0:00:06 > 0:00:11For the last 60 years, British retailers have led the world
0:00:11 > 0:00:13and changed the way we live.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16From family-run empires...
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Everybody was a bit scared of him from the manager down.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22He didn't suffer fools gladly, that's for sure.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25..to pioneering supermarkets.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26The week after Club Card was launched,
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I knew my life had changed, I knew that the whole industry structure
0:00:30 > 0:00:32would never be the same again.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34From fashion boutiques...
0:00:34 > 0:00:38It was amazing. Outside there were queues and queues and queues.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40We used to have to shut the doors sometimes.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43..to fast fashion moguls.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45She said to me, "Why don't we do some business?"
0:00:45 > 0:00:46I said, "Come and see me."
0:00:46 > 0:00:48It was a good time for us, a good time for her.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50It worked well for both of us.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52And online converts.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54You have to understand what e-commerce means.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56You have to understand what m-commerce means.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58You have to understand what s-commerce means.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01And you put all those things into place, you can make money.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Retail is something we're good at.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09It employs one in nine of us.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12And, among Europe's largest countries,
0:01:12 > 0:01:17we've consistently been the biggest shoppers and consumers.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22We really are a nation of shopkeepers and shoppers.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27This is the story of Britain's love affair with shopping.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31How retailing has changed beyond recognition
0:01:31 > 0:01:35since the Second World War and how it's changed us.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40How retailing helped to make and then break Britain's economy.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42And why retail is now in crisis,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45coming to terms with how little spending money we've got
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and the industry-shaking challenge of the internet.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54We begin with how we fell in love with shopping.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14# Shopping, shopping, shopping
0:02:14 > 0:02:17# When mummy takes me shopping. #
0:02:17 > 0:02:19This is how shopping used to be.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Women - and it was usually a woman's job to shop -
0:02:24 > 0:02:27walked to the local high street and bought what they needed.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Shops in the 1950s,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36you had to go to different stores for different things.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39If you wanted vegetables, you'd go to the greengrocer's.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44One was a newsagent and sweets.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46But also clothes and the cobblers.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50And then next door to that was the bakers'
0:02:50 > 0:02:52with the cream cakes in the window.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54# Shopping, shopping, shopping. #
0:02:59 > 0:03:02In my Dad's shop, customers used to come every day
0:03:02 > 0:03:07because they wanted fresh food, because there was no fridges
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and they knew that it would be fresh in every day.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Two pounds of sugar.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19A pound of margarine.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25And I think I'll take a pound of cooking fat, I'm a bit short.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Mostly when you did your food shopping you went to the same
0:03:28 > 0:03:32store every week, so they got to know you and you got to know them.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34It was very friendly.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Customers were served across a counter,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42with little opportunity to handle the goods before buying.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48On the right hand side, it was usually an elderly gentleman who
0:03:48 > 0:03:52served you with a big apron on,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56and you could buy so many rashers of bacon
0:03:56 > 0:03:58or you could buy butter
0:03:58 > 0:04:00and they used to cut it off like you would cut cheese.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Gradually over a period of time you would develop the ability to
0:04:06 > 0:04:11cut and weigh to the exact sizes and dimensions that people wanted
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and they always used to stand there with their mouth open
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and look at you and say, "How did you manage to do that?"
0:04:18 > 0:04:21And then they would move you round to the dry side
0:04:21 > 0:04:23where the ladies served you.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And they'd got rows of tins behind them,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29various fruits and all that sort of thing.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And then they would add it all up and then you would pay.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37You could be in the shop well over an hour, if not more,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42and when you'd been at work all day it just added to everything.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Most shops were owned by a local shopkeeper.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56The minority were chain stores with more than one branch.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Not that there was much to buy.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05The economy had been reconstructed for the priority of winning the war
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and it would be years before it was remade again
0:05:08 > 0:05:10for the needs of the peace.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15This was a time of caution, of austerity, of rationing.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19It wouldn't be till 1954 that food rationing was abolished.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Shopping was drab.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Things were made even drabber
0:05:25 > 0:05:28by the absence of proper competition on the high street.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Over half of all prices were fixed.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Since the 1890s,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40manufacturers had set the prices at which their goods could be sold.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And price fixing became more pervasive
0:05:43 > 0:05:47with the rise of mass-produced branded goods.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50A lot of the prices were printed on the packaging
0:05:50 > 0:05:53by the manufacturer and therefore it was dictated
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and every shop would sell them at the same price.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01This was called Resale Price Maintenance or RPM,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and it meant that a packet of Bird's Custard or a bar of Cadbury's
0:06:05 > 0:06:08chocolate was the same price wherever you bought it.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Now it was good for the manufacturer and for the retailer because it
0:06:13 > 0:06:17protected them from competition and it helped to guarantee their income.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21But for the shopper it was bad news because it kept prices high.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Resale Price Maintenance put a strangling corset around shops.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32If you've got a product which everybody's got
0:06:32 > 0:06:37and no-one can sell it cheaper, where is the skill of re-selling?
0:06:37 > 0:06:43I was selling a cine-camera from a company, a large importer,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and I thought I would offer a free library of films
0:06:46 > 0:06:49if he buys the camera from Dixons.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53And immediately the supplier cut off my supplies
0:06:53 > 0:06:57because I was discounting indirectly his retail price.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Well, I thought that was absurd.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04But rebellion was in the air.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And it was coming from an unexpected quarter.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- LADY ISOBEL BARNETT:- It's more than just an ordinary success story.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18It's a picture of a very real and great social change.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Because what Marks and Spencer's have done over the years
0:07:22 > 0:07:25is to make it possible for everybody to be really well-dressed.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Marks and Spencer was causing an earthquake on the high street.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Its chairman, Simon Marks, was a retailing genius.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Simon Marks used to boast, "I am the greatest rebel of them all!"
