Department stores are often seen as transformative of both retail and wider social practices. This article offers a comparative analysis of department stores in early twentieth-century Britain and Japan to assess the extent to which there were universal qualities defining the operation, practices, and experience of department stores and to explore the ways in which they might be seen as transforming retailing in the two countries. Despite similarities in their origin, organization, and service to customers, we highlight the greater diversity of British department stores and their incremental development. Japanese stores were a far more powerful force for change because they formed part of a concerted and conscious program of modernization.

中文翻译：

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全球与本地：零售转型与英国和日本的百货商店，1900-1940

百货公司通常被视为零售和更广泛社会实践的变革。本文对 20 世纪早期英国和日本的百货公司进行了比较分析，以评估定义百货公司运营、实践和体验的普遍品质的程度，并探讨如何将它们视为改变两国的零售业。尽管它们的起源、组织和对客户的服务有相似之处，但我们强调了英国百货公司的更大多样性及其渐进式发展。日本商店是一股更强大的变革力量，因为它们是协调一致的、有意识的现代化计划的一部分。