Retail stores sell goods or products for personal or household utilization. Departmental stores and kiosks fall under the category of retail stores. From a business angle it can be stated that a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers. This process is carried out either directly or through a wholesaler. The customers buys individual items in small quantities from the retail shopkeepers. These retail shops are also known as stores. Retailing is an intrinsic part of the overall distribution strategy. Retail shops are erected on inhabited streets, shopping streets or in a shopping center. In many cases, customers just browse through these retail stores without any actual intention of buying anything. This is known as window-shopping and is more or less, a way of passing the time Nowadays there are three major types of retailing. One you go into the store and pay for your goods over the counter, two is the extensively used self-service and three, which is becoming more popular by the day, online shopping.
Years ago, most shops used to deal with just one type of article eg, bread, fruit, meat, groceries etc. Shopping arcades came into existence for the first time in France in the 19th century. Gradually, larger retail shops came along where several counters were available and each one of them dealt with separate items. These types of retail stores were called departmental stores. The malls, which were characteristically somehow in between shopping arcades and departmental stores were invented in the mid 20th century in the United States. All the retail stores had to pay the mall owner a rental charge. Nowadays, very large retail stores, called superstores have been developed. In the United States, local retail shops are also known as bricks and mortar stores. Many retail shops are just a part of a large retail chain. These shops run under the same name and sell almost the same products from different locations. They are either owned by the same company or are a part of a business franchise.
Second hand goods are available in some retail shops. They also buy seconhand goods from the public. In a non-profit retail shop, the shop sells goods donated by the public for charity and are sometimes known as charity shops. |