0:07:46 > 0:07:48And he was right.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51He was determined to get round the constraints of RPM so he hired
0:07:51 > 0:07:56his own dedicated manufacturers who made M&S branded goods for him.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In this way he could charge what he liked.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02He was able to offer customers better quality goods
0:08:02 > 0:08:04at keener prices.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08This represented a huge industrial change.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Power was transferred from the makers, the manufacturers,
0:08:12 > 0:08:13to the retailers.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19The introduction of the St Michael brand was, quite simply,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22a retail revolution.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24# It's wool, it's St Michael
0:08:24 > 0:08:25# It's wool, it's St Michael
0:08:25 > 0:08:30# It's wool, it's St Michael, Marks and Spencer. #
0:08:30 > 0:08:34M&S was the first large British retailer to introduce its own brand.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38It was named after Simon's father, Michael,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41who had started the business back in 1884.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Michael Marks was a penniless Jewish pedlar,
0:08:48 > 0:08:50newly-arrived from Russian Poland.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Many of the great retailers of the 20th century
0:08:54 > 0:08:56were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59They came from the same sort of places as my family.
0:08:59 > 0:09:00They were interlopers
0:09:00 > 0:09:04with very little vested interest in the status quo.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07They were hard-working, tenacious, quick-thinking,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11and created extraordinary, dynastic businesses.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Without them,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17British retailing simply wouldn't have been the success it was.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Michael Marks started out with a market stall selling haberdashery,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27buttons, needles, and stockings under the slogan,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30"Don't ask the price. It's a penny."
0:09:32 > 0:09:36He then went into business with a clerk called Tom Spencer.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Spencer provided the capital
0:09:38 > 0:09:41that enabled Marks to open his first shops.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Tom Spencer helped Michael Marks build up the business,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47but he retired after seven years.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49It was really Michael's son, Simon,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53who created the Marks and Spencer we know today.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55He formed an extraordinary partnership
0:09:55 > 0:09:57with his childhood friend, Israel Sieff.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02Together they turned Marks and Spencer into a national institution.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05In the process, they became immensely wealthy.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08They even became peers of the realm.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Arguably, Marks and Spencer should more properly be called
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Marks and Sieff.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22Simon Marks ran M&S for a startling 48 years.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25He was an autocrat who ruled with an iron will.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28'He was a brilliant man.'
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Difficult, tough, demanding,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35a perfectionist.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40And...you could be intimidated by him.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Did you feel scared of him?
0:10:42 > 0:10:46I think everybody was a bit scared of him from the manager down.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48He didn't suffer fools gladly, that's for sure.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49He could give you a hard time
0:10:49 > 0:10:55if you failed to meet the standards that he set.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Simon Marks' portrait hung in every store.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Rules were strict.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11We clocked in. We came down the stairs.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The manageress was at the door,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and she examined every one of us
0:11:17 > 0:11:20before we were allowed to go on the counters.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Your hair had to be tidy.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Your buttons done right up to your neck in your overall,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and everything had to be perfect.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32If you wasn't perfect
0:11:32 > 0:11:37you were sent back to the cloakroom to start again.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Marks had already transformed retail
0:11:44 > 0:11:48with the introduction of the St Michael brand.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52But he was determined to be even more radical,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54with his emphasis on the customer.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Marks coined the phrase,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00"The customer is always and completely right."
0:12:01 > 0:12:04The customer was our priority.
0:12:04 > 0:12:11If something went wrong we would change it immediately. No quibble.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Straightaway we'd change them.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Treating customers with integrity.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Don't cheat on them in any way.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23What we said is if you come in here
0:12:23 > 0:12:27you're going to buy a lovely wool skirt, beautifully made,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30and it's going to cost you half of what it'd cost you anywhere else.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34The clothes were better made.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38If you bought a dress or a skirt, the hemlines were hand-sewn
0:12:38 > 0:12:42so they hung better and they looked better on you.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47I've got clothes going back years which are still good and I still wear
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and people say to me, "That looks good, June", and I say,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54"Well, you won't get it now because I bought it so many years ago!"
0:13:00 > 0:13:04To ensure that M&S clothes were of the highest quality,
0:13:04 > 0:13:09Marks poured big sums of money into research departments.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- Strength, elasticity, colour content,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16washability, amongst other things, are tested.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20In the 1950s, Marks' textile research department
0:13:20 > 0:13:24played a big role in the development of polyester and nylon,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28those easy-to-care-for man-made materials that significantly reduced
0:13:28 > 0:13:31the amount of work a woman had to do when washing and ironing.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37'Stretchability! Stretchability!
0:13:37 > 0:13:40'For Bri Nylon stretch, St Michael from Marks and Spencer.'
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Marks also spent over £500,000 every year
0:13:47 > 0:13:51on a large design department to keep abreast of fashion.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Parisian designers were hired as consultants.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01They were very, very stylish, quite glamorous.
0:14:01 > 0:14:07And we did at one time used to model our dresses.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- The girls who work at Marks and Spencer
0:14:13 > 0:14:16know better than anyone the value of the goods they sell.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Here are eight of them. Do they serve you sometimes?
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Barbara Baker was lifted from the shop floor of M&S in Bromley
0:14:24 > 0:14:26to star in a TV advert.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- Now if you're in the Bromley store tomorrow,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30then maybe you'll see Barbara Baker.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Off duty, here she chooses a slim dress,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35in cotton satin with a rose print.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'We went up to the television company
0:14:38 > 0:14:42'and we modelled all Marks and Spencer's clothes!'
0:14:42 > 0:14:47And they gave us the clothes afterwards, as a treat,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49so that was all very nice.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54We had to have our hair done and our make-up done.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55It was all very exciting.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00M&S had brought something quite close to high fashion
0:15:00 > 0:15:02to the high street.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04More than any other retailer,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Simon Marks had made us fall in love with shopping.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13He seduced us with an addictive cocktail of high quality,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15low prices and customer service.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21By the 1950s, Marks and Spencer was the nation's favourite store.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27When Simon Marks, as Lord Marks, died in 1964, he'd increased sales
0:15:27 > 0:15:33an astonishing 500 times and profits by an amazing 1,000 times!
