Department Stores
With the creation of the first department stores at the end of the nineteenth century, came the inception of that most American of diversions—shopping. Though people had always purchased necessities, it was the development of the emporium that turned the perusal of a wide variety of goods, both the necessary and the frivolous, the affordable and the completely out of reach, into a leisure pastime. Between the late 1800s and the 1970s, department stores continued to grow and evolve as the quintessential modern market-place, both elite and accessible. Huge department stores, named for the families who founded them, dominated urban centers, and store and city became identified with each other. Filene's of Boston, Macy's and Bloomingdale's of New York, Marshall Field of Chicago, and Rich's of Atlanta are only a few of the stores recognized nationwide as belonging to their city. The era of the department store is rapidly fading, replaced by consumer choices that are more consistent with modern economics, just as the department stores themselves once replaced their predecessors.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, citizens began to enjoy the benefits of a new cash economy. Improved postal service and anew nationwide rail network allowed for an unprecedented flow of goods.
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