Designed to sell: the evolution of merchandising and display in mid-twentieth-century department stores

Abstract

This work focuses on American department store interior design and display from the 1930s to the 1960s. Following World War II department store executives reconsidered the layout, organization, and styling of retail spaces and pushed for new, “modern” spaces. Rather than hire architects or rely on store managers to oversee interior display, mid-century retail leaders forged a new relationship with a different type of designer: a trained professional inspired by the principles of industrial design. The principles of industrial design advanced the philosophies of retail design in the mid-century, which shifted to embody aesthetics, functionality, and efficiency. The new way of design thinking informed and shaped the development of “visual merchandising,” which redefined the ways in which retailers measured the power of interior display.