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Simon Marks had shown the high street how to do it.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The years of post-war austerity
0:15:42 > 0:15:47and rationing were finally coming to an end by the mid-1950s.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53The shops began to fill with goods that had long been unavailable.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57There was full employment and rising wages.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02The average weekly wage doubled between 1950 and 1959.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07This was when we were told we'd never had it so good.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Rising living standards and the increased availability of goods
0:16:15 > 0:16:18led to something of a consumer boom.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22And what did a 1950s housewife want?
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Electric powered, labour-saving devices.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Irons, vacuum cleaners, washing machines.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- And the team of English Electric's demonstrators
0:16:32 > 0:16:35work in dealers' showrooms throughout the country.
0:16:35 > 0:16:41In 1955, only 17.5% of households owned a washing machine.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Three years later, the proportion was almost twice that,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49and by 1966, 60% of households had a washing machine.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Women were buying a new way of life.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Gone was the era when they had to spend a whole day
0:16:59 > 0:17:01doing the family wash.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- Power wringing is effortless.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The rollers are started, stopped or reversed by one simple control.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11'You cannot believe the difference it made.'
0:17:11 > 0:17:14All you had to do with a washing machine was get your clothes out,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19sort them into different colours, put them in, set the time, leave it.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22You could go off and do something else. Absolutely wonderful.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Women had more free time for leisure
0:17:27 > 0:17:31but also to go out and get a job,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35giving them more money to buy things at the shops.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39So retailers looked for new ways
0:17:39 > 0:17:43to encourage shoppers to part with their precious cash.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Hire purchase was actually an old idea.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Known as the never-never, it had been around since Victorian times.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56But it was in the 1950s that this type of credit really took off.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00- Were you thinking of hire purchase or cash?- Hire purchase.- Hire purchase.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Did you have any idea of what deposit you really wanted to put down?
0:18:03 > 0:18:06- Roughly £30.- I see, you've got £30.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11- £30 will be able to give you goods to the value of say £150.- I see.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17The customer paid in instalments and didn't properly own the purchase
0:18:17 > 0:18:20until the full amount had been paid off.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26The instalments will work out at 24 monthly payments of £5 11s 10d.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Interest was charged so, of course, the customer paid considerably more
0:18:29 > 0:18:32than the original price of the goods.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- And so, Mr and Mrs Earnshaw will get £150 worth
0:18:35 > 0:18:37of furniture for their 30.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40For them, hire purchase is a new experience.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Hire purchase made a huge difference to people of my age because you were
0:18:46 > 0:18:50able to go out and buy things you normally wouldn't have been able to.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Before that you had to rely on hand-outs from family or friends.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The British had traditionally frowned upon credit,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03but hire purchase somehow made it acceptable.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09In 1958, the second-ever edition of Which? magazine estimated that
0:19:09 > 0:19:13a typical British family owed around £20 on hire purchase.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16That's £400 in today's money.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20This was the moment, gently at first, when the British began to get
0:19:20 > 0:19:24hooked on credit to living beyond their means.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Over the coming years,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33our reliance on credit to pay for things would grow and grow.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39The expression quickly cropped up of, "Live now, pay later".
0:19:39 > 0:19:44And if you couldn't afford it, don't worry about it, just go and get it.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And nothing had to be paid for until you got what you wanted.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50One could only take the view that it was a bad move.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53I suppose you'll be glad to be shot of HP in 12 months' time?
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Well, not really, we still have the sitting room to furnish
0:19:56 > 0:19:57and then we start HP all over again.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03This spend, spend, spend, this consumerism,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06was spurred by television.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11In 1955, with the arrival of ITV,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14adverts began to be lobbed into British homes.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19# I'm going to clean my home the modern way
0:20:19 > 0:20:22# And the modern way is bright and gay with the modern soap
0:20:22 > 0:20:24# It's Puritan, hooray! #
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Manufacturers' spending on lavish adverts like this soared.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Puritan, the modern home soap.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39# Puritan, puritan, the modern home soap. #
0:20:46 > 0:20:49TV advertising was an American invention.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54Over there the consumer boom had arrived earlier and faster.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59And America was about to export to us the greatest retail innovation
0:20:59 > 0:21:01of the 20th century.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09In 1949, Alan Sainsbury, managing director of the grocery chain,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12went on a research trip to the States.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17He went over to the United States
0:21:17 > 0:21:21to investigate something which hadn't happened in Britain at all,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24which was self-serving stores or supermarkets.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25It didn't take long for him
0:21:25 > 0:21:28to realise what an advantage this would bring.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Brimming with excitement, Alan Sainsbury set about developing
0:21:34 > 0:21:36a British version of the supermarket.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Like Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's had grown from small beginnings
0:21:43 > 0:21:45to become a high street favourite.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50John James Sainsbury had opened his first grocer's shop
0:21:50 > 0:21:52on London's Drury Lane.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01Sainsbury's started life as a corner shop on this spot in 1869.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04It claimed to sell the best butter in the world.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Now, I can't scientifically verify that,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09but, by all accounts, it did sell pretty high quality food
0:22:09 > 0:22:14at low-ish prices in clean, hygienic conditions.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19Like Marks and Spencer, it was a family affair, ruled autocratically.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20And also like M&S,
0:22:20 > 0:22:25it broke free of the fetters of RPM by selling its own brand.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- This is the freshest margarine you can buy.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It's Sainsbury's own JS Margarine, made only for Sainsbury's customers.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39By 1950, Sainsbury's was a popular grocery chain
0:22:39 > 0:22:43with 244 stores across the South and the Midlands.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Ask for JS Margarine next time you're in Sainsbury's.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50You'll like it!
