"A Large and General Assortment": Fancy Goods Stores and the Retailer-Consumer Relationship in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“And in his needy shop a tortoise hung”: Construction Of Retail Environments And The Agency Of Retailers In Historical Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The opportunity to investigate the material culture of a place from behind the commercial veil is rare. Processes of distribution and retail are often under-represented in the archaeological record and overshadowed by the refuse of domestic consumption. However, post-earthquake archaeology in Christchurch, New Zealand, has uncovered several sites associated with the importation and retail of nineteenth century goods, from fancy goods stores to bonded warehouses. These sites, particularly that of London and Paris House, an 1860s-1870s fancy goods store with aspirations of grandeur, draw back the curtain on hidden retail practices, while retailer branded ceramics found on different sites throughout the city highlight the role of the shopkeeper in the selection of goods for purchase. Together with the broader archaeological context of Christchurch, these sites and assemblages raise questions about the relative power and agency of the retailer, merchant and consumer in a young colonial settlement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• “And in his needy shop a tortoise hung”: Construction Of Retail Environments And The Agency Of Retailers In Historical Archaeology

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 219