Shops of Britain

First Published in 1998. This is Volume XV of the eighteen in the Sociology of Work and Organization series and this book on The Shops of Britain follows the author's publication on Retail Trade Associations, a new form of monopolist organization in Britain. After the book had been completed, the Report of the Census of Distribution Committee, published in March 1946, urged the necessity of providing more statistical information about the distributive trades. One of the purposes of this book is to display how complex the structure of retailing is and to show that it is dependent on a great variety of economic, social, occupational and sociological factors which cannot be adequately assessed without a comparative analysis of all the various trades concerned with retailing. Part 1 Some Fundamental Aspects; Chapter 1 The Multiplicity of Retail Outlets; Chapter 2 The Rationale of Retail Distribution; Part 2 The Present Structure of Retail Distribution; Chapter 3 A Statistical Approach; Chapter 4 Diversity and Disintegration of Retail Outlets; Part 3 The Competitive Struggle; Chapter 5 Prices and Margins; Chapter 6 Competition and Labour; Chapter 7 Competition and Finance; Part 4 Statistical Analysis; Chapter 8 Some Preliminary Observations; Chapter 9 Transport and Retailers; Chapter 10 The Reduction of Intermediary Costs; Chapter 11 Economies in Retailing Proper; Part 5 Statistical Analysis; Chapter 12 Summary of Present Position; Chapter 13 Trends and Policy;