0:22:53 > 0:22:56But it was Alan Sainsbury's enthusiasm for self-service
0:22:56 > 0:22:59that would see the company's fortunes really take off.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04He decided to try a bold experiment.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07He tore out the traditional counters of one of his stores
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and converted it to self-service.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18The self-service store was born in one shop in 1950 in Croydon.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21The address was 911, London Road, Croydon.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24And when I came to this business, all one could hear was people
0:23:24 > 0:23:28talking about 911 because it was a very great success.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- You're given a wire basket as you go in,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33and that's to put the groceries in.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35From then on, the customer's more or less on her own,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37free to choose whatever she wants.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42But not quite everyone liked this new way of shopping.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47I remember a judge's wife in Purley swearing at me and saying,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51I had no right to expect the customer to do the work
0:23:51 > 0:23:55that the assistant had done in the past.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59In another case, a customer threw a wire basket at me
0:23:59 > 0:24:02because she thought it was all wrong.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10However, most shoppers loved the new system.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Self-service was very, very good
0:24:14 > 0:24:16because you didn't have to queue and wait
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and you picked up what you wanted.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21You went round at your own pace.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24And it was so much quicker, it saved you time.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26The only queue you had was at the checkout
0:24:26 > 0:24:27when you went to pay for it.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- Because everything is on show and easy to reach,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35housewives are finding shopping easier, quicker and more convenient.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39It was a revolution.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44It was wonderful to choose what you wanted and buy what you wanted.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49New things. Cheaper price.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Everything about it was wonderful.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Like Marks and Spencer's emphasis on quality and value
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and the introduction of hire purchase,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02self-service encouraged us to spend more.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09There were fears that shoppers liked this new way of shopping too much.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12There was too much choice, too much temptation
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and shoppers were buying far more than they needed.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20One commentator talked about "The tantalising jungle of goods,
0:25:20 > 0:25:25"and the screeching macaw voices calling out the claims
0:25:25 > 0:25:27"of each of the desirable items."
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I remember the first time we went, I said to Dad,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38"Now be careful, you know, we're not spending a lot of money".
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And we just went round, kept putting things in the trolley,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45and then we got the checkout, I just looked at Dad and I looked
0:25:45 > 0:25:49at the trolley and I said, "This is not going to be cheap, you know."
0:25:49 > 0:25:54- I think you spend more than you need.- Yes, I think so too.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57You go to a supermarket, or these help yourself stores,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59you go take your basket round on your arm,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02you pick up this and the other, and by the time you get to pay the bill,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- it's much more than you thought it was.- Yes, a bit of a shock.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Self-service also altered the relationship
0:26:11 > 0:26:14between shopkeeper and shopper.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Gone was the cosy, personal rapport,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19replaced by something a bit more arms-length.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25This had the effect of undermining customer loyalty.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Shoppers no longer felt a compunction
0:26:27 > 0:26:29to stick to a single shop.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34In 1957, a half of shoppers said they stuck to a single grocer.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39That had fallen to a quarter just three years later.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41The big new thing was shopping around.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49Large retailers soon realised the financial benefits of self-service.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53'It led to a greater turnover per square foot.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56'It was possible to do more trade in the same amount of space.'
0:26:56 > 0:26:59All our managers and people who'd been in the business a long time
0:26:59 > 0:27:01thought, "My goodness, things are going to change.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03"We're going to find a new way of doing things."
0:27:03 > 0:27:06- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- More and more shops throughout Britain
0:27:06 > 0:27:09are now planning to open on self-service lines.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13In 1950, there were only ten self-service stores in Britain.
0:27:13 > 0:27:1717 years later, there were 24,000.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- And housewives hope that it will cut out queues.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33But if self-service was an icy blast to tradition,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Resale Price Maintenance was still preserving many of the old ways.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Manufacturers continued to set prices
0:27:41 > 0:27:45at which most goods could be sold,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49although more and more people thought that was unfair.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53# That was the week that was. It's over, let it go. #
0:27:53 > 0:27:59It's a monopolistic and restrictive practice. It hampers efficiency.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01It protects inefficiency
0:28:01 > 0:28:04and it stops innovations in shopkeeping and in shopping.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07It hurts the housewife's pocket, the country's efficiency,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11our economic system's freedom, and everybody's choice.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13And I think it's high time we got rid of it.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18The big chains like Tesco and Sainsbury's
0:28:18 > 0:28:21lobbied for RPM to be scrapped.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Many small shopkeepers were appalled and scared.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Well, I'm thoroughly disgusted with it
0:28:28 > 0:28:31because so many of my goods are price controlled
0:28:31 > 0:28:35and I think in the long run it will kill the small shopkeeper.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Despite fears that it would lose them the votes of small shopkeepers,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44Ted Heath led a Tory push to abolish RPM.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51It was finally passed by one vote in 1964.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56The abolition of RPM would have a transforming effect.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Small, independent chains and manufacturers
0:28:58 > 0:29:01were no longer protected from competition.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04They would be squeezed. Many would go out of business.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09But for the big chains, able to buy in bulk and offer huge discounts,
0:29:09 > 0:29:14this was the moment when they would really start to prosper.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26In 1966, Asda became one of the first retailers
0:29:26 > 0:29:29to take full advantage of the abolition of RPM.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35It would cut prices on an unprecedented scale.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And it did so by introducing another new concept to Britain -
0:29:38 > 0:29:40the superstore.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Asda was the brainchild of Peter Asquith,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47a butcher from Pontefract who, with his brother Fred,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50had opened a small supermarket in the late '50s.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56It was there that the Asquith brothers had first caught
0:29:56 > 0:29:58the discounting bug.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Crosse and Blackwell were running a promotion,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05offering sixpence in exchange for a coupon cut from their cans.
