Spectres of retail history

SHOPS and other retail outlets have seen great changes over the centuries, from the earliest market stalls to modern superstores.

- Stephen Guy

As communities grew from scattered farming settlements, so did the need to trade for goods that could not be produced locally.

Thousands of years ago, markets and fairs enabled the exchange of goods and services. Successful stallholders and other traders built up a regular customer base, as still applies today.

Shops were features of ancient Greece and Rome. Romans went to the forum with its vast expanses of shops, stalls and services possibly the first permanent shopping mall.

Today, we may have a shopping list on our phone, but our forebears could have used a slate. A soldier's shopping list dating from about AD 100 was found near Hadrian's Wall.

Widespread shopping emerged in Britain in late medieval times, when markets and fairs grew in popularity.