CHANNELINSTITUTIONS:CAPABILITIESANDLIMITATIONS 259
salespeople,suchasanAvontepresentative,bymailorderthrougha companysuchas:"'.L.
Bean,byautomaticvendingmachines,andbyhotelsandmotels.Nevertheless,mostretail
salesarestillmadeinbrick-and-mortarstores.TheStructureofRetailing
Storesvaryinsize,inthekindsofserv:cesthatareprovided,intheassortwentofmer-
chandisetheycarry. andinmanyotherrespects.l'1o~tstoresaresmallandhaveweeJrly
salesofonlya fewhundreddollars.P.fewareextreIT'elylarge,havi:1g~ale~of$500,000
ormoreona singleday.II'fact, onspecialsaledays,somestoreshaveexceeded$imil-
lioninsales.
Department Stores Departmentstoresarecharacterizedbytheirverywide:Jfod-
uctmixes.Thatis,theycarrymanydifferenttypesofmerchandisethatmayincmdehard-
ware,clothing,andappliances.Eachtypeofmerchandiseis typicallydisplayedinadi~ferent
sectionordepartmentwithinthestore.Thedepthoftheproduct'nixdependsonthestore.ChainStores The1920ssawtheevolutionofthechainstoremovemenL.Because
chainsweresolarge,theywereabletobuya widevarietyofmerchandiseinlargequan-
titydiscornts.Thediscountssubstantiallyloweredtheircostcomparedtocostsofsingle-
unitretailers.Asa result, theycouldsetretailprices thatwerelowerthanthoseoftheir
sma!!competitorsandtherebyiflcreasetheirshareofthemarket.Furthermore,chainswere
abletoattractmanycustomersbecauseoftheirconvenientlocations,madepossiblebythe;r
financialresourcesandexpertiseinselectinglocations.
Supermarkets Supermarketsevolvedinthe 1 nosand1930s.Forexample,Piggly
WigglyFoodStores, foundedbyClarenceSaundersaround 1920 , introducedself-service
andcustomercheckoutcounters. Supermarketsarelarge, self-servicestore:.;withcentral
checkoutfacilities,th ey carryanextensivelineoffooditemsandoftennonfoodproducts.
Supermarketswereamongthefirsttoexperimentwithsuchinnovationsasmassmer-
chandisingandlow-costdistribut~onmethods.Theirentireapproachtothedistributionof
foodandhouseholdcleaningand'1laintenanceproductswastomakeavailabletothepub-
liclargeassortmentsofa varietyofsuchgoodsat eachstoreata minimalprice.
DiscountHouses Cut-rateretailershaveexistedfora longtime.However,since
theendofWorldWarII,thegrowthofdiscounthOJse~asa legitimateandextremelycom-
pe titiveretailerhasas suredthistypeofoutleta permanentplaceamongretail i nstitutions.
It essentiallyfoHowedthegrowthofthesuburbs.
Discounthousesarecharacterizedbyanemphasis onpriceastheirmain~alesappeal.
Merchandiseassortmentsaregenerallybroadincludingbothhardandsoftgoods,butassort-
mentsaretypicallylimitedtothemostpopularitems,colors,andsizes.Suchstoresareusu-
allylarge,self-serviceoperationswithlonghours,freeparking,andrelativelysimplefixtures.WarehouseRetailing Warehouseretailingisa relativelynewtypeofretailinsti-
tutionthatexperiencedconsiderablegrowthiT'the1970s.Catalogshowroomsarethelargest
typeofwarehouseretailer,atleastintermsofthenumberofstoresoperated.Retail sales
forcatalogshowroomsgrewfror-11 billiondollarsin 1970 toover 12 billiontoday.'Their
growthratehasslowedrecently,butis stillsubstantial.Franchises Ovettheyears,particularlysincethe1930s,largechainstoreretailers
haveposeda seriouscompetitivethreattosmallstoreowners.Oneoftheresponsestothis