0:30:05 > 0:30:11The enterprising Asquiths ordered 24,000 cans, and painstakingly
0:30:11 > 0:30:16cut out the coupons, sent them off and got £600 in return.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19They then passed the refund on to their customers,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23selling the cans for sixpence less than the marked up price.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27"We never looked back from that moment on", the Asquiths said.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34They wanted to create a large, aggressive, cut-price supermarket,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38and they approached Noel Stockdale, Vice-Chairman of Associated Dairies.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Peter and father hit it off from day one,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45and really that's how the business started.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52Asda actually stands for the AS of Asquith and the DA of Dairies.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58The Asquiths and Noel Stockdale went on the hunt for big premises
0:30:58 > 0:31:00to house their new chain.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06They found what they were looking for in Nottingham.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08A vast, edge-of-town warehouse,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12which had been opened in 1964 by an American company called Gem.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18The Gem store was filled with a variety of concessions.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22It was a collection of individual shops
0:31:22 > 0:31:24rather than a modern supermarket.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27And it had failed to take off.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32When Noel Stockdale and Peter Asquith first came here
0:31:32 > 0:31:36to the Gem store, there were more staff than customers.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Sales were a measly £6,000 a week.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42"Do you think we can make a go of this?" Stockdale asked Asquith.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44He said that he thought they could.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46So Stockdale asked him,
0:31:46 > 0:31:48"Well, how much do you think we can make in a week?"
0:31:48 > 0:31:51Asquith replied, "Around £25,000."
0:31:51 > 0:31:53Now he was almost right.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58In its first week as Asda they were making £30,000.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01And, within six months, sales had doubled.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Out went the concessions, in came a supermarket,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12but on a scale never before seen in Britain.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18I can remember Dad standing, looking,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21his face absolutely amazed.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25And he said, "I think we'll have a good time here, girl, you know."
0:32:26 > 0:32:30It was amazing. We'd never seen anything like it.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Asda's greatest innovation was its cheap prices.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40'The bigger the store, the bigger the volumes.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43'The bigger the volumes, the cheaper the prices.'
0:32:43 > 0:32:47We were up to 17% cheaper on food lines in the very early days.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51We couldn't help but notice how different the prices were.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Things were so much cheaper.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57And, unlike other stores of the time,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00everything was available under one roof.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07What Asda really did was progress the one-stop shopping concept
0:33:07 > 0:33:10and it provided our customers with the opportunity
0:33:10 > 0:33:14to buy most of their household needs at very competitive prices.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17It really was part of a shopping revolution.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26This concept of a one-stop shop appealed to women
0:33:26 > 0:33:29who were going out to work in ever-larger numbers.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'It was very convenient to be able to buy everything in one place'
0:33:36 > 0:33:40because it meant you could do your whole week, fortnight,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42monthly shopping all in one go.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Obviously you needed your fridges and everything at home,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49but gradually they were becoming more available,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52and so you could buy anything and store it.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58The daily shop was being replaced by the weekly shop.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Asda encouraged this with a 1,000-space car park
0:34:02 > 0:34:06and a petrol station, catering for the rising numbers of car owners.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Asda had set the big future trend.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Supermarkets on the edge of town with plenty of parking,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18offering all manner of goods at cheap prices.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21The modern superstore had been born.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28Not that everybody in Nottingham was happy about it.
0:34:30 > 0:34:31When the Asda opened,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36something like at least half a dozen shops in the vicinity closed down.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40But it wasn't just in the vicinity,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42because, with it having a large car park,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46it had a far-reaching effect on the suburbs all the way around the city.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Despite fears for the traditional high street, more and more
0:34:53 > 0:34:57edge-of-town supermarkets were opening and offering low prices.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01They weren't the only shops keen to discount.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07# Crash bang wallop, what a picture,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09# What a picture, what a photograph... #
0:35:09 > 0:35:13In the 1960s, the camera and electronics chain Dixons
0:35:13 > 0:35:16found a new way to cut prices.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18# What a picture, what a picture
0:35:18 > 0:35:20# Rum-tiddly-um-pum, pum-pum-pum
0:35:20 > 0:35:22# See it in your family album. #
0:35:22 > 0:35:24It would help to set a trend
0:35:24 > 0:35:28which would have a profound effect on British retail
0:35:28 > 0:35:30and would contribute to one of the greatest changes
0:35:30 > 0:35:34in the post-war British economy.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36The decline of manufacturing.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44Dixons started life in 1937 as a photographic studio.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48It was founded by Charles Kalms,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52another descendent of Jewish emigres from Eastern Europe.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54'My Dad bought this small shop in Southend.'
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Dixons, 32A High Street, Southend.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02500 square feet, selling six postcards for nine pence
0:36:02 > 0:36:07to day-trippers who came down for the day from Fenchurch Street.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16Dixons didn't really take off until 1948, when Kalms's son,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18Stanley, joined the business.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27In his heyday, Stanley Kalms was one of retail's great innovators.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32In the 1950s, just as photography was becoming an affordable,
0:36:32 > 0:36:36popular hobby, he remade Dixons from a photographic studio
0:36:36 > 0:36:38into a chain of camera shops.
0:36:40 > 0:36:46In the 1970s, when colour TV, hi-fis and video recorders became the rage,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Dixons became all about them.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51And in the 1980s,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55Dixons became pioneers of what were then called home computers.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02One of Stanley Kalms' greatest breakthroughs
0:37:02 > 0:37:05was inspired by the strictures of RPM.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Frustrated by British manufacturers' enforcement of fixed prices,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14he began to find his merchandise abroad.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19'I was advised that the Far East was an El Dorado.'
