Gilded Age Shopping Etiquette

“To attempt to ‘beat down’ the price of an article is rude. In the best conducted stores the price of the goods is ‘fixed,’ and the salesmen are not allowed to change it. If the price does not suit you, you are not obliged to buy, but can go elsewhere.” — Maude C. Cooke, 1896… Above, shopping at the House of Worth in Paris

Etiquette of Shopping

In visiting a store for the purpose of examining the goods or making purchases, conduct yourself with courtesy and amiability.

Speak to the clerks and employés of the store with courtesy and kindness. Do not order them to show you anything. Request them to do so in a polite and ladylike or gentlemanly manner. Give them no more trouble than is necessary, and express your thanks for the attentions they may show you. In leaving their counter, say pleasantly, “Good-morning,” or “Good-day.” By treating the employés of a store with courtesy, you will render your presence there, welcome, and will receive all the attention such conduct merits.-331-

Should you find another person examining a piece of goods, do not take hold of it. Wait until it is laid down, and then make your examination.

To attempt to “beat down” the price of an article is rude. In the best conducted stores the price of the goods is “fixed,” and the salesmen are not allowed to change it. If the price does not suit you, you are not obliged to buy, but can go elsewhere.

Pushing or crowding at a counter, or the indulgence in personal remarks, handling the goods in a careless manner, or so roughly as to injure them, lounging upon the counter, or talking in a loud voice, are marks of bad breeding.

Never express your opinion about an article another is purchasing, unless asked to do so. To say to a customer about to make a purchase that the article can be bought cheaper at another store, is to offer a gratuitous insult to the clerk making the sale.

You should never ask or expect a clerk engaged in waiting upon a customer to leave that person and attend to you. Wait patiently for your turn.

It is rude to make unfavorable comparisons between the goods you are examining and those of another store.

Have your parcels sent, and so avoid the fatigue of carrying them.

It is best to buy for cash. You can always buy cheaper in this way. If you make bills, however, pay them promptly. Make no bill you are not sure of paying at the time promised by you. Avoid debt as the greatest curse of life.– From “Social Life,” by Maude C. Cooke, 1896 

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Gilded Age Etiquette in Shops Abroad

I was somewhat humiliated to be told: “The English ist sehr gut-but ihr Deutsch-ach! Kann ich nicht versteen!” … “The English is very good-but her German-oh! I can't understand!” – Above, image of women buying perfumes in 1905, from Instagram 

The civility of the tradespeople seems to be genuine, and for that reason it comes with refreshing effect after the superficial polish of the Parisian and the brutal etiquette of the Cockney. 

When you enter a German shop you are expected to remove your hat and gloves and greet the shopkeeper politely; you do not replace your hat till you are ready to depart, and then you bid the shopkeeper adieu. These people are awfully in earnest. 

The wit of the Scotchman compared with the wit of the average German is as a cambric needle to a bung. Wishing to get my idea of how I wanted an overcoat made a tailor asked me: “Shall I mage ut like dot goat you haf on?” “Like this one? No, sir!” I cried in horror. “There’s no such thing as fit about this coat - why, it was shot on to me in London.” “Zhot on to you?” exclaimed the tailor in honest amazement. “So-o-o?”

In another shop I was somewhat humiliated to be told: "The English ist sehr gut-but ihr Deutsch-ach! Kann ich nicht verstehen!" -Eugene Field in Chicago News, 1891

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia