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A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of durable goods and products to the consumer's personal and residential needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories.^{[citation needed]} Department stores usually sell products including clothing, furniture, home appliances, toys, cosmetics, gardening, toiletries, sporting goods, do it yourself, paint and hardware and additionally select other lines of products such as food, books, jewelry, electronics, stationery, photographic equipment and baby and pet needs. Certain department stores are further classified as discount stores. Discount department stores commonly have central customer checkout areas, generally in the front area of the store. Department stores are usually part of a retail chain of many stores situated around a country or several countries.

History[link]

United Kingdom[link]

Bennett's of Irongate in Derby is the oldest department store recorded in the UK, and possibly the world, founded in 1734.^[1] It still stands to this day, trading in the same building.

Kendals (formerly Kendal Milne & Faulker) in Manchester also lays claim to being the first department stores founded in the UK and is still known to many of its customers as Kendal's, despite its 2005 name change to House of Fraser. The Manchester institution dates back to 1836 but had been trading as Watts Bazaar since 1796.^[2] At its zenith the store had buildings on both sides of Deansgate linked by a subterranean passage "Kendals Arcade" and an art nouveau tiled food hall. The store was especially known for its emphasis on quality and style over low prices giving it the nickname "the Harrods of the North", although this was due in part to Harrods acquiring the store in 1919. Other large Manchester stores included Paulden's (currently Debenhams) and Lewis's (now a Primark). The Harrods business in London can be traced back to 1834, while the current store on Brompton Road on a site they acquired in 1849, was constructed between 1894 and 1905.

Liverpool, by 1900, was the third greatest shopping centre in Britain, after London and Glasgow.^[3] The city was host to numerous department stores, including: Lewis's, Owen Owen, Blacklers, Bunney's, George Henry Lee, Hendersons, John Lewis and TJ Hughes. Liverpool was also the site of the first Woolworth store in Europe.

By 1956, Lewis's had the largest stores in the provinces of the UK. It had started in Liverpool in 1856. Lewis's experimented in new ways of advertising (such as flooding the basement of the Manchester store to create a mini Venice.) Lewis's built stores in Manchester (1877), Liverpool (1856), Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool (The Bon Marche), Leeds, Hanley, London (Selfridges), Bristol and Leicester . The group's first and final store, in Liverpool, went into administration in 2007 and was purchased as a going concern by Vergo Retail Limited, enabling the store to continue trading under the Lewis's brand.^[4] In February 2010, Vergo Retail announced that this store would close by June^[5] but, after Vergo went into administration, the date of closure was delayed until 29 May.^[6]

France[link]

Le Bon Marché department store in Paris, 1867

Aristide Boucicaut founded Le Bon Marché in Paris in 1838, and by 1852 it offered a wide variety of goods in "departments" inside one building.".^[7] Goods were sold at fixed prices, with guarantees that allowed exchanges and refunds. By the end of the 19th century, Georges Dufayel, a French credit merchant, had served up to three million customers and was affiliated with La Samaritaine, a large French department store established in 1870 by a former Bon Marché executive.

Ireland[link]

As Le Bon Marché evolved into a department store in the early 1850s, Delany's New Mart opened in 1853 in Dublin, Ireland on Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street). Unlike others, Delany's had not evolved gradually from a smaller shop on site. Thus it would claim to be the first purpose built Department Store in the world. The word department store had not been invented at that time and thus it was called the "Monster House". Acquired by Limerick businessman, Michael J Clery in 1883, both the store and Imperial Hotel located in its upper floors were completely destroyed in the 1916 Easter Rising. However the store reopened in 1922, this time across numerous floors, as the famous Clerys department store that stands today, housed in a modern neoclassical building based on Selfridges of London.^{[citation needed]}

Australia[link]

David Jones (Australia) was started by David Jones, a Welsh merchant who met Hobart businessman Charles Appleton in London. Appleton established a store in Sydney in 1825 and Jones subsequently established a partnership with Appleton, moved to Australia in 1835, and the Sydney store became known as Appleton & Jones. When the partnership was dissolved in 1838, Jones moved his business to premises on the corner of George Street and Barrack Lane, Sydney. Jones survived the depression of the 1840s, and by 1856 had retired from active management of the business. A few years later when the firm failed he returned to manage its affairs and in a few years had fully discharged all obligations to his creditors.^[8]

By 1887, the George Street store had been rebuilt and a mail order facility introduced. A factory was opened in Marlborough Street, Sydney to reduce reliance on imported goods.