0:37:19 > 0:37:25I shipped myself out to Hong Kong, Japan, and made fantastic contacts.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34I discovered something which was unbelievable.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39I could buy direct from these countries at prices
0:37:39 > 0:37:42which were a quarter or a third than I was paying in the UK.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49So immediately I started to import low-cost products
0:37:49 > 0:37:53and, all of a sudden, I was making margins which was astronomical
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and still undercutting the market.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Kalms sold them under the German-sounding brand name Prinz.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Well, in those days, to be honest,
0:38:08 > 0:38:12German-sounding products were fashionable, whereas Japanese
0:38:12 > 0:38:15were still suffering from the idea that they copied.
0:38:16 > 0:38:22By 1963, 60% of all Dixons' sales were own-label products.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28The company's profits rocketed from nearly £7,000 in 1958
0:38:28 > 0:38:32to £160,000 just four years later.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Stanley Kalms demonstrated that big profits could be made
0:38:40 > 0:38:42by buying from abroad.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44In subsequent years,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48other retailers followed his example of buying cheaply overseas.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52The result - British manufacturers were decimated.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00- ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:- Today there are more than one and a half million
0:39:00 > 0:39:02square feet of empty factory space.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08In the eight years from 1961 to 1968, the number of people working
0:39:08 > 0:39:12in manufacturing industry dropped by 75%.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Socially, I thought it was terribly distressing.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20The fact was that British manufacturers had no right to
0:39:20 > 0:39:23be competing in an industry where they had no skills,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25and couldn't compete on price.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Was there anything, looking back on it,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30that our manufacturers could have done to save themselves?
0:39:30 > 0:39:31No, I don't think so.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34They moved into the industry post the war
0:39:34 > 0:39:37because German goods were banned.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Imports from Germany were prohibited
0:39:39 > 0:39:42so they started to copy and rip off German products.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45For instance, the Rollefleix, which was a great German brand,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48was copied by a company called the Microflex. Lovely camera.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50But the moment imports were allowed from Germany,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53it went bust the following day.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55The fact was that you couldn't compete and a country should
0:39:55 > 0:39:58only go into markets where it has a competitive edge.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05In Germany, after the devastation of the Second World War, there was
0:40:05 > 0:40:09a concerted and successful effort to develop manufacturing industry.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15But in Britain, manufacturing was in slow, painful
0:40:15 > 0:40:17and inexorable decline.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26While retail was on the rise.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Retailers were transforming the experience of shopping.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35There was more choice, more competition, more comfort
0:40:35 > 0:40:38and the retailers were becoming more sophisticated,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42identifying consumers' needs and taking steps to meet them.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44In the 1960s and 1970s,
0:40:44 > 0:40:49two new categories of consumer were apparently born, and our shops
0:40:49 > 0:40:53changed in a fundamental way to take money off them.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Here's what you had in mind, sir, isn't it? 84 shillings.
0:41:00 > 0:41:01But that's an awful price.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Let me show you some flannel and Worcester then, madam.
0:41:04 > 0:41:05But I don't want flannel.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Traditionally, young people had dressed much like their parents
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and had limited spending power.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15I suppose you want something different from the school grey, sir?
0:41:15 > 0:41:17You sound as if you're on his side.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20His father hates these drainpipe trousers.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28But in the late '50s, full employment and rising wages
0:41:28 > 0:41:32had transformed young people into teenagers.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37A distinct social group with the ready cash to assert their identity
0:41:37 > 0:41:39through shopping!
0:41:40 > 0:41:42By the '60s,
0:41:42 > 0:41:46the average teenager was earning the equivalent of £150 a week.
0:41:46 > 0:41:4970% of which was available to spend.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58In 1960, the now defunct Sunday Graphic newspaper reported
0:41:58 > 0:42:03with horror that a typical teenage lad, who earned £5 a week,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06owned 25 ties, eight shirts,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08five suits, five pairs of shoes,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11two pairs of slacks, a jacket,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14an overcoat and a pair of jeans.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17This was conspicuous consumption of a sort that
0:42:17 > 0:42:20horrified his parents' generation.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28These new teenagers were perhaps the first proper consumers.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32The first generation to define themselves by what they bought.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38Coffee bars and record shops sprang up to cater for them.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41Clothes shops weren't keeping up.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45In Oxford Street, there were some, what I call Madame shops,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47where you walked into the door
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and there was a woman waiting to pounce on you.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53'Will you show this lady some cardigans, please?
0:42:53 > 0:42:56'Certainly. What colour would you like?
0:42:56 > 0:42:57'Have you anything in powder blue?'
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Down one side of the shop there were glass counters.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02The assistants stood behind them.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06The merchandise was in drawers behind them.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08'No, I don't like any of those.'
