Retail types

There are three major types of retailing.

The first is the market, a physical location where buyers and sellers converge. Usually this is done on town squares, sidewalks or designated streets and may involve the construction of temporary structures (market stalls).

The second form is shop or store trading. Some shops use counter-service, where goods are out of reach of buyers, and must be obtained from the seller. This type of retail is common for small expensive items (e.g. jewelry) and controlled items like medicine and liquor. Self-service, where goods may be handled and examined prior to purchase, has become more common since the Twentieth Century.

 A third form of retail is virtual retail, where products are ordered via mail, telephone or online without having been examined physically but instead in a catelogue, on television or on a website. Sometimes this kind of retailing replicates existing retail types such as online shops or virtual marketplaces such as E-Bay.

History

Buildings for retail have changed considerably over time. Market halls were constructed in the middle ages, which were essentially just covered marketplaces. The first shops in the modern sense used to deal with just one type of article, and usually adjoined the producer (baker, tailor, cobbler). In the nineteenth century, in France, arcades were invented, which were a street of several different shops, roofed over.

From this there soon developed, still in France, the notion of a large store of one ownership with many counters, each dealing with a different kind of article was invented; it was called a department store. One of the novelties of the department store was the introduction of fixed prices, making haggling unnecessary and browsing more enjoyable. This is commonly considered the birth of consumerism. In cities, these were multi-story buildings which pioneered the escalator.

In the 1920's the first supermarket opened in the United States, heralding in a new era of retail: self-service. Around the same time the first shopping mall was constructed which incorporated elements from both the arcade and the department store. A mall consists of several department stores linked by arcades (many of whose shops are owned by the same firm under different names). The design was perfected by the Austrian architecht Victor Gruen. All the stores rent their space from the mall owner. By mid-century, most of these were being developed as single enclosed, climate-controlled, projects in suburban areas. The mall has had a considerable impact on the retail structure and urban development in the United States.

In addition to the enclosed malls, there are also strip malls which are 'outside' malls (in Britain they are called retail parks. These are often connected to supermarkets or big box stores. Also, in high traffic areas, other businesses may lease space from the supermarket or big box store to sell their goods or services from. A recent development is a very large shop called a superstore. These are sometimes located as stand-alone outlets, but more commonly are part of a strip mall or retail park.

Local shops can be known as brick and mortar stores in the United States.Many shops are part of a chain: a number of similar shops with the same name selling the same products in different locations. The shops may be owned by one company, or there may be a franchising company that has franchising agreements with the shop owners (see also restaurant chain).

Some shops sell second-hand goods. Often the public can also sell goods to such shops, sometimes called 'pawn' shops. In other cases, especially in the case of a nonprofit shop, the public donates goods to the shop to be sold (see also thrift store). In give-away shops goods can be taken for free.

There are also 'consignment' shops, which is where a person can place an item in a store, and if it sells the person gives the shop owner a percentage of the sale price. The advantage of selling an item this way is that the established shop give the item exposure to more potential buyers.

The term retailer is also applied where a service provider services the needs of a large number of individuals, such as with telephone or electric power.

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