Customer Reviews

Service and Style: How the American Department Store Fashioned the Middle Class

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Christina Larsen in her highly favorable review of this book in 'Washington Monthly' notes that one major reason people shop is for 'the experience'. Jan Whitaker chronicles how the Department Store became a central element in American life. She tells of how the great movement from farm to City in the late nineteenth - century , combined with new developments in communication and transportation helped make Department stores the center of American commercial life. Here is Larsen's description of of what Whitaker does in the book.

" She details how department stores, which dominated American retail in the early 20th century, helped give "material expression to vague ideas of what success, femininity, citizenship, and popularity might mean," then put the identifying accessories (briefcase, lingerie, top hat, tennis racket) within reach of most customers. The secret to the stores' success was that they were always selling more than the thing itself."

The Department Store drew the masses into the heart of town. It democratized fashion, and made goods available to the many which were once for the exclusive enjoyment of the wealthy. Though Department Stores sold many different kinds of product, once for instance were a central vendor of books, their major product and great attraction was clothing.

This book will bring a lot of insight into an American institution , and I think for older folks like myself much nostalgic enjoyment. I grew up in the world of Department stores from the 'Up-to- Date' in downtown Troy New York Alexander's in Manhattan and Abraham and Strauss Brooklyn where my Aunt Molly Zeibert of blessed memory was for many years a 'buyer'(Dresses) .

Service and Style has a lot going for it. A great mostly unexplore subject, the history of the American Department Story, a great historical theme, the role these stores played in forming middle class style and great photos. Its well written, organized and researched. I have a family connection to Hess's a department store in Allentown and was pleased to find several references to the store and its owner Max Hess. Many of the things my family talked about that made his store special were shared among other stores as well.

Too bad it didn't take it to the next level and show how the stores transformed the American middle class into sophisticated and pampered consumers. Still, it was well-worth reading and for gazing at all the great photographs of a bygone era.

This book is about the history of the American Department Store, from the late 1800's to the early 1980s.

The author of this book is emphatic about the fact that Department Stores are quite different from the "Catalog Stores" (eg: SEARS), or different from the huge "National Chain Stores" (eg: WAL-MART). So please note that this book is only about "Department Stores" (as stated in the book's title) and NOT about Chain Stores,nor the very huge National Catalog Chains.

Anyhow, this book is very well-written. The photos are mostly in black-n-white, since at that time, most photos were not in color.

The author does a wonderful job at categorizing each chapters into sub-categories, and the author goes into great detail in explaining the issues and experiences that affected the American Department stores (be it, their evolution, but also their demise).

This book is a rich texture of historical narrative, amusing anecdote, great visual material, and insight into the what drives American consumer culture. I sent it as a gift to my father in South Dakota, thinking he might like it since he knows the author. It was a bit risky, though, since he's not much of a book person: a 94-year-old retired dairy farmer who is not easily impressed (to put it mildly). In this case, the review in the Wall Street Journal whetted his interest in advance and it turned out he loved the book! "I really like her choice of words," he marveled at one point. And then his biggest accolade: "She's got a great sense of humor; even made me laugh on the corset page!"

"Service and Style" opened my eyes to department stores' long and colorful history before me. Turns out the 1940s and 50s department stores I remember were actually an institution on the decline. I had missed the great years following WWI up to the Depression. Nevertheless the book brought back memories of "going downtown" to shop, first with Mom then on my own with $40 to buy Christmas presents for the whole family and finally as a "shop girl" myself during high school and college. The author's tone is conversational. While the histories of some stores may be repetitive she keeps the narrative rolling along with great anecdotes and a good smattering of vintage photos. An entertaining and insightful read.

Jan Whitaker has written an engaging and entertaining book, a whirlwind tour of the American department store, from its glory days in the Victorian era through its demise in recent times. Whitaker reminds us that browsing, window shopping, and buying were once pleasureable experiences that anchored the dreams of consumers who were middle class, or who aspired to be middle class. John Wanamaker, Marshall Field, and other department store pioneers created their stores to be palaces of consumption, luxurious escapes from the humdrum of everyday life. With verve and humor, Whitaker captures that magic and momentarily transports us back to the golden era of retailing. Chain store executives, driven by the imperative to endlessly cut costs, would do well to read this book and think about what's missing from the contemporary retailing scene.

This is personal thanks to Jan Whitaker for her work. How any author takes research and manages to find her or his own voice so that the final product is informative, fresh, integrated, and incredibly enjoyable, is beyond my comprehension.

Like many overly-assimilated children of non-WASP immigrants, department stores were, in fact, my "culture." Now that these stores, and all that they entailed, have ceased to exist as they once were, I often feel alienated from current culture, and the stores within it, because, as Whitaker notes - these stores were learning and experiential centers that embraced large segments of society.

Oftentimes, when one learns what happened behind the scenes, the experience is ruined. Whitaker does not allow that to happen, and it is her zest for the subject matter, and, most probably, a sensitivity to the need for fond memories, that allows this public/private story to be told in the most positive light.

I read REMEMBERING WOOLWORTHS some time ago, and have had a copy of THE GRAND EMPORIUMS (a chronicle of department stores, most now, sadly, gone) for many years, so I was delighted to find this new history of department stores available. Whitaker covers the rise and fall of the department stores quite thoroughly, with rare but occasional bland prose, well illustrated with advertisements and photographs within the text (and with a color centerfold), including all the changes the stores attempted to make with the times, and the special promotions the stores ran over the years and through the seasons. It's a nifty history starting back in the days when stores had overworked "cash children" and then pneumatic tubes to make change, stores delivered your purchases with horse and wagon, and the ladies' wear department consisted of bolts of fabric, trim, and sewing supplies (only men wore "ready to wear" clothing in the 19th century), and continues through the golden years when womens' ready-to-wear "made" the department store, the within-store tea rooms and restaurants flourished, and Christmas display windows became famous.

It's a pity someone can't write a history of the other "five and tens" to match this history of department stores! (This is a hint, someone!) Woolworths wasn't the only player out there...