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“Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't
know where to go shopping”
Bo Derek
So, where are they now? Those Palaces of the High
Street, the grand department stores. Like long lost
friends or favourite aunts and uncles – their names
live on. Bourne & Hollingsworth, Swan & Edgar,
Robinson & Cleaver, Marshall & Snelgrove, William
Whitely, Peter Robinson and, of course, Gamages.
One minute they were with us and then suddenly they
seem to have disappeared. The 1970s saw the end of
so many of our best loved department stores. Gone,
but not forgotten. You only need to explore and look
up at the buildings to see memories of those old
sleeping beauties still standing. They may be split
into nameless shop units or offices – but they are still
there, like grand dowager duchesses – waiting to be
stirred into life and dreaming of those halcyon days
when thousands poured through their doors to marvel
at the haberdashery, corsetry, cosmetics and the
wonderful Christmas toys. Generations of real life
Captain Peacocks and Mrs. Slocombes greeted
generations of shoppers - alongside the occasional Mr
Humphries for company. They too are history now,
ghosts of shopping past. Oh yes, in those days we
really were being served!
Of course, there are still great stores left and, indeed,
London has the largest number of Department Stores
in the world. But before we explore the world of our
‘Sleeping Beauties’, we will look at how shopping
developed and how building the department stores
was as controversial in its time as building huge
shopping malls and supermarkets is today.
Shopping as a pleasure really began in the late 18
th
century. Prior to this people had shopped at market
or at open stalls, with little thought given to ‘display’.
You shopped to live. There was perhaps some
anticipation in the mind of the Roman housewife as
she walked down to the great Forum in Londinium
to purchase a couple of dormice, 6 lark tongues and
a flamingo for the evening meal. (Actually, Romans’
did eat Flamingo but they weren’t recorded as being
sold in London!) Or maybe the mediaeval shopper
looked forward to the walk to Cheapside to purchase
a sheep’s head and a bag of delicious entrails.
But I think it is a safe assumption that shopping, as
we know it, started around the 1700s.
When we start to look at the names of those first
shopkeepers it is amazing that so many of them are
still trading. One of the great joys of shopping in
London is the number of small, exclusive, retailers –
Are You Being Served?
Blue Badge Guide Martin on a history of shops & shopping in London