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INTRODUCTION
Change is often seen as one of the few constants in retailing. While such change continues to promote and provoke a fertile field of theoretical enquiry and debate(1), a 1938 copy of Chain and Multiple Store(2) (found by a relative while scouring the loft for items for a car-boot sale!) provides a "snapshot" of topical issues facing large retailers over 50 years ago.
Chain and Multiple Store was a weekly magazine, costing 6d, running to 40 pages and having a "chatty" format. It was first published in late April 1938 and the last issue appeared about the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. Back in 1938 Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister, George VI was on the throne, Arsenal were First Division football league champions and Preston North End beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the final of the FA Cup.
EXPANSION AND CONCENTRATION
On the retail scene this was a time of rapid expansion for the growing multiples. At Marks & Spencer's 1938 Annual General Meeting the Chairman, Simon Marks, announced that 102 new stores had been opened since 1933 and that a further 109 stores had been enlarged or relocated to cater for the increased product range. Two new Littlewood's stores, at Ramsgate and Scunthorpe, had been opened in the past ten days and Woolworth's were announcing seven new or extended stores as far apart as Blackburn and Brighton. British Home Stores' new branch at Hammersmith was their largest yet at about 19,000 sq. ft. For the first time, the new branch featured a 3,000-volume lending library. Other customer services included a 100-seat "luncheonette" and a hairdressing salon (staffed by 50 assistants) with 130 beauty services--facials, manicures, etc.
The merchandise range included cooked meats, jewellery, toiletries, women's and children's dresses, confectionery, biscuits, millinery, footwear, toys, lighting, kitchenware and canned foods. While this rapid expansion was making good reading on the multiples' balance-sheets, there were clear repercussions for the small shopkeeper. The magazine's editorial focused on a pamphlet published by "The British Union", entitled "Gainst Trust and Monopoly". The author of the pamphlet bemoaned the passing of the 4,000-5,000 small shopkeepers whose businesses were failing each year. He/she argued that the multiple and co-operative stores were destroying the back-bone of the...