Chapter 6: Power, Cosmopolitanism, and Socio-Spatial Division in the Commercial Arena in Victorian and Edwardian London

The developments that occurred as a result of the Industrial Revolution and during the British Empire hastened commerce and transformed Britain's social and cultural status quo. By the eighteenth century, there was already in London a vast number of retail shops that would inaugurate an urban world of commerce and consumerism. Magnificent and wide-ranging stores served householders with commodities that mesmerized consumers, giving way to new trends in the commercial and social fabric of London. Therefore, going shopping during the Victorian Age became mandatory for the well-off, especially for the emergent moneyed middle class. Harrods department store opened in 1864, adding new elements to the retail industry by providing a single space with various commodities. In 1909, Selfridges would transform the concept of urban commerce by imposing a more cosmopolitan outlook in the commercial arena. We shall draw attention to these two department stores, Harrods and Selfridges, analyzing how they were perceived when they first opened to the public and the effects they had on Victorian society. We shall then discuss how these department stores rendered space for social inclusion and exclusion and gender under the spell of the Victorian ethos, national conservatism, and imperialism and how they transformed social, cultural, and power dynamics. Lastly, this chapter provides insight into the social history of the late Victorian period and the early decades of the twentieth century.