0:43:12 > 0:43:15But the '60s were beginning to swing
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and London was becoming the world leader in young fashion.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Boutiques were opened, but they tended to be in the capital
0:43:24 > 0:43:26and were pricey.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29What was needed was a high street youth chain
0:43:29 > 0:43:32and one finally arrived in 1965.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34It was created by Bernard Lewis,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38who came from another one of those Jewish immigrant families.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44In the mid-60s, Bernard Lewis ran a traditional women's fashion chain
0:43:44 > 0:43:47called Lewis Separates.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49There was a different mood in the air
0:43:49 > 0:43:52and it was time to innovate and do something different.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58So we converted a shop to a Chelsea Girl.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01London was the centre of the universe
0:44:01 > 0:44:06and Chelsea was the centre of London and that's where it came from.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Chelsea Girl would transform the way fashion retailing was done.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15It was a very exciting concept.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19There was no other store like it or boutique like it.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24It was a dark environment when you walked in.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27All the walls were painted navy blue.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29There was a funny felt carpet which I remember,
0:44:29 > 0:44:35and then there was tubing, industrial tubing which they sprayed red,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37and it was all kind of whirling around the shop
0:44:37 > 0:44:41all up high in the ceiling and the clothes were hung on the tubing.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46The clothes were displayed in a very accessible fashion.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49They were all there for everybody to touch and feel
0:44:49 > 0:44:53and look at and hold up against themselves and try on.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57It was amazing, and very loud music.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Outside there were queues and queues and queues.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Which you just don't see now.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06We used to have to shut the doors sometimes.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Anybody who was anybody, really,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11came to see what was going on this shop.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15It was almost a frenzy, because it was so accessible,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18it was so affordable, and they so wanted it all the time.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21MUSIC: "Children Of The Revolution" by T-Rex
0:45:21 > 0:45:23For the first time,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26teenage girls had a shop that was specifically for them.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31It was completely different
0:45:31 > 0:45:34from the shopping I had known with my mother,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37because it was very sensual
0:45:37 > 0:45:40and very kind of sexually charged.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43It was really an awakening.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Shopping as a kind of leisure space,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54you know, shopping as a membership,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57shopping as a sense of community, a sense of belonging.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Retailers like Chelsea Girl hooked a generation on shopping.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09And they'd grow up to become the career women of the '70s and '80s.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15MUSIC: "She Works Hard For The Money" by Donna Summer
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Women were, for the first time in their family history,
0:46:22 > 0:46:24coming out with a university degree,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28looking to enter into the marketplace, and wanted a uniform,
0:46:28 > 0:46:32wanted a kind of corporate look, you know, warrior battle dress.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Retailer and fashion buyer George Davies
0:46:36 > 0:46:40was the first to notice a big gap in the market.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42'In those days...'
0:46:42 > 0:46:47everybody crammed stores full of merchandise for youngsters,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50you know, from 18 to 25, 26.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53There was then the great Marks & Spencer,
0:46:53 > 0:46:58who were very stable, middle-of-the-road, fine.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03And then, if you wanted to get anything better or different,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06as a 25, 30-year-old and above,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10you had to go to Jaeger or Country Casuals
0:47:10 > 0:47:12and they were really expensive.
0:47:13 > 0:47:19In 1981, George Davies was employed by the menswear chain Hepworth
0:47:19 > 0:47:21to create a new women's fashion chain.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24He was given just six weeks to come up with a concept,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26and he created Next.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32I got a call one day from John Stevenson.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34He said, "I've got the name."
0:47:34 > 0:47:37"N-E-X-T".
0:47:37 > 0:47:39I said, "Go on." He said, "That's it".
0:47:39 > 0:47:43I said, "That's it?"
0:47:43 > 0:47:45And then I said, "That's brilliant."
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Because obviously it's immediate, it's future -
0:47:48 > 0:47:50which is what fashion is.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56When Next launched, it was incredibly exciting,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59because it really felt like
0:47:59 > 0:48:02here was a place where you're going to get all your needs met.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05And here was a store that knew exactly what you wanted
0:48:05 > 0:48:07before you knew it yourself.
0:48:11 > 0:48:12Next's great innovation
0:48:12 > 0:48:15was what George Davies called "the total look".
0:48:17 > 0:48:21I divided the shop into four different colour palettes.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25It gave the woman going in the choice
0:48:25 > 0:48:28of knitwear, shirts, in different colours,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31and so the woman felt she was making the choice,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33rather than the days of M&S
0:48:33 > 0:48:37it would have been, you know, white with black. I didn't do that.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40So you picked out the suit,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42then there the huge ear chandeliers to go with it
0:48:42 > 0:48:46because jewellery was maximalist in those days.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49You picked out the matching bag. There were the shoes.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52It had all been thought out
0:48:52 > 0:48:56in a way that that made shopping very efficient.
0:48:56 > 0:49:02Also very easy to spend more money than you perhaps first intended.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06It's something, you know, completely different.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08The clothes are "with it",
0:49:08 > 0:49:11and, really, the quality's good, but the prices are low
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and that's, really, I think why it'll be a success.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17# Cos we are living in a material world
0:49:17 > 0:49:19# And I am a material girl... #
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Next captured the mood of the times.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27In Margaret Thatcher's Britain of the 1980s,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31millions wanted to look successful, powerful, rich.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37We had the idea that women were going to go all the way to the top.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39We had a female prime minister.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44And I think that Next kind of just got it right.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50Next was for women managers and anyone who aspired to be a manager.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54When George Davies was asked where should the company open new shops,
0:49:54 > 0:49:58he said, "Anywhere there are Tory voters."
0:49:58 > 0:50:00# Got brass
0:50:00 > 0:50:03# In pocket... #
0:50:05 > 0:50:07If Next solved the problem of what career women should wear,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12Marks & Spencer answered the question of what they should eat.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15With little free time to cook,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19women wanted a quick, easy meal solution.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Just as the washing machine had freed women to go to work,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25the ready meal would help them climb the career ladder.
0:50:27 > 0:50:32But convenience food was in its infancy and far from appetising.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35The most famous and probably the most ghastly
0:50:35 > 0:50:37were boil-in-the-bag fish
0:50:37 > 0:50:41and this would be a little portion, a little kind of saw-cut square
0:50:41 > 0:50:44of white, greyish-white fish.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46And once that had cooked and you opened the bag,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49there would be a horrible little emission of steam
0:50:49 > 0:50:51and the worst kind of school-food smell
0:50:51 > 0:50:53would come out of the top of this
0:50:53 > 0:50:55and it would sort of slip onto the plate.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Mmm. My compliments to the chef!
