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Today when you think of innovative retailers you think of Jeff Bezos at Amazon, Phillip Green, Sam Walton, or Steve Jobs, but one of the richest men in history opened the first department store in 1848. Alexander Stewart business success is estimated to have made him one of the twenty wealthiest people in history, with a fortune equivalent to approximately 90 billion 2012 US dollars.

Mr Stewart was a true innovator. Not only did he open the first department store (The Marble Palace), he wa...