Early retailing: London's shopping exchanges, 1550-1700

Author: Baer, William

Source: Business History, Volume 49, Number 1, January 2007 , pp. 29-51(23)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Location is an important aspect of retailing, and London entrepreneurs recognized it as early as the 1560s in building exchanges to house a collection of shops, taking them off the street. These shopping centres created a special shopping environment: shelter, safety, and shop agglomeration. Soon shoppers put on their own social display there, a further shopping attraction. Up to five of these centres existed in late seventeenth-century London, capturing about half of all shops. But the reputation of these facilities declined over time, the institution of shopping 'mall' apparently not continued or emulated again until the twentieth century.

Keywords: Shopping Centre; Mall; Exchange; London; Shopkeeper; Commerce; Retail

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076790601063006

Publication date: 2007-01-01