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Marks & Spencer decided it was time to do something about it.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11Marks & Spencer had been selling food since the 1930s,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13but it was in the 1970s and 1980s
0:51:13 > 0:51:15that it really changed our eating habits
0:51:15 > 0:51:18with the invention of the modern ready meal.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20It used fresh ingredients, chilled them,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22and sold the dishes while still fresh.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26Believe it or not, this represented something of a revolution.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32MUSIC: "Chanson D'Amour" by The Manhattan Transfer
0:51:34 > 0:51:38The dish that changed everything was chicken Kiev.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44It arrived in 1979, when anxious M&S bosses
0:51:44 > 0:51:47were reassured that the British public could cope with garlic.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53They needn't have worried. The first weekend it went on sale,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57£10,000 worth of chicken Kiev was sold.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59All the stock ran out,
0:51:59 > 0:52:04in spite of its premium price of £1.99, or £8 in today's money.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12The chicken Kiev. We thought this was very sophisticated.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15It was something that you might have seen in a bistro,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18if you'd been to one of those places with a rose bottle on the table
0:52:18 > 0:52:19with a candle in it.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22It's mysterious, it's very exciting.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Italian, Chinese, and Indian dishes followed,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32along with pre-washed and prepared vegetables, cut into batons.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Resistance was futile.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39We became increasingly addicted
0:52:39 > 0:52:42to the convenience, and even glamour, of the ready meal.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47I think the ready meals say an awful lot about us.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50I mean, they say a lot about our aspirations,
0:52:50 > 0:52:51what we're interested in,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54perhaps where we've been, even, you know,
0:52:54 > 0:52:56what we're watching on TV.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00They are a reflection, very much, of how we change,
0:53:00 > 0:53:02you know, in society.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10And in the mid-'80s, society was changing fast.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Under Margaret Thatcher, the banking and service industries,
0:53:17 > 0:53:19including retail, roared ahead.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29It was powered by loosening the shackles on the City of London.
0:53:29 > 0:53:30Banks and building societies
0:53:30 > 0:53:33were suddenly able to lend more or less as much as they liked -
0:53:33 > 0:53:37credit rationing was over some 30 years
0:53:37 > 0:53:41after the abolition of food and clothing rationing.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45Credit cards - which hadn't existed before the early 1960s -
0:53:45 > 0:53:49were chucked at a debt-thirsty nation.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52In 1974, there were 6 million credit cards in issue.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57Within 12 years that number had more or less quadrupled.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02And all that plastic spurred a shopping binge.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05MUSIC: "Temptation" by Heaven 17
0:54:18 > 0:54:23Retail was such a success story that Thatcher, a grocer's daughter,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27employed Marks & Spencer boss Derek Rayner to chair a think-tank
0:54:27 > 0:54:32to improve efficiency and eliminate waste in government.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36I'm an enormous fan of Marks & Spencer's.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39This is a Marks & Spencer's coat and it's superb.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43It was clear what Thatcher thought -
0:54:43 > 0:54:46if you could run a shop, you could run a country.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55At the same time, more and more British manufacturers
0:54:55 > 0:54:59were shrinking, moving jobs overseas, or closing altogether.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Mrs Thatcher's government,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09keen to regenerate Britain's dying industrial areas,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12launched enterprise zones -
0:55:12 > 0:55:15brownfield sites where generous tax breaks
0:55:15 > 0:55:18were given to companies that were supposed to create new jobs.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24It was hoped that light industry would move in.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27But it didn't work out quite like that.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31In 1986, on a coal-ash dump of a disused power station
0:55:31 > 0:55:33just outside Gateshead,
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Europe's biggest shopping centre was opened.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51The Metrocentre was the brainchild of property developer Sir John Hall.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57It's an American idea, American malls.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59I travelled to the States a lot
0:55:59 > 0:56:02when I was a younger property developer, looking for ideas,
0:56:02 > 0:56:06and I saw the American malls and thought they would be great idea
0:56:06 > 0:56:08for the inclement weather we had in the UK,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10especially in the North East,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12so I brought the idea back to England.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18The Metrocentre was like nothing ever seen before in Britain -
0:56:18 > 0:56:23a gleaming temple of shopping with three miles of shops...
0:56:24 > 0:56:28..including Marks & Spencer's first-ever out-of-town store.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34But the Metrocentre was about more than just conventional shopping.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39There were restaurants...
0:56:39 > 0:56:40a cinema...
0:56:41 > 0:56:45a funfair...
0:56:45 > 0:56:47even a re-creation of a '50s high street
0:56:47 > 0:56:50for those who hankered after "the good old days".
0:56:53 > 0:56:55This was shopping as lifestyle,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58shopping as leisure for the whole family.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01It was a retail revolution.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03The North East was at the forefront of the industrial revolution
0:57:03 > 0:57:04and I like to think that
0:57:04 > 0:57:07we were at the forefront of the retail revolution.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11We've got this. Magnificent.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15Beautiful. It's really lovely, yes, I'm really impressed.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17There's plenty of good shops about.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Just need plenty of money to spend now in them.
0:57:23 > 0:57:29Even the Prime Minister came to worship in the temple.
0:57:29 > 0:57:30Oh, I think it's lovely.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34We've read about it, we've heard about it, we've seen the pictures,
0:57:34 > 0:57:36but it exceeds everything one ever believed.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Under Mrs Thatcher, retail would grow, year after year,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45as a proportion of the British economy.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Shopping was king.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Long gone were the days when shopping was drab and dreary.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56By the late 1980s, shopping was a fun day out,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00of aspiration, even glamour.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03Over the course of 30 years, we'd been transformed
0:58:03 > 0:58:06from a people who bought only the things we needed
0:58:06 > 0:58:08to people who shopped for the sheer pleasure
0:58:08 > 0:58:11of buying the things we don't need.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14But shopping was to become a national addiction
0:58:14 > 0:58:17and we were about to embark on the mother of all shopping sprees
0:58:17 > 0:58:20that would leave us with one hell of a hangover
0:58:20 > 0:58:23MUSIC: "Wannabe" by Spice Girls
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Next time Britain goes shopping-bonkers:
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Fuelled by easy credit, we binge on cheap goods,
0:58:31 > 0:58:33most of them made abroad.
0:58:33 > 0:58:38The result - huge debt and a broken economy.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd