“The climate crisis and the COVID-19 lockdowns have changed the picture of future shopping—with an end to fast, easy sales and consumption and concern instead for local environments and ethical responsibility. Retail and Community demonstrates that this focus is not new: that we can learn now from another history of modern shopping. It is a timely book.” Rachel Bowlby, University College London

Retail has never existed in a vacuum. This interdisciplinary volume explores how English commercial, co-operative and charity retailing were shaped by and in turn influenced their social and political environments, from the local to the global, between the late nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries. Historians, sociologists, archivists and heritage professionals engage with current debates on the rise of modern business and the decline of the high street, class and credit, professionalisation in the voluntary sector, migration and the end of empire. This book will be a key resource to better understand retail and community in an era defined by social change, shedding new light on the enduring centrality of community relationships to modern retailers.

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Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This interdisciplinary volume explores how English commercial, co-operative and charity retailing were shaped by and in turn influenced their social and political environments, from the local to the global, between the late-nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries.

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1. Retail and Community: English Experiences and International Encounters in the Long Twentieth Century – George Campbell Gosling, Alix R. Green and Grace Millar 2. The Commodification of Japanese Culture in Transcultural Charity Bazaars: The Mikado Festival and Feast of Lanterns in Darlington, 1887 – Massimiliano Papini 3. Hall and Spindler, Bespoke Tailors and Outfitters of Leamington Spa, 1878–1895: A Study in Retail Credit, Trust, and Loyalty – Nick Gray 4. Shopkeeper and Educator: Aspects of the Co-Operative Movement in England, 1870–1914 – Ian Mitchell 5. ‘By the Army, for the Army’: The Salvation Army’s Early Retail Activities, Criticisms and Responses in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries – Marjorie Gehrhardt 6. A Labour of Love: The Role of Retail in Salvation Army Rescue Work for Women – Ruth Macdonald 7. Much More Than a Gossip Shop: Black Country Independent Womenswear Retail, Family and Community – Nadia Awal and Jenny Gilbert 8. Charity, Community and Trade: The British Charity Shop, 1940s-1970s – George Campbell Gosling 9. Empire of Charity: The British ‘Helping Hand’ In South African Charity Shops, 1971–1972 – Jessica Field 10. Race, Retailing and the Windrush Generation: Principle and Practice in the John Lewis Partnership’s Recruitment of Commonwealth Arrivals, 1950–1962 – Alix R. Green 11. Encounters at the Counter: Race, Class and Belonging in the British Asian Corner Shop – Harshad Keval 12. ‘The Grocer Carried Me for Three Months’: Retail Support for Workers Involved in Extended Industrial Disputes – Grace Millar, Ben Curtis, Keith Gildart and Andrew Perchard 13. Understanding the ‘Gift’ in the Post-Economic Downturn Charity Shop – Triona Fitton 14. Reflections – George Campbell Gosling, Alix R. Green and Grace Millar

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Breaks traditional boundaries with opening an interdisciplinary dialogue between charity, co-operative, and commercial retail histories; Highlights intersectional socio-political elements like class, race, and gender within a broader British and global context; Examines retail's social essence through a period spanning over two centuries, exploring the idea of moral economy.

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