- Department stores have dramatically changed over the last 100 years.
- In the past, shops focused on selling necessities like military uniforms, basic apparel, and toys, and often experienced large crowds – especially ahead of holidays, wars, and recessions.
- Today, many department stores are struggling to remain in business.
- While some classic chains cease to exist, other retailers have found ways to increase sales, such as installing self-checkout registers and advertising with electronic displays.
- Visit INSIDER’s homepage for more stories.
A lot can change over the course of 100 years. Throughout the last century alone, famous cookies have been created, iconic buildings have been reconstructed, and school systems have completely evolved.
Department stores have also seen drastic change. In the early 1900s, retailers existed to sell necessities, including military uniforms, food, and apparel, among other things. Today, big-box stores are struggling to survive.
The rise of the internet and surge in online sales has placed a major strain on department stores. While some retailers have filed for bankruptcy and gone out of business, others have taken drastic measures to stay afloat. Here are 28 photos that show how department stores have changed over 100 years.
In the early 1900s, department stores were focused on selling the necessities.
During times of war, those necessities were comprised of military jackets, coats, and accessories.
That's why Harrods, a famous department store in London, featured an in-house tailoring room throughout World War I. The space was utilized to alter used uniforms and sell new ones.
Big-box retailers still sell the basics, but novelty items are also typically present.
You can find everything from random household tools and fashionable clothes to toys and knickknacks at modern department stores. There are few things that you wouldn't be able to buy.
As early as 1923, Barneys New York was a popular department store.
According to the company's website, Barneys New York was created by a man named Barney Pressman when he pawned his wife's engagement ring and opened a shop on Seventh Avenue and 17th Street.
By the '60s, Barney's son Fred had turned the location into a luxury store, and the company became a national sensation throughout the 1990s and 2000s, according to the brand's website.
However, the chain has faced difficulties in recent years.
On Tuesday, Barneys New York announced it will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closing 15 of its remaining 22 stores, as Business Insider reported.
"Our goal is to continue serving our customers in key flagship markets and globally through Barneys.com for the long term," Barneys' CEO Daniella Vitale said in a statement.
"While difficult decisions had to be made, this process will allow us to reset our financial position and maintain our longstanding vendor relationships," she continued.
Starting in 1924, Macy's celebrated the holidays with its first annual "Christmas Parade."
Live animals such as elephants were included in the early days of the parade, and balloons depicting popular characters such as Mickey Mouse appeared a little later in the '30s.
The name of the event has since been changed to the "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade."
Other aspects of the yearly tradition have also been changed. For example, live animals have been replaced with people dressed in costumes, and giant marching bands have become a staple. Tons of celebrities have also appeared on floats.
Leading up to the 1930s, department stores were always pretty crowded.
Around 1929, people were encouraged to shop in order to help boost the nation's sinking economy.
But that same year, the stock market completely crashed, and the Great Depression officially began. The period lasted for 10 years, causing major layoffs, failing banks, and mass poverty.
Today, stores rarely see such large crowds.
Even during major holiday sales, many modern shoppers still prefer to shop online from the comfort of their homes.
Minimal merchandise was showcased in store window displays throughout the '40s.
There was some art to these displays, as props were placed alongside mannequins and merchandise to create a scene. But the visuals would never work for modern shops.
Contemporary display windows are unlike anything of the past.
Today, department stores are known to incorporate technology, moving props, and bright lights into window displays.
First beginning in the 1870s at Macy's, some chain retailers in New York City have made it a tradition to elaborately decorate store-front windows each holiday season, according to Macy's.
Greeting cards have been a staple of department stores for decades, even as far back as the 1940s.
But, unlike today, cards appear to have been loosely strewn across a table for giant groups of shoppers to simultaneously dig through.
Now, department stores typically organize greeting cards using tall standing racks.
The modern layout is far more organized, as cards are separated by occasion and price, among other factors.
Bonwit Teller was once a prominent luxury department store in New York City.
The store was known for selling a range of high-end womens' clothing inside a luxurious limestone building.
Shopping at the store in the '50s was a luxurious experience.
Merchandise was minimal, allowing customers to focus on specific items rather than an overwhelming amount of options.
But by 2000, every Bonwit Teller store had gone out of business.
In 1979, the Bonwit Teller company was sold from its original owners to outside corporations. Ten years later in 1989, the store filed for bankruptcy and began to shut down all of its stores, with its last location closing in 2000.
While the flagship Bonwit Teller store would have been exempt from the closure, the building was purchased by Donald Trump in 1979. Many have since credited Trump with demolishing the historic art-deco building to create Trump tower.
Shoppers had to fight for discounted items in the 1950s.
The United States' economy was booming in the 1950s, and, as a result, people went shopping.
But the surplus of shoppers meant that there were more people interested in buying sale items, leading some people to fight over things like discounted handbags.
Today, you can purchase handbags from virtually any department store without battling other customers.
Brick-and-mortar stores rarely sell products that can't also be purchased online, so the same can be said for most items sold at department stores.
But current retailers do share some similarities with department stores of the past.
While moderately-priced handbags are typically displayed in open aisles for shoppers to peruse, high-end purses usually get stored in glass cases or behind guarded counters, just like stores from the '50s.
Still, there are hardly ever lines or mobs of people fighting to get one.
In the '60s, shoppers had tons of room to shop for merchandise.
Department stores appear to have been designed with distance in mind, from the widespread aisles to the carefully spaced-out merchandise on the shelves.
Now, department stores tend to display more products in a smaller space.
In particular, department stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls tend to make up for small spaces by displaying as much merchandise in one area as possible.
The checkout process has changed quite a bit since the '70s.
Waiting on line and being helped by a cashier is still a standard process in many stores, but cash registers looked significantly different in the past than they do today.
Large buttons were used to enter product prices, and screens for cashiers were practically nonexistent.
Modern shoppers often don't have to interact with a cashier if they don't want to.
Instead, shoppers can use touch-screen self-checkout machines to purchase products from many department stores.
In the '80s, security was needed to control crowds of toy shoppers.
Specifically in 1983, Cabbage Patch Dolls became one of the hottest toys ever sold after shoppers flooded department stores in search of them.
Some people went as far as driving hundreds of miles to find one, while others fought fellow shoppers to get the last dolls.
Today, you don't have to worry about encountering major crowds in department-store toy aisles.
Retailers are seeing an increase in toy sales after Toys R Us liquidated its American stores last year, but that doesn't mean you'll have to fight your way through the aisles.
Department stores are welcoming the new traffic, increasing the size of toy departments and offering more toy options for customers.
Beauty counters were pretty simple in the '90s.
Small posters were used to advertise beauty brands, modest ranges of samples were placed on countertops, and both customers and makeup artists would sit while discussing products.
Today, it's unlikely that you'd find such understated cosmetic counters.
Instead, current department stores install eye-catching beauty stands. Products are illuminated by bright lights, samples are abundant, and advertisements are often electronic.
Business was booming at Sears in the early 2000s.
At the start of the millennium, Sears acquired a new CEO, created partnerships with at least three different companies, and hit an all-time high stock value.
Unfortunately for customers, the company went bankrupt in October 2018.
Many now believe that the company will soon liquidate all of its remaining stores.
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- Read more:
- 13 ways to save even more money shopping at Kohl's
- We visited a lot of department stores in 2018. Here's which one was the best to shop at.
- We visited dozens of stores this year, and these were the messiest by far
- Kohl's is being hailed as a winner of the retail apocalypse while other department stores struggle. We shopped there and saw why.
