Page 667 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

eobf_R 7/5/06 3:20 PM Page 644

Retailers

artists, and even breeders, who offered farmers the services
of stallions for their mares and bulls for their cows. But
the true peddler tended to pack his back or wagon with
many items, because it was more profitable to carry a large
assortment of goods in anticipation of what people might
want or need. Somewhere among all these items would be
the famous Yankee notions, which were pins and needles,
buttons, razors, brooms, books, window glass, and novel-
ties. Most housewives put aside their “pin money” from
the sale of eggs and other products in order to buy these
notions, but the peddler would often offer credit or barter
for furs and other valuable goods with those who did not.
Peddling was a way out of poverty from colonial days
onward, and it is surprising how many notable Americans
began their careers as peddlers. Like many other frontiers-
men in the nineteenth century, Abraham Lincoln’s father
was a part-time peddler. When he moved his family from
Wal-Mart was the world’s leading retailer in 2005. PHOTO-
Kentucky to Illinois, he took a trunk full of notions to sell
GRAPH BY MIRANDA H. FERRARA. THE GALE GROUP.
from his wagon to help offset the expense of the trip.
Inventors John Fitch (1743–1798)—inventor of the
steamboat—and Thomas Edison (1847–1931) both blankets and baskets, for goods on the merchant’s shelves.
began as peddlers.
Homemade Indian brooms, maple syrup, barrel staves,
Countless American fortunes were amassed by men
skeins of wool, dried apples, blackberries and blueberries,
who started their business on the road across America. B.
churned butter, potash, and charcoal were usually used as
T. Babbitt, America’s first soap millionaire, began by ped- cash crops to barter at the country store.
dling his soap in upstate New York, and the company
Lincoln clerked in a country store as a youth, and the
Stanley Tools was founded by a peddler.
story of young Abe walking several miles to return a
Peddlers probably founded the first real American penny to a customer is part of American folklore. As for P.
country stores, which are often described as primitive T. Barnum (1810–1891), he ran a general store in Bethel,
department stores, in remote backwoods areas during the Connecticut, where he claimed he learned many a trick
late 1600s. American country stores enjoyed their heyday from country people who cheated him as adeptly as any
between 1820 and 1860, at a time when personal income
city slicker could.
was rising and the population was growing rapidly. Usu-
Among the founders of great modern-day American
ally located in the middle of town, the country store was
the hub of community activity, and it was characterized by department stores who operated and clerked in country
its informality, including bare wood shelves, a hodge- stores, Adam Gimbel (1815–1896), J. L. Hudson
podge of goods, and a porch with rocking chairs where the (1846–1912), Charles A. Stevens, Aaron Montgomery
townspeople could sit and socialize. It has been said that Ward (1844–1913), and Herbert Marcus (1878–1950)
the country storekeeper was all things to all men, and he should be mentioned. Some of the old country stores
was usually highly respected and self-educated. His store, became grocery stores, and a few evolved into department
with the inevitable flour, cracker, and cookie barrels near stores.
the counter, carried what was a wonderland of goods to
the civilization-starved settlers; and he usually extended Origins of the Department Store. As far as anyone
credit liberally. For the children, penny candy ranging knows, the first true department store arose in France in
from licorice whips to all-day suckers were prominently the mid-nineteenth century. The best evidence ascribes its
displayed in jars atop the counter. beginnings to Bon Marché of Paris. Founded as a small
Country stores were far from fashionable. For more shop in 1838, Bon Marché had begun to assume the pro-
than twenty years after paper bags were invented in 1850, portions of a department store by the early 1850s. Even at
clerks were still wrapping most packages in brown wrap- that time, Paris had a long history as a retail and fashion
ping paper, folded over and tied with a string. Trading in center dating back to 1300, and the city was known for
the stores was often conducted by barter, or “country pay” large stores, with up to 100 people working in stores
as it was called, with customers exchanging corn, wheat, called the Lame Devil, the Little Sailor, and the Beautiful
rye, and flax, or articles of household manufacture such as Farmer’s Wife. Aristide Boucicaut (1810–1877) is cred-

644 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION