The department store is one of the cleverest inventions of the industrial revolution. Not only does it literally invent the concept of shopping, but it also creates consumer culture and sows the seeds to female emancipation.
In 1852, a French entrepreneur, Aristide Boucicaut creates the world’s first department store, Le Bon Marché. His genius idea. Target the new middle class women and attract them in a fantasy land where all types of goods are available and where they can go un-chaperoned. The concept is so successful that it is very quickly copied all over the world. Stores like Selfridges in London, Myers in Melbourne, Macy’s in New York invent ever more enticing ideas to attract customers and sell industrial goods in huge numbers: price tags, discounts, public toilets, easy credit and return policies. The department store sells more than just bargains – it sells a new life.
Through expert interviews, beautiful photography and extraordinary diary excerpts, “Seduction in the City” tells the untold social history of the phenomenon of shopping that takes hold of the world and transforms the lives of women, national economies and societies forever.
Episode 1: A GENIUS IDEA
The first episode of “Seduction in the City” introduces viewers to the
world’s first department store – created by the cunning and visionary 19th
century French entrepreneur, Aristide Boucicaut. His new kind of enterprise
changed not only his fortunes, but also the lives of women and modern society
forever.
Boucicaut’s store, Le Bon Marché, situated on the left bank of Paris and engineered by the famous Gustave Eiffel, brought together a heady concoction of soaring space, iron balconies, stained glass windows, and luxurious merchandise, together with new ideas in retailing such as elegant displays, free entry and even, price tags. It was a huge success and Boucicaut’s magnificent “cathedral of commerce” was very quickly copied all over the world. Stores like Selfridges in London, Myers in Melbourne and Macy’s in New York developed the ideas further, craftily inventing ever more enticing ideas to lure in customers. Consumer culture is born.
Episode 2: A MODERN GAME
The second episode of “Seduction in the City” reveals the canny secrets of
the retail game in the early part of the 20th century. Hopping from department
stores in America to England to Australia, the program examines the wily tactics
of the world’s greatest retailers.
Philadelphia merchant, John Wanamaker, exploited his religion by being the first vendor to create sales events out of Christian festivals- Christmas and Easter, and even inventing Mother’s Day to keep us spending between the shopping doldrums of Easter and summer! Meanwhile, penniless Russian immigrant to Australia, Sidney Myer, suppressed his Jewish faith by trading on the Sabbath to fit in with the Anglo majority. And it worked. His business grew from pushcart to major city institution in less than a decade. Myer also helped shatter class barriers through the introduction of a department store staple – the bargain basement. Over in England, the showman, Harry Gordon Selfridge dazzled his store ‘guests’ in London with swanky new inventions – escalators, electric windows and telephones
The story of the department store is more dramatic than you first expect and in a playful take on history, the series uses dramatic re-enactments with four sassy, female archetypes – Mrs Debt, Mrs Homemaker, Lady Kleptomania and Miss Assist