Shopgirls The True Story of Life Behind the Counter

Shopgirls The True Story of Life Behind the Counter Synopsis

From the Victorian age through to the present day, an unsung army of women workers has been at the heart of Britain's retail revolution. For the first time, Shopgirls tells the story of the women who have served behind our counters, playing a vital and often ground-breaking part in our shared social history. We meet Selfridges' 'businesswomen', fighting for their good name, and arsonist suffragette Gladys Evans, jailed for standing up for her beliefs; join Margaret Bondfield as she goes undercover, fiercely championing the rights of early shopgirls; and stand alongside the impoverished interwar chain store assistants who stole stockings to supplement their meagre wages. We encounter young apprentices, the first generation of female graduate trainees and 1940s working mums. We follow Chili Bouchier's journey from the small ladies' department at Harrods to star of the silver screen; uncover the raw courage of John Lewis' Miss Austin during the Blitz in the West End; and celebrate the art school entrepreneurs who kick-started the boutique movement of the swinging '60s. As this lively book reveals, the story of British shopgirls is one woven deep into the fabric of our history and changes the way we understand our society. You will never shop in the same way again.