Department Store

Definitions of Department Store
•Department Store large retail store having a wide variety of merchandise organized into customer-based departments. A department store usually sells dry goods, household items, wearing apparel, furniture, furnishings, appliances, radios, and televisions, with combined sales exceeding $10 million.
•Department Store retail establishment that sells a wide variety of goods. These usually include ready-to-wear apparel and accessories, yard goods and household textiles, house wares, furniture, electrical appliances, and accessories. In addition to departments (supervised by managers and buyers) for the various categories of goods, there are departmental divisions to handle, for example, merchandising, advertising, service, accounting, and financial strategy.
History of Department Stores
American department stores
"In considering the social effects of the department store, one is inclined to attach the greatest importance to the contributions which they have made to the transformation in the way of life of the greatest strata of the population, a transformation which will remain the one great social fact of these last 100 years." -- Hrant Pasdermadjian, The Department Store, Its Origins, Evolution and Economics, 1954
The Big Stores

The three biggest department stores in the mid-1960s, both in sales volume and physical size, were Macy's, Hudson's, and Marshall Field, in that order. Hudson's, shown here, had 25 stories, 16 of them selling floors. Two of its four below-ground floors were basement stores, where 60 departments did up to 25% of the store's business.

At its peak in mid-century, Hudson's employed up to 12,000 employees and welcomed 100,000 shoppers a day. It had its own telephone exchange (CApitol), and the nation's third largest switchboard, exceeded only by the Pentagon and the Bell System itself.

Restaurant reviewer Duncan Hines loved Hudson's tea rooms. In the 1947 edition of Adventures in Good Eating he wrote: "This splendid department store has devoted the greater part of a floor to the tea rooms. The food is at all times very tempting and the service has that quality of quiet elegance which adds so much to the pleasure of dining. ... Don’t overlook the dining room on the mezzanine, if you happen to be in a bit of a hurry. Their chicken pie is outstanding."
Marshall Field, the man, was a dry goods wholesaler. He wasn't fond of retailing or of the idea of selling all kinds of merchandise under one roof. Like many other people he thought department stores were low class. Field never became really enthusiastic about his department store, said to be the brainchild of Harry Selfridge, its early manager, and later founder of Selfridge's in London. Selfridge made the store customer-friendly by improving its lighting, opening a tea room, and -- horrifying to Field -- installing a few bargain tables here and there.

Nevertheless, Field's remained conservative in many of its practices. For years it curtained its show windows on Sundays, refused to display women's underwear on manikins, and wouldn't let salesclerks wear makeup.

For decades the Marshall Field store wrestled with the John Wanamaker store in Philadelphia for the title of America's most prestigious large-scale, full-service department store.
Although the store did poorly during the Depression, by 1945 its business was booming. It had become an institution. Reeling from the shock of Pearl Harbor, a Chicago woman exclaimed, "Nothing is left any more – except, thank God, Marshall Field’s."
Types of Department Stores
Upscale Department Store
Characteristics of a typical upscale department store may include:
•Sale of brand name perfumes and beauty supplies, like Burberry, Calvin Klein or M•A•C at the main entrance, with specialists in cosmetics there to assist customers with applying and selecting makeup.
•General sale of name brand clothes above an average price level, such as Dior, Chanel, Versace, Lacoste, etc.
•When items are discounted, the price resembles that of an average priced item at a lower scale department store.
•Sale of small household appliances like blenders, or small electronic items such as portable radios.
•Specialized services or subset businesses such as personal shopping assistance, salons, restaurants, and/or travel agencies.

Mid-Range Department Store
Characteristics of a mid-range department store may include:
•Sale of cosmetics.
•Sale of some brand names, with greater emphasis on private label brands.
•Sale of accessories.
•Sale of some small household appliances.
•Sale of furniture in larger locations.

Comparison to Upscale Department Store
•Sale of cosmetics but generally not brand name. Fragrances and beauty supplies may be placed further into the interior of the store, without cosmetic specialists at the counters.
•Greater proportion of moderately-priced brand names.
•Accessories and purses aren't upscale brand names, with greater proportion of lesser-known or private label branded items.

Discount Department Store/Super-Store
•Sells cosmetics, generally not name brand.
•Generally doesn't sell name brands.
•Sells accessories, generally not name brand.
•Sells small household appliances.
•Sells toys, electronics and video games.
•Sells household necessities.
•The "super-store" variant usually sells food products and has a "one stop shop" vibe.

Comparison to Mid-Range Department Stores
•Sells fewer major brand names.
•Offers a wider variety of products.
•More likely to anchor a power centre than an indoor shopping mall.

Off-Price Retailer
•Most products are name-branded.
•Products may be over-runs, seconds, or last season's stock liquidated from department stores.
•Product mix typically emphasizes women's clothing and may include men's clothing, children's clothing, shoes, accessories, perfume, toys, house wares, or packaged gourmet food.
•Stores are most frequently located in power centre’s but may also appear in shopping malls.