The Grand Emporiums - The Illustrated History of AMerica's Great Depoartment Stores

New York: Stein & Day Publishers - A Scarborough Book, 1981. First Scarborough Books Edition . Trade Paperback. Good. 6 1/4" x 9 1/4. Kapolin, Ed - Design. 487 Pages Indexed. A 1980 Scarborough Editiion of the 1979 Robert Hendrickson copyright. Scattered throughout are lightly penciled (erasible) check marks and marignal brackets most of which are in the first half of the book. lightly frayed on all edges. Spine crease down middle with some spine ticks This book is as thick as a Sears catalogue and as comprehensive. Here is the enterprise, the honesty, the chicanery, the hokum and the hard work and ingenuity behind the rise of the American department store. It is total coverage with impresssive research. The black and white photographs carefully selected and the anecdotes tell some unusual tlhings about the kind of people Americans are. This is the illustrated story of the rise of the great department stores, the merchants who made them, the customers who patronized them, and the crooks who preyed uon them A monumental social history of the whole spectrum of selling in America, this romantic, nostalgic, and documentary epic cover everything from yesterday's pack peddler to the mail-order houses and discount marts, to the most elegant store you can name. From peeping toms in dressing rooms to what it takes to make an Easter Parade, this is the complete store-by-store look at the real fabric of the American way of life. Contents in 14 Chapters: From Peddlers to Grand Emporiums, The Founding Fathers, Minding the Store Early Operations Floorwalkers and Drummers, The Big Stores Famous Full-Line Departments Stores, For The Mass with Class The Big-Fashion or Spoecialty Department Stores, Everybody Loves a Bargain From Sholck Shops to Discount Department Stores, Hurry Hurry Hurry Send No Money Satisfaction Guanteed Mail Order, The Urge to Merge and the Chain Store Menace, The Malling of Main Street Suburban and City Shoping Centers, Does Macy's Tell Gimberls Ad Dummies Parades Santas, Rip-offs In Wonderland Boosters Snitches Con Artist Errant Easter Bunnies and Peeping Toms, Workers in Paradise Strikes Unions Credit Cards and Unhappy Returns, More Great American Stores Past Present and Future, and The Great American Department Store Pages of Superlatives.