David Jones also makes a claim to be the oldest department store in the world still trading under its original name.^[9]

New York City[link]

In New York City in 1846, Alexander Turney Stewart established the "Marble Palace" on the east-Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets. He offered European retail merchandise at fixed prices on a variety of dry goods, and advertised a policy of providing "free entrance" to all potential customers. Though it was clad in white marble to look like a Renaissance palazzo, the building's cast iron construction permitted large plate glass windows.

In 1862, Stewart built a department store on a full city block at Broadway and 9th Street, opposite Grace Church, with eight floors and nineteen departments of dress goods and furnishing materials, carpets, glass and china, toys and sports equipment, ranged around a central glass-covered court. Within a couple of decades, New York's retail center had moved uptown, forming a stretch of retail shopping from "Marble Palace" that was called the "Ladies' Mile".

In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy founded Macy's as a dry goods store. Benjamin Altman and Lord & Taylor soon competed with Stewart as New York's earliest department stores, later followed by "McCreary's" and, in Brooklyn, "Abraham & Straus." (The Straus family would be in the management of both Macy's and A&S.)

Similar developments were under way in London (with Whiteleys), in Paris (with La Samaritaine) and in Chicago, where department stores sprang up along State Street, notably Marshall Field and Company, which was the third-largest department store in the world prior to the 1997 demolition of Hudson's. In 1877, Wanamaker's opened in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's John Wanamaker performed a 19th century redevelopment to the former Pennsylvania Railroad terminal in that city and eventually opened a modern-day department store in the building.

Chicago[link]

Marshall Field & Company was a department store in Chicago, Illinois that grew to become a major chain before converting to the Macy's nameplate on 9 September 2006. Marshall Field's Served as a model for other departments stores in that it had exceptional customer service. Field's also brought with it the now famous Frango mints brand that became so closely identified with Marshall Field's and Chicago from the now defunct Frederick & Nelson Department store. Marshall Field's also had the firsts, among many innovations by Marshall Field's. Field's had the first European buying office, which was located in Manchester, England, and the first bridal registry. The company was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, until the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators. Marshall Field's book department in the State Street store was legendary; it pioneered the concept of the "book signing." Moreover, every year at Christmas, Marshall Field's downtown store windows were filled with animated displays as part of the downtown shopping district display; the "theme" window displays became famous for their ingenuity and beauty, and visiting the Marshall Field's windows at Christmas became a tradition for Chicagoans and visitors alike, as popular a local practice as visiting the Walnut Room with its equally famous Christmas tree or meeting "under the clock" on State Street.

Salt Lake City[link]

On March 1, 1869, Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution opened in Salt Lake City as a new community store that became the first incorporated department store in America in 1870. A new 3-story brick and iron store was built in 1876, noted for its unique architecture and striped awnings.

This store was replaced by an enclosed shopping center in 1973, and the new Zion department store preserved the gilt-edged ornate facade of the old structure.

In 1999, the May Department Stores bought a 14-store ZCMI chain and rebranded its as "Meier & Frank", a May property with eight stores in Oregon and Washington. Subsequently, May Department Stores completed a merger with Federated Department Stores and the Meier & Frank brand ZCMI stores became Macy's stores, effective late 2006.

Detroit[link]

In 1881, Joseph Lowthian Hudson opened a small men's clothing store in Detroit. After 10 years he had 8 stores in the midwest and was the most profitable clothing retailer in the country.

In 1893, he began construction of J. L. Hudson Department Store at Gratiot and Farmer streets in Detroit. The store grew over the years and a 25-story tower was added in 1928. The final section was a 12-story addition in 1946, giving the entire complex 49 acres (200,000 m²) of floor space.

Hudson's became a suburban shopping center pioneer in 1954 when it built Northland Center 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Detroit. In 1969 it merged with the Dayton's to create Dayton-Hudson Corporation headquartered in Minneapolis.^[10]

Minneapolis[link]

George Dayton had founded his Dayton's Dry Goods store in Minneapolis in 1902 and the AMC cooperative in 1912. His descendants built Southdale Center in 1956, opened the Target discount store chain in 1962 and the B. Dalton Bookseller chain in 1966. Dayton's grew to 19 stores under the Dayton's name plus five other regional names acquired by Dayton-Hudson.

The Dayton-Hudson Corporation closed the flagship J. L. Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit in 1983, but expanded its other retail operations. It acquired Mervyns in 1978, Marshall Field's in 1990, and renamed itself the Target Corporation in 2000. In 2002, Dayton's and Hudson's were consolidated into the Marshall Field's name. In 2005, May Department Stores acquired all of the Marshall Field's stores and shortly thereafter, Macy's acquired May.

