Grocers were merchants who carried out business in bulk - 'en gros' and they eventually formed themselves into a company covering spicers, pepperers, apothecaries  and  corders. 

The craftsman did not keep large stocks of goods on his shelves, as most items were made as ordered. Those following a particular trade tended to congregate together so that certain streets came to be associated with those trades or merchandise: for example, the Shambles were where the butchers slaughtered their animals and then traded from their stalls.

As mercantile trade expanded, and goods began to arrive from the Continent, merchants built warehouses holding larger stocks of imported luxury goods such as sugar, dried fruit, wine, cloth and spices. By this time many levels of English Society had become more prosperous through the wool trade, and by the time of Elizabeth 1st, huge trading companies, such as the Hudson Bay Company and Levant Company were importing large  quantities of all kinds of fancy goods.

Gradually, buying and selling became more and more separated from ‘making' and some traders began branching out in surprising combinations.  On record are ‘amourers' selling wine, and a glover selling silk purses and painted cloths as well as gloves, while a merchant in Kingston bought and sold, in the same shop, wine, fish, fruit, beer, butter, soap, honey, dye, horse shoes, bonnets, linen cloth and thread.  At the time of purchase, nothing was wrapped or packaged, it was up to the purchaser to provide what containers were needed, baskets, jugs sacks, bowls or cloth, with which to wrap the finer articles.

The sixteenth Century saw great expansion and more prosperity. Ideas were changing, new countries were being discovered and there was more mobility between social classes. The beginnings of the middle class emerged in wealthy merchants with fine houses and prosperous businesses. In 1567, Sir Thomas Gresham, a merchant and a mercer, built, with his own money, the Royal Exchange, on land given to him by the City Corporation of London. This was between Cornhill and Threadneedle Street. He wanted to create an international mercantile centre for trade on the pattern of the one in Antwerp. The Exchange contained an arched courtyard where traders grouped according to the country with which they had business. In the Gallery, above the Arcade, were some 160 small shops, little larger
than booths, and so dark they needed to be lit by candles even in the daytime. But the rent of each, at 40 shillings a year, would hopefully pay for the upkeep of the Exchange. Lock up shops, with no living quarters, were a new idea, and at first traders were not eager to rent. But the Exchange immediately became extremely successful as a meeting place for merchants, and as such became the place to go to hear all the latest gossip and news from abroad. It was, therefore, not long before it became an elegant rendevous and the 'in' place to be. Retailers of quality fashion merchandise realising the potential, swiftly followed and opened shops selling some of the finest luxury goods in London.

London was wealthy and progressive, although some provincial towns, like Norwich, Bristol, Exeter and York, being centres for the wool trade in their area, also had their share of prosperity. The more modest towns and villages still had the small, single room, domestic shop and their craftsman owners still worked on the premises. However, they too were becoming more prosperous, with the building of large mansions and great houses which needed the very best in paintings, fine furniture, tapestries and gold and silver plate. Huge sums of money were spent on fine clothes, for all cloth was expensive, and the embossed velvets and padded silks, fashionable at this time and coming from Italy, had astronomical prices. But, but if you needed to make a stir at Court, then you had to dress the part.

Gentlemen's clothes were just as costly, and luxurious as the ladies, sometimes even more so, and this extravagance continued for the next 150 years. In 1660, Pepys was telling us that, while he went to the old Exchange and bargained for lace for his wife, for his own lace he went to the 'great lace man' in Cheapside, and paid £4.

There was, by now, a distinct difference between 'marketing' and 'shopping'. Marketing was done daily, by the lower orders and servants, who bought vegetables, meat, fruit and fish at market stalls, paying cash and haggling over prices, while gentlefolk, even with a very modest household, would not demean themselves by shopping for food at any time. Their shopping was for luxury goods, silk, ribbons, cloth, lace, hosiery, hats or various accessories and they would take much thoughtful perusal of the goods on offer. Their leisurely considerations of things like household equipment and furniture could take several days and would be charged to an account.

Pepys again writes in his diary that, at one particular time, with no maidservant to do the marketing, he and his wife had, perforce, to do it themselves. They went to Leadenhall Market, after dark so they should not be observed and recognised by any acquaintance, but even then drew the line at carrying it home, and hired a woman to do it for them.

Approaching the end of the 17th Century prosperous merchant's houses were surrounded on both sides by saddlers, gunsmiths, drapers, mercers, goldsmiths, pewterers and tailors, and so the beginnings of the High Street emerged. Booksellers were coming into prominence and many gentlemen were happy to while away an hour or two using them like a library. Anyone could go in and read a chapter, or a page or two, for books were sold in loose leaf form and bound to the customers requirements when purchased. By this means a matching set could be provided. They also did a steady and increasing trade in second-hand books, for print runs of new books were quite small and ready bound copies much sought after.

Shop premises now began to have window's glazed with small panes of glass, instead of the open aperture and wooden shutter, and more and more 'middlemen' were coming into the trades as a bridge between the craftsman and the customer. Astute grocery merchants were moving away from trading from their warehouses, to opening little shops selling tea, coffee, chocolate, spices, dried fruits and other luxury comestibles, to the slowly increasing middle class.

