How did department stores change the idea of shopping?

There two schools of thought on this .

1. Many believe that department store have provided the customer with an improved shopping experience. This is because all the "usual" products required by a customer are under one roof. this has allowed for companies saving on land to build, staffing as many are self serve and therefore operate few advisers or assistant to handle customer queries and because of bulk buying and distribution

2. Others believe that these outlets have taken away personalisation, one to one customer service and the "specialist" from the high street. In a recent project a UK town went back to the high street and opened small specialist shops with "shop keepers" and more one to one service. The response was that customer loved it and have reportedly expressed their love of the older systems in retail.