Buying and selling, she reminds us, are as old as human existence. The earliest farms meant surplus - "extra grain could be traded for a neighbour's goat", says Paquet. From these early exchanges, Paquet moves through market stalls and fairs, a commercial method lasting many centuries. "Shop", she explains, is a term going back to the 13th Century, but "shopping" had to wait until George III's era. "Shopper" took another century to become current. A reluctant shopper herself, Paquet leavens her "social history" with some lively personal experiences. A "Ladies Night In" at Holt-Renfrew in downtown Ottawa proved a breath-taking experience. The promotion line was perfume and sampling excesses drove her outside into the night air. The free martinis might have helped force the exit.
Shopping is a two-sided affair. Paquet cleverly portrays the problems of bringing seller and buyer together for a successful transaction. Small towns had fairs and permanent shops for centuries in the Old World and the New. Buyers rarely had far to go, but selection was limited. Factory-made goods overturned long-established shopping patterns in many ways. The goods were cheaper, meaning more people could buy them. The buyers, earning money in factories, could purchase more than in previous times. The choice of goods increased as competition led to variety. The flood of new products drove the need for larger stores. Complicating the situation was the rise of suburbs, separating buyers and sellers.
Paquet's description of these processes keeps your attention with her light, intimate style. Her social history sense conveys us through the invention of the cash register, the escalator, the use of window displays and arranging products inside the store. Her finest prose is expressed in the most revolutionary aspect of modern shopping. Early department stores maintained extensive staffs for waiting on customers. Clerks behind counters were supported by "cash girls" who took the order and your money, raced to a cashier's cage, often floors away, to record the purchase and obtain change. Racing back to the customer, still idling at the counter, the transaction was finally completed. "I have a sneaking suspicion those girls were really fit!", she proposes. All these fit children, some as young as twelve, were sacked when a new form of store arose - the self serve. "The customer had to do the work!", Paquet exclaims, almost as surprised as the buyers must have been.
There are other forms of shopping than "going to the store". Paquet passes through the itinerant peddlers of the past to follow the Tupperware Parties and Avon Ladies of today. Tupperware festivities occur somewhere on the globe every 2.2 seconds! When the media wrote of "legions" of Avon Ladies, it was likely unaware that there have been 40 million of them since its 1886 founding. Even while in decline in North America, Avon has become established in 137 countries. In Brazil, "there are more Avon sales reps than serving in the country's army and navy combined". This global horde makes one billion transactions per year - one "for every six human beings on the entire planet, including children and men".
We can all agree on the meaning of "splurge", but no dictionary tells us how it originated. So why do we do it? Is our impulse to buy driven by hidden enticements devised by "shopkeepers" and their successors? A quick glance at any modern grocery, she explains, shows how traffic is funneled into predictable paths. Hairspray and other adult "non-perishables" are placed at your eye level. Where do you find candy and the product's touted during Saturday morning's cartoon shows? Have we no control? Paquet's answer is "Yes!". While the lures to shop and overshop are strong, we need not submit to them. The choice remains ours, she declares firmly. While this is not a deep psychological study, there are practical problems that both buyers and sellers have, and continue to, address. She offers many modern issues in a fine summary chapter on "The Politics of Shopping".
Paquet's ten-page Bibliography is valuable support for the book. Will you benefit from this book? Undoubtedly, given the range of topics Paquet covers, there's certainly something in here for everyone. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]