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  • Cornering the Market: Independent Grocers and Innovation in American Small Business

    Cornering the Market by Spellman, Susan V.;

    Independent Grocers and Innovation in American Small Business

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      • Publisher's listprice GBP 26.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        12 894 Ft (12 280 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 10% (cc. 1 289 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 11 605 Ft (11 052 Ft + 5% VAT)

    12 894 Ft

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    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher OUP USA
    • Date of Publication 9 December 2020

    • ISBN 9780197545997
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages242 pages
    • Size 155x231x12 mm
    • Weight 363 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 23 illus.
    • 69

    Categories

    Short description:

    Popular stereotypes of Rockwellian storekeepers have characterized grocery retailers as backward and resistant to modernizing impulses. Cornering the Market challenges these conventions to show that early grocers were important but unsung innovators, revolutionizing business practices from the bottom, and transforming the grocery trade from local enterprises to a nationwide industry.

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    Long description:

    In popular stereotypes, local grocers were avuncular men who spent their days in pickle-barrel conversations and checkers games; they were backward small-town merchants resistant to modernizing impulses. Cornering the Market challenges these conventions to demonstrate that nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century grocers were important but unsung innovators of business models and retail technologies that fostered the rise of contemporary retailing. Small grocery owners revolutionized business practices from the bottom by becoming the first retailers to own and operate cash registers, develop new distribution paths, and engage in transforming the grocery trade from local enterprises to a nationwide industry.

    Drawing on storekeepers' diaries, business ledgers and documents, and the letters of merchants, wholesalers, traveling men, and consumers, Susan V. Spellman details the remarkable achievements of American small businessmen, and their major contributions to the making of "modern" enterprise in the United States. The development of mass production, distribution, and marketing, the growth of regional and national markets, and the introduction of new organizational and business methods fundamentally changed the structures of American capitalism. Within the walls of their stores, proprietors confronted these changes by crafting solutions centered on notions of efficiency, scale, and price control. Without abandoning local ties, they turned social concepts of community into commercial profitability. It was a powerful combination that businesses from chain stores to Walmart continue to exploit today.

    [Spellman] provides readers with a fascinating description of the role of independent grocers in spurring innovation within the retail function in the 19th century...Highly recommended.

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    Table of Contents:

    Introduction: Corner Store Folklore
    1. From Grog Shops to Grocery Stores
    2. The Keys to Modernization
    3. Trust Brokers on the Road
    4. Avoiding the Middleman
    5. Making Small Business Big
    Conclusion: Looking Backward, Moving Forward
    Notes
    Index

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