From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store

by Vicki Howard

The geography of American retail has changed dramatically since the first luxurious department stores sprang up in nineteenth-century cities. Introducing light, color, and music to dry-goods emporia, these "palaces of consumption" transformed mere trade into occasions for pleasure and spectacle. Through the early twentieth century, department stores remained centers of social activity in local communities. But after World War II, suburban growth and the ubiquity of automobiles shifted the seat of economic prosperity to malls and shopping centers. The subsequent rise of discount big-box stores and electronic shopping accelerated the pace at which local department stores were shuttered or absorbed by national chains. But as the outpouring of nostalgia for lost downtown stores and historic shopping districts would indicate, these vibrant social institutions were intimately connected to American political, cultural, and economic identities.

The first national study of the department store industry, From Main Street to Mall traces the changing economic and political contexts that transformed the American shopping experience in the twentieth century. With careful attention to small-town stores as well as glamorous landmarks such as Marshall Field's in Chicago and Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, historian Vicki Howard offers a comprehensive account of the uneven trajectory that brought about the loss of locally identified department store firms and the rise of national chains like Macy's and J. C. Penney. She draws on a wealth of primary source evidence to demonstrate how the decisions of consumers, government policy makers, and department store industry leaders culminated in today's Wal-Mart world. Richly illustrated with archival photographs of the nation's beloved downtown business centers, From Main Street to Mall shows that department stores were more than just places to shop.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Architecture, Economics, American

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 22, 2015

Reviews

[Ryan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nerdy, dense, academic book. Absolutely. It has dozens of pages of sourcing for just over 200 pages of content. So I wanted to go ahead and get that out in the open from the start so that nobody decided to try and have a fun read about the history of retail in America.

With that said, as someone who loves learning about the history of commerce this was a treasure trove of information and insight. I really enjoyed learning the reasons that general stores became department stores became chain stores became discount stores, all the while moving from the cities to the suburbs.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book in terms of its compelling central argument, which is that although it might have been inevitable, there was nothing natural about the death of the big downtown department store: "The industry’s pursuit of bigness, consumers’ preference for low prices and mass consumption in the suburbs, and government policies that favored chains, automobility, shopping centers, and mass discounters, all led to the diminishment of both local institutions and the local identity of their communities." The emphasis especially on government policies is a valuable addition to our understanding of the decline of American department stores.

The reason I can't give it 3 stars is because I really had to force myself to get through it. This is clearly an academic book aimed at academic historians and business historians. Normally I don't have trouble with academic language, but in this case, it kept getting in the way of getting absorbed in the points she was making. And it's not just that she avoids getting sucked into nostalgia (I have no problem with that). It's more that both in language and the topics discussed, it reminded me of a book that might be assigned in an MBA class.

I'd recommend this book to a retail historian or business academic, but not necessarily to a general reader who loves history, is curious about the decline of urban downtown shopping areas and hopes to understand the rise of shopping malls and big-box discounters.

[Steve Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent in-depth exploration of the formation of US department stores, their rise and subsequent atrophy of market share to discount stores and the large scale ill-judged leverage buy-outs of the 1980s that sowed the seeds for an accelerated decline. While the book is academic, it is written in an accessible style. Highly recommended.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hoped for a book that that did not read like a text book but, just as Ryan Anderson said, this was an academically written history. However, this book did serve as a great chronology of the department store. I cringed every time I read the name Walmart. I wonder if the author received a dollar every time the store was mentioned.

It is disappointing to learn that government sanctions had something to do with the demise of the “department store.” Not to mention progress in general. The suburbs created the need for cars, which then created the need for highways. Then, came “the mall.”

I am old enough to have experienced downtown specialty stores, with those wonderful wooden floors, where you heard the click click of a women’s heels, and the melodious tones heard overhead summoning a manager. People dressed up a little too. Not in your best clothes, but shopping wear, in case you met up with a neighbor or friend. As a child, I was fascinated with the pneumatic tubes that whisked away money and credit card papers. Clothing purchases were carefully folded by saleswomen with tissue paper and boxed with the stores’ moniker, for me this was art, and it hypnotized me.

My favorite chapter was the epilogue. This was the story I had hoped to read. I am one of those people who have romanticized those days. I also admit I love old stuff, old movies, old books, etc.…. Of course, time marches on, and new developments in technology are important, but for me, I miss the time when shopping wasn’t rushed, it was an experience to be enjoyed.

[Fran · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have read Ryan Anderson's review before I started this. My first thought was that it reads like a text book....his use of "academic" is much better. Normally I like academic but I found this difficult to read (partly because of all those notes) and couldn't get through it.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give the author an A+ for research and history of the subject. If you are really into the history of department stores and malls it's an interesting read. I wish there was a little more continuation on the fall of the mall after the fall of the department stores.

[Kimberly Najjar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and informative—but know going into it that it’s very academic and dense. Would have liked to hear more about the role of the department store in popular culture and specific stories like in the epilogue!