Mantle with Matching Fur Muff

This mantle, purchase in 1880 from Parisian department store Au Bon Marché, demonstrates the rising popularity of shopping as a cosmopolitan passtime in the 19th century. The broad selections and the services offered by these new magasins or department stores had a great power of attraction for well-to-do customers. Another new phenomenon in these modern enterprises were fixed prices. For centuries, trade had hitherto primarily been decided by bidding, haggling, and auction.