Pittsburgh[link]

In 1849, Horne's began operations as The Joseph Horne Company after Joseph Horne bought the Eaton Co. It soon became a leading Pittsburgh department store. In 1879, a new central location was built at Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, a seven-story landmark which was the first department store in the city's downtown. The building still stands to this day and a Horne's sign remains on the building to remember the store, similar to exterior details which continue to be displayed at the former Pittsburgh Kaufmann's on Smithfield Street.

In 1972, Associated Dry Goods acquired Horne's, and ADG expanded operations of Horne's to several stores in suburban malls throughout the Pittsburgh region as well as in Erie, Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. In December 1986, Horne's was acquired by a local investor group following ADG's acquisition by May Department Stores. The local buyout was part of May's divesting of the Horne's chain, since May was already the owner of cross-town rival Kaufmann's.

Two years later, the Arkansas-based department store chain Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. agreed to acquire Horne's, with plans of combining it with another recent acquisition for Dillard's — the Ohio-based Higbee's store chain. The deal was canceled abruptly, resulting in several years of litigation. Dillard's eventually agreed to acquire five Ohio Horne's stores as part of a legal settlement in 1992.

By 1994, Federated Department Stores acquired the remaining ten Horne's stores and merged them with its Lazarus division, completely ceasing all operations of any store under the Horne's name. This caused some anger among Pittsburgh shoppers, as the 145-year-old Horne's was the oldest store in the city and was Pittsburgh tradition. After its closure, the company was often praised for surviving 145 years with only a maximum of 15 stores. Several of the former Horne's locations operating as Lazarus were closed in 1998. Those that remained eventually became known as "Lazarus-Macy's" and in 2006 were joined with Kaufmann's in the nationwide Macy's consolidation.

Kaufmann's was founded in Pittsburgh in 1871 by Jacob and Isaac Kaufmann. In 1877, the brothers moved downtown to a location that became known as The Big Store.^[11] In the first half of the 20th century the store was owned by Edgar J. Kaufmann. The original Flagship store in downtown Pittsburgh was built in 1887 on the corner of Fifth Ave. and Smithfield St. and became known as The Big Store. It has undergone various expansions and remodelings since then. Architect Charles Bickel designed the H. and I Kaufman and I. Kaufman stores in 1898. In 1913, the architects Janssen & Abbott designed a larger white terra cotta-sheathed addition in a Neoclassical revival style structure with Renaissance Revival style details. and a large ornamental public clock at the corner. In the late 1920s, Edgar G. Kaufmann commissioned a redesign of the main floor of the department store. Local architect Benno Janssen and his partner William Cocken rose to the challenge and created an art-deco masterpiece. It is remembered for its striking black Carrara glass columns, bronze metalwork, terrazzo floors, a million dollars' worth of new elevators. The building was the largest department store in Pittsburgh with twelve retail floors totaling 750,000 square feet (70,000 m²), and spanning an entire downtown city block. who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design his executive offices on the top floor of The Big Store, as well as his country house 'Fallingwater' (1934) at the company's Bear Run retreat in Pennsylvania. The office interior was saved and reinstalled at an American Museum.^[12] He also commissioned renowned architect Richard Neutra to design the iconic desert Kaufmann House (1946) in Palm Springs, California.Kaufmann's started several holiday traditions that were carried on after it was taken over such as animated Christmas windows and Santa Land. Although Macy's has taken over the building, several signs remain in the parking garage and on the building itself that still read Kaufmann's. Kaufmann's flagship "The Big Store" has a large landmark outdoor Clock at the corner of Fifth Avenue at Smithfield Street beside the building. The clock became a popular downtown meeting place and city icon. Residents often used phrase "Meet me under Kaufmann's clock" and it continues to be featured in visual materials representing and marketing the city. Both the Kaufmann's flagship building and the clock are registered National Historic Landmarks. Upon announcing the 2006 end of the Kaufmann's name and becoming Macy's, the store gave out tote bags printed with the Clock's image and its phrase "Meet me under the Kaufmann's clock" to honor the store's 135-year history. In 2006, USA Today published an article about the regional chains being merged into Macy's, and the piece featured memories from Pittsburghers about the store and the clock: "As girls in their best dresses and Mary Jane shoes, they rode streetcars downtown to the 11-story Kaufmann's department store here. Jean Wenner, 81 [in 2006], and her friends grew up shopping at Kaufmann's, meeting under the store's ornate clock, lunching at the Tic Toc restaurant and bringing their own children to the Secret Santa."^[13]

