & A. Typically women worked in areas like millinery, corsetry, drapery and other fashion departments, or in furnishings, stationery shops, confectioners and fancy goods emporia. Edwardian shop wear comprised a formal dark frock, or more modern crisp blouse and black tailored skirt, styles relaxing gradually between the wars, when green, grey or blue dresses and suits might be adopted. Male staff also had to look well groomed in a tailored suit, spotless shirt and smart neckwear. Grocers and shop staff handling foodstuffs wore bibbed or half-aprons. From the 1910s onwards long-sleeved buttoned overall coats grew common, protecting the clothes and satisfying more rigorous hygiene requirements.