3. The emergence of the department store during the Gilded Age
Department stores in the United States predated the Civil War, but it was during the Gilded Age which followed that they became a major factor of American urban life. As a middle class emerged during the Gilded Age shopping was the duty of middle class women, and they found themselves served in the stores by younger middle class, or aspiring to the middle class, women, most of whom were unmarried. Competition among the stores was fierce, and the development of loyal clientele led the stores to provide a variety of services to make them stand out. In New York a string of competing stores uptown was known as the “Ladies Mile”, and included Tiffany’s, Bergdorf & Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and B. Altman among others, supported by upscale restaurants and tea rooms.
It was during the Gilded Age that the practice of creating lavish Christmas displays in street level windows to celebrate the season (and attract customers) began. By the 1890s many of the displays were animated, and additional displays were prominent within the stores themselves, on all floors, carefully placed to route customers desirous of seeing them past prominently presented merchandise. The downtown shopping districts of all American towns eventually adopted the practice, emulating the larger and well known stores such as Macy’s, Gimbel’s, Wanamaker’s, Bon Marche, and Marshall Field’s. The middle class built the chains which were originally built for them, and when they abandoned the cities for the suburbs they took the department stores with them.