Hartwick Professor Publishes Book

On Fall Of The Department Store

ONEONTA – Hartwick College Associate Professor of History Dr. Vicki Howard has published a new book analyzing the history of department stores in the American retail industry.

Titled “From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store,” Howard offers the first national study of the department store industry. The work looks at retailing from a new vantage point, advancing our understanding of the role department stores like Macy’s and Marshall Field’s played in the industry, according to the book’s publisher, the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Howard’s book looks at the history of the locally owned department store and its role in society, and the factors leading to its decline, including shifting demographics and population centers, and the rise of shopping malls and “big-box stores.”

“The rise of strip malls, suburban shopping centers, and Wal-Mart has led to widespread nostalgia for the downtown department store,” said Howard. “My book explores the reasons behind the loss of locally or regionally identified department stores and the rise of standardized chains like Macy’s.”

In describing the premise for Howard’s work, the University of Pennsylvania Press further notes, “The geography of American retail has changed dramatically since the first luxurious department stores sprang up in nineteenth-century cities. Introducing light, color, and music to dry-goods emporia, these ‘palaces of consumption’ transformed mere trade into occasions for pleasure and spectacle.

“Through the early twentieth century, department stores remained centers of social activity in local communities. But after World War II, suburban growth and the ubiquity of automobiles shifted the seat of economic prosperity to malls and shopping centers. The subsequent rise of discount big-box stores and electronic shopping accelerated the pace at which local department stores were shuttered or absorbed by national chains. But as the outpouring of nostalgia for lost downtown stores and historic shopping districts would indicate, these vibrant social institutions were intimately connected to American political, cultural, and economic identities.”

Howard is an editor of the international journal “History of Retailing and Consumption,” published by Routledge. She is the author of multiple journal articles, and previously published the book Brides, Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition,” also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

“From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store” is available at the Hartwick College Bookstore, or through the publisher’s website or Amazon.com.

For more information on the book, contact Howard at 607-431-4392 or howardv@hartwick.edu.