1890 onward[link]

By 1890, a new world of retailing had been created as department stores had a clear market position as universal providers. General stores eventually became department stores as small towns became cities. The department store created several of North America's first large businesses. The department store is also largely responsible for the standard store design seen today, because of its size it required new building materials, glass technology and new heating, amongst other architectural innovations.^{[citation needed]}

Some department stores leased space to individual merchants, similar to the changes in late 17th-century London, but by 1900 the smaller merchants were purchased or eventually replaced by the larger companies. Today only the most specialized departments are leased out, such as photography, photo finishing, automotive services or financial services. However, today this is rare, as most departments—even a store's restaurant—are usually run by the store itself.

Before the 1950s, the department store held an eminent place in both Canada and Australia, during both the Great Depression and World War II. Since then, they have suffered from strong competition from specialist stores. Most recently the competition has intensified with the advent of larger-scale superstores (Jones et al. 1994; Merrilees and Miller 1997). Competition was not the only reason for the department stores' weakening strength; the changing structure of cities also affected them. The compact and centralized 19th century city with its mass transit lines converging on the downtown was a perfect environment for department store growth. But as residents moved out of the downtown areas to the suburbs, the large, downtown department stores became inconvenient and lost business to the newer suburban shopping malls. In 2003, U.S. department store sales were surpassed by big-box store sales for the first time.^[14]

Countries[link]

Argentina[link]

In Buenos Aires, upscale department stores came during the early years of the 20th century. Gath & Chávez opened in 1905 and Harrods Buenos Aires was established in 1912. Today, the Chilean department store Falabella is one of the most prominent in the country, with branches in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, San Juan, Mendoza, and Rosario. Falabella is one of the most popular stores in Argentina today.

Australia[link]

Although there were a number of department stores in Australia for much of the 20th Century, today Myer and David Jones, located nationally, are practically the national department stores duopoly in Australia. Other retail chain stores such as Target, Kmart and Big W, also located nationally, are considered to be Australia's discount department stores. Harris Scarfe, though only operating in four states and one territory, is a department store using both the large full-line and small discount department store formats. Most department stores in Australia have their own credit card companies, each having their own benefits while the discount department stores do not have their own credit card rights.

Brazil[link]

The largest Brazilian department stores are: Carrefour, Pão de Açúcar, Lojas Americanas, Macro. As of April 2010, Wal-Mart operates 64 Super-Bompreço stores, 33 Hyper-Bompreço stores. It also runs 45 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 24 Sam's Club stores, and 101 Todo Dia stores. With the acquisition of Bompreço and Sonae, Walmart was in 2010 the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar.

Canada[link]

The Bay in Vancouver

From its origins in the fur trade, the Hudson's Bay Company is the oldest corporation in North America and was the largest department store operator in Canada until around mid 1980's, with locations across the country. It also owns Zellers, another major Canadian department store who's market share has steadily eroded. Other department stores in Canada are: Sears Canada, Ogilvy's, Les Ailes de la Mode, Canadian Tire, Giant Tiger, Co-op, Costco and Holt Renfrew. Grocery giant Superstores carry many non-grocery items akin to a department store. Woolco had 160 stores in Canada when operations ceased (Walmart bought out Woolco in 1994). Today Walmart is by far the most dominant department store retailer in Canada with outlets throughout the country. Historically, department stores were a significant component in Canadian economic life, and chain stores such as Eaton's, Spencer's, Simpsons, Morgan's, and Woodward's were staples in their respective communities. Department stores in Canada are similar in design and style to department stores in the United States.

In northern or isolated communities The North West Company (named after the historical North West Company fur trade company) operates smaller department stores.

Chile[link]

Albeit relatively small, the domestic Chilean retail market has proved fiercely competitive with several department stores sprouting in Santiago and then expanding north and south of the country. Leading department stores today include Falabella, Ripley, Almacenes París, La Polar, Johnson's, and Corona. Fallabella, founded in 1889, has opened branches in Argentina, Colombia, and Peru, with París -its main Chilean competitor- coming on its heels.

