English Shops and Shopping An Architectural History Kathryn Morrison

Shoppers in England from medieval times to the 21st century have experienced the multifarious delights of open market places, high-street shops, department stores and covered markets. Beguiled by attractive merchandise, these shoppers have rarely heeded their surroundings. This book shifts the focus of attention to the architecture of retail buildings in England. It examines the history and character of different retail settings since the Middle Ages, including shops, arcades, market halls, co-operative stores, department stores, multiples, supermarkets, precincts and malls. The book traces how various types of retail buildings developed in response to fashion, social and economic conditions, technological advances and innovations in retailing methods. It reveals how the act of shopping helped to shape urban centres and how shops of the near and distant past have left their mark on today's high streets. Encompassing topics as diverse as the impact of now-familiar chains like Boots and Marks & Spencer, the revolutionary effect of lifts and escalators on store planning and the changes to the way we shop brought about by mass car ownership, "English Shops and Shopping" provides a record of English shop buildings throughout the centuries.

Kathryn A. Morrison is Senior Investigator, English Heritage, Cambridge.