Spending spree : the history of American shopping / Cynthia Overbeck Bix.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ka-ching! Ever stop to think how our modern-day shopping culture came to be? In the early 1800s, stores were few and far between in the United States. General stores supplied everything from fabric and flour to handsaws and clocks. As the country grew, mail-order catalogs arrived at homes across the country, Mom and Pop specialty shops sprang up along Main Street, and later, shopping malls and big box megastores thrived in the suburbs. Then online shopping arrived via the Internet and changed the consumer experience yet again!



Buying behaviors also changed over time. For example, did you know you could barter for a pound of sugar at a general store in the early 1800s? Or that department stores in the 1900s added restrooms and ladies lounges to encourage women to shop all day long? Or that online shopping in the twenty-first century is a multibillion-dollar industry? Spending Spree takes readers on an amazing journey from farmlands to cyberspace to learn about the evolution of shopping in the United States.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-9-In this modern world of conspicuous consumption, mega-malls, and shopping apps, it is hard to imagine a time when families traveled for days to purchase sacks of sugar and flour and maybe a few pieces of penny candy from a general store. This title gives historical perspective and background on shopping and explains how it moved from mere necessity to a status-generating social activity. The book is divided into chronological chapters, beginning with the bartering system used by Native Americans and ending with online shopping and trendy pop-up stores. Average-quality vintage photographs and catalog pages are included throughout, along with quotes from literature and famous people, among them, Snooki. The serviceable text is not likely to grab browsers, but for report writers, there are plenty of facts and interesting tidbits.-Heather Acerro, Rochester Public Library, MN (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This informative book surveys the history of retail trade in America from the colonial period through the global e-commerce of the twenty-first century. After describing early America as a largely rural society where most people raised their own food, made their own clothes, and could count their manufactured possessions on the fingers of two hands, Bix profiles the changes brought by rail transportation, manufactured household goods, advertising, mail-order catalogs, department stores, grocery and discount stores, shopping malls, cybershopping, and other retail trends. Sidebars highlight topics such as the origin of credit cards and the rise of infomercials. Tracing the social and economic changes that led the American population from self-sufficiency to recreational shopping, the text is interesting and very readable. The well captioned, black-and-white illustrations are mainly archival photos. Green highlights provide the only color. In this useful, historical presentation, Bix offers a good deal of information in an accessible way.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Bix concisely tracks the evolution of shopping in America from general stores to pop-up shops. Supplemented with sidebars and archival photographs in an accessible design, the somewhat dry text clearly illustrates how we got from the Wild West to the strip mall. The book doesn't address the psychology of shopping or the evolution of advertising, but it contains some interesting facts. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Behind the jaunty cover lies a pedestrian account of shopping in America's past and present. The first of the five chapters looks briefly at Native American and colonial bartering, peddlers and general stores, and the effect of railroads and manufacturing on shopping. The writing presents facts chronologically with only occasional intriguing details, like the fact that Sears sold more than 75,000 mail-order houses between 1908 and 1940. The next chapters examine the rise and fall of department stores; chain stores from five-and-dimes to big-box stores; the evolution of malls; and online shopping. A handful of sidebars highlights topics like charge cards and mall-related slang, while the attractive design incorporates pullout quotes from books, slogans and celebrities. The many black-and-white photographs, many archival, have useful captions, but most are visually dull. The writing is equally lackluster, with one paragraph starting, "One fun retail trend is the store on wheels," and the next paragraph, "Another new trend is the small, individually owned specialty shop." The generally pro-consumerist text touches on credit-card debt and the possible harms of advertising but fails to engage issues like the international labor practices that make goods so cheap or carbon footprints. An important, potentially fascinating, topic that falls flat. (source notes, bibliography, further resources, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.