China[link]

Department stores first appeared in China at the beginning of the 20th Century, the concept said to be introduced by expatriate Chinese living in Australia. Before 1949, there were five main department stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai: In Hong Kong: Lane Crawford- In 1850 founded by Thomas Ash Lane and Ninian Crawford, opened in Des Voeux Road Hong Kong; Wing On - In 1907 Kwok's family returned to Hong Kong from Australia with accumulated savings and founded the Wing On Company; Sincere - Founded by Ma Ying Piu in 1900 after returning from Australia and partnership with others to form the first Chinese department store in then British Hong Kong. In Shanghai: Sun Sun and Da Sun. Lane Crawford, Wing On and Sincere still exist today.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War patriotic sentiment in China had led to the formation of a number of department stores specializing in locally-made merchandise. These types of stores became the mainstay in China after the formation of the Communist state in 1949.

However Japanese department stores began to appear in the 1960s, and within a generation's time became the dominant force in the market. The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s had resulted in the closures of some of these stores, but on the whole Hong Kong still has one of the world's most competitive retail markets.

Since the opening policy in 1979, the Chinese department stores also develops swiftly along with the fast growing economy. There are different department store groups dominate different areas of China, for example, INTIME department store has the biggest market presence in Zhejiang province, while Jinying department stores dominate Jiangsu Province. Besides, there are many other department store groups, such as Pacific, PARKSON, Wangfujing，New World，etc., many of them are expanding quickly by listing in the financial market.

Cyprus[link]

The most famous department store chain in Cyprus is Debenhams (former Woolworths (Cyprus)).

Denmark[link]

In Denmark you find three department store chains: Magasin (1868), Illum (1891), Salling (1906). Magasin is by far the largest with 6 stores all over the country, with the flagship store being Magasin du Nord on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. Illums only store on Amagertorv in Copenhagen has the appearance of a department store with 20% run by Magasin, but has individual shop owners making it a shopping centre. But in people's mind it remains a department store. Salling has two stores in Jutland with one of these being the reason for the closure of a magasin store due to the competition.

El Salvador[link]

• Carrion
• Dorian's, Mexican Department stores present only in Mexico and El Salvador.
• Siman

Finland[link]

The most famous department store chains in Finland are Stockmann, a listed company, and Sokos, owned by a nationwide retailing cooperative. The Stockmann department store in central Helsinki is the biggest department store in the entire Nordic countries and a famous landmark of Helsinki.

France[link]

France's major upscale department stores are Galeries Lafayette and Le Printemps, which both have flagship stores on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris and branches around the country. The oldest department store in France (and in the world) is Le Bon Marché in Paris, owned by the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. La Samaritaine, another upscale department store also owned by LVMH, closed in 2005. Mid-range department stores chains also exist in France such as the BHV (Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville), part of the same group as Galeries Lafayette.

Germany[link]

In Germany there are a number of department stores. Until recently there were four big department store companies, Karstadt (part of Arcandor AG, also operating the KaDeWe and two Wertheim department stores in Berlin and the Alsterhaus in Hamburg), Hertie which was taken over by Karstadt and fully integrated and Kaufhof (part of the Metro AG) which took over Germany's fourth largest department store chain, the Horten AG in 1994 and fully integrated all former Horten stores into Kaufhof by 2004. There are also some smaller independent department stores. Some department stores only sell clothing. The biggest clothing department store chain is C&A. Larger department stores in Germany usually contain a self-service restaurant, clothing departments, a toy department, a department for computer and electronics, a small book department (for bestsellers), a department for newspapers and magazines and a food department (like a supermarket).

One of the most famous department stores in Germany is the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe, German for "department store of the west") which is located in Berlin.

India[link]

Big Bazaar along with McDonalds Restaurant at Ahmedabad, India.

India has number of departmental stores. Being the seventh largest country in the world there are lot of companies like Big Bazaar, Shopper's Stop, Pantaloon, Ezone, Reliance Fresh and Dmart entering into retail.

Small time department stores - or convenience stores as they are better known in most western countries - are also upcoming. Although these stores are much bigger in size than a usual-size convenience store in, lets say the US, they are much smaller than a regular-sized department store. Examples include Sabka Bazaar, Big Apple, Marks, Spencers and Dailymart.

Indonesia[link]

Indonesia's largest department store chain is Ramayana with over ninety branches across the country. The same group also operates under Robinsons, all targeting the lower income sectors. Other local department store is Matahari, now owned by Lippo Group. The group previously managed to trade under Mega M, Galeria, JC Penney, Parisian and Walmart brands, all of which have been progressively closed. The middle up segment is mainly occupied by Metro Department Store originated from Singapore and Sogo. 2007 saw the re-opening of Jakarta's Seibu, poised to be the largest and second most upscale department store in Indonesia after Harvey Nichols. Other international department stores include Debenhams and Marks & Spencer. Debenhams, Harvey Nichols, Marks & Spencer, Seibu and Sogo are all operated by PT. Mitra Adiperkasa. Upcoming exciting department store in Indonesia is Galeries Lafayette in Pacific Place Mall which is scheduled to open in 2013. Under PT. Mitra Adiperkasa, this department store is targeting middle up market with price range from affordable to luxury.