The last quarter of the 18th Century saw most small towns with at least half a dozen shops, while the newly popular spas and county towns had small streets of shops. Not every town, or even city, could ape London and have a Royal Exchange, but with fashionable society moving into places like Bath, Buxton or Harrogate (for restorative dalliance after the hurly-burly of the social season had worn them down) select shops began to appear, to cater for the whims and fancies of the ladies. With little to do but meet friends or take the waters, they would then repair to small, elegant, premises, to purchase the very latest East India cottons or muslins, dashing bonnets or a dainty fan to bewitch the current beau while dancing at the Assembly Rooms.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the arrival of the Industrial Revolution had begun to change the face of the countryside. The migration of many families, from the rural areas into the towns, meant these families were no longer able to grow or make for all their needs.  So, for the first time, small shops appeared in working-class districts to cater for the factory workers.  Some mill owners even went to the extent of opening a company shop on their premises, to supply standard groceries and provisions.  Some might even have had an altruistic motive, but mainly they exploited their workers by charing high prices and giving inferior quality.

Encouraging credit, they also tied them into a system whereby they paid wages with one hand and took them back in payment for goods with the other.

A whole range of shops now came into being, catering solely for the lower classes.  These included shops for cooked food, second-hand clothes and shoes and pawn shops.  Most low class food was adulterated, so in 1844, in an effort to improve their situation, twenty-eight poor weavers in Rochdale save their money until each could put in £1, and with this small capital they founded the first Co-Operative Society, buying in a range of staple foods such as flour, candles, tea, salt, sugar and oatmeal and selling them to members at a reasonable price.  They sold out their entire stock in their first evening's trading and they then went from strength to strength and at the end of each year were able to reward their members by paying them back a small dividend out of the profits.

Britain was now expanding its Empire overseas, and goods and food came flooding in from all over the world, while the growth of the railway networks rapidly improved distribution. Cities and towns had many fine shops providing jewels, silver, silks, clothes and household goods and on an unprecedented scale, but  one of the most prestigious and influential was a shop opened in 1875 in Regent Street by Arthur Liberty, named East-India House. It prospered and grew, at first selling just coloured silks, but rapidly expanding into anything good in embroidery, laquer-ware, cloisonne enamel or Satsuma-ware, Japanese fans and Kimonos, plus many other oriental goods. Well known names, in the Arts and Crafts movement, designed textiles, furniture and metal work specially for it and leading figures in the British Art or design world such as Whistler, Godwin, Burne-Jones and Rossetti patronised it extensively.

America was also beginning to influence shopping trends and Butterick's Paper Patterns had opened a shop, also in Regent Street, in 1873, and Gordon Selfridge opened his famous department store in 1909. Big from the start, it had window displays, the like of which had never been seen. Selfridge brought a new concept to shopping, appealing to middle class women and tempting them to use his store like a ladies club. He deliberately put his perfume counter near to the main entrance so that the enticing smells would lure the ladies in. Although many started in a small, modest way, department stores had been growing slowly until, between 1850 and 1900, and at various times, arrived amongst others, Gamages, Pontings, John Lewis, Peter Robinson, Whitelys, Harrods and Barkers. And, although these were London stores, the idea slowly filtered down to the more provincial towns. Tea shops had opened, to cater for ladies needing to refresh themselves during a long day's shopping, and many specialist shops had been opened, such as Lillywhites
in 1863. This first specialist sports shop catered for the immense enthusiasm for new sports such as croquet, lawn tennis, bicycling, archery, golf and skiing, all now available to ladies, as well as gentlemen.

Since the turn of the 20th Century, shops, and the goods sold in them, have multiplied again and again. Family firms were joined by entrepreneurs extending their trading by opening new branches all over the country, mainly in the grocery and provision market. The Co-operative Society had shops in almost every town, both large and small, and had gone on to extend their scope into other consumer areas. They now manufactured, or dealt in, confectionery, furniture, drapery, hardware, shoes, and mens outfitting, amongst other things, and in their grocery stores sold, under their own label, many of the daily necessities. They had a reputation for good quality at reasonable prices and the 'divi' paid out every six months was a welcome additional income to a working class family on low wages. Many traders, like Thomas Lipton, who had started in just one commodity (in this instance, tea) went on to open branches nation wide, selling a much wider range of food than just the original item. Some of these names are now barely remembered, like David Grieg, Home and Colonial, Maypole Dairies and Mac Fisheries, while Sainsburys of course are still with us. Jesse Boot had started his small Chemist business in Nottingham, Marks and Spencer had opened their Penny Bazaar in Leeds and by the beginning of the second decade F. W. Woolworth had arrived from the States and opened his stores selling everything from pins to crockery for 3d and 6d.

Mass production has brought down the cost of countless everyday items, and many, which were previously luxury goods, to within reach of almost everyone. More disposable income has meant that a much greater proportion of the population has far more material goods than ever before, to such an extent that shopping is now really classed as 'retail therapy'. It has always been a leisure activity for the rich, but has now extended down the social scale, and is indulged by all classes when they can. People no longer shop just for what they need, but also for pleasure, and naturally a lot of what they buy has changed in character. A gentleman does not go out to purchase his books unbound, but buys his paperback from Waterstones. He does not visit his tailor to be measured for a top coat and breeches, but gets his sweaters and chino's from Gap. No modern lady would be seen dead these days in a mercers or mantua makers, they are busy trying on dresses in Monsoon or Dorothy Perkins. And as for furniture, instead of going to Mr Chippendale, and leisurely choosing graceful items to enhance one's fashionable dining, more and more is bought flat-packed-put-it-together-yourself from Ikea. >

How times have changed.

Aileen Tucker
6 May 2008

Our newsletters come out at irregular intervals. Go to our side panel to add your name to our newsletter database and be one of the first to receive our news, when it becomes available.