During the Romantic period, there was a growth of department stores, including the first recognized department store Harding, Howell, & Co’s which dated from 1796 to 1820. Harding, Howell, and Co’s was considered the predecessor to modern department stores. According to the BBC, “Harding, Howell, and Co was focused on the needs and desires of fashionable women” (Glancey). This store was quite prominent during its time. However, towards the end of the Romantic period, more department stores began to open up. One department store that still exists today is Kendal Milne of Manchester, or currently known as House of Fraser. The department store was founded by John Watts in 1796 located in Manchester, England. According to the store’s archives, as the business began to expand, “By 1821, Watts had appointed a London buyer to purchase all of the latest fashions for the store” (“House of Fraser”). A decade later, Watts would sell his store to three of his employees so he could pursue the wholesale business. After this purchase, the store was renamed Kendall, Milne, and Faulkner after the three employees who bought the store: Thomas Kendal, James Milne, and Adam Faulkner. The three men were highly qualified as the House of Fraser archives explain that “Thomas Milne had trained as a draper in London, and James Milne and Adam Faulkner had both been apprenticed in the textile trade”. Like many department stores during its time, Kendal Milne of Manchester was quite a popular department store and grew to expand and create a second store that can still be visited today. Although during its time Kendal Milne of Manchester was quite popular and the BBC explains that “Many of the early department stores…were founded by drapers, cloth merchants who understood the tastes and buying power of the rising new generation of middle class women” (Glancey). With the Industrial Revolution, department stores began to sell and trade more and more. “The department store itself [was] nurtured and shaped by the Industrial Revolution. This was a transforming life and energetic free trade, fecund invention, steam and sail” (Glancey). Department stores, like Kendal Milne of Manchester, offered cheaper clothing for the middle class and it is all due to the Industrial Revolution. It is fascinating to note this as we see many Romantic poets comment on the Industrial Revolution.  

Sources: 

“House of Fraser.” HOUSE OF FRASER Archive :: Company: Kendal Milne & Co Ltd, www.housefraserarchive.ac.uk/company/?id=c2711#:~:text=Kendal%20milne%20....

Glancey, Jonathan. “A History of the Department Store.” Edited by Christian Blauvelt, BBC News, BBC, 26 Mar. 2015, www.bbc.com/culture/bespoke/story/20150326-a-history-of-the-department-s....