Window Mile

In London last week, H. Gordon Self ridge, Anglicized-American whose daughters have married Frenchmen, owner of the great British department stores (Selfridge & Co., Ltd. and its branches in the provinces) was busily negotiating for control of a rival department store—Whiteley's.

William Whiteley, son of a country grain dealer, came to London and opened a draper's shop while the U.S. Civil War raged. He put his trust in window displays, at a time when storekeepers had to decoy customers into their murky shops. Victorians were dazzled, and he became...

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