Iran[link]

Iran's largest and newest department store chain is Shahrvand with 25 stores, all located in Tehran. The other chains are ROLEX and TANDIS which have stores throughout the country.

Ireland[link]

Originally Ireland had two department stores, Clerys and Arnotts, the latter considered to be one of the largest stores in Ireland. However, several large retailers now own chains of department stores, such as:

• Brown Thomas
• Debenhams
• Dunnes Stores
• Marks & Spencer

The most upmarket chain is undoubtedly Brown Thomas (known colloquially as BT), founded as a haberdasher's in 1849 on Dublin's Grafton Street. The company (which belongs to the same group as the UK's Selfridges or Canada's Holt Renfrew) bought its long time competitor across the street, Switzers, in 1995. BT then moved to the larger site. It also acquired and re-branded the former Switzer stores in Cork (formerly Cash's), Limerick (formerly Todd's) and Galway (formerly Moon's).

The British department store, Debenhams, purchased the Roches Stores chain in 2006, closed two stores and rebranded the others. The opening of Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin's suburbs saw the arrival of two more British stores, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols.

Italy[link]

Italy's most famous department stores are Coin, established in Mirano, Venice in 1926 and La Rinascente, founded in Milan in 1865 by Luigi and Ferdinando Bocconi.

Japan[link]

Some of the largest department stores in Japan include Daimaru (J. Front Retailing), Hankyu (H2O Retailing), Hanshin (H2O Retailing), Isetan (Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings), Marui, Matsuzakaya (J. Front Retailing), Matsuya, Mitsukoshi (Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings), Printemps Ginza, Seibu (Millennium Retailing), Sogo (Millennium Retailing), Takashimaya, Tobu, and Tokyu (109). Many are owned and operated in conjunction with private railway companies. Recently, business integration has been successive.

Kuwait[link]

One of the oldest and biggest Department stores in Kuwait is Union Trading Company also known as UTC, Operating 15 retail outlets across the country, and offers a wide selection of imported international brands in Fashion & Apparel, Perfumery, Cosmetics, Accessories, Homeware, Houseware, Electronics, Appliances and Food. Recently one of the most well known high-end clothing department stores wise in Kuwait is Villa Moda.

Lebanon[link]

The history of department stores in Lebanon dates back to 1900 when Orozdi-Back, a department store that was founded by a French businessman of Hungarian origin,^[15] opened a branch in Beirut.^[16] By the mid-twentieth century, Beirut had become the luxury department store of the Near East.^[17] Beirut remains a shopping magnet in the region with shoppers from neighboring Levantine countries, heading to Beirut to shop.^[18]

Department stores in Lebanon include today ABC Group, Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, The Sultan Center, Aïshti and Spinneys.

Malaysia[link]

In Malaysia, companies such as AEON Jusco, Parkson, Metrojaya, The Store, Isetan, Marks & Spencer, Robinson & Co., Debenhams and Tangs are considered department stores, while retail brands such as Tesco, Giant and Carrefour are discount department stores combines supermarket.

Mexico[link]

Mexico has a large number of department stores based in Mexico, of which the most traditional are El Palacio de Hierro (High end and luxury goods) and Liverpool (Upper-middle income) with its middle income sister store Fabricas de Francia. Sanborns, which has over 100 in-and-out middle income level stores throughout the country. Grupo Carso operates Sears Mexico and one high-end Saks 5th Avenue store. Other large chains are Coppel and Elektra, which offer items for the bargain price seeker. Walmart operates Suburbia for lower income level shoppers. The first two conglomerates have a very strong mark in the country, and particularly in Mexico City. Foreign chains such as JCPenney previously entered the Mexican market but failed to gain popularity.

The Netherlands[link]

Flagship branch of Dutch department store De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam.

The most well-known department stores in The Netherlands are De Bijenkorf, HEMA, Maison de Bonneterie and Vroom & Dreesmann.

New Zealand[link]

The three iconic department stores are Smith & Caughey's (founded 1880), in New Zealand's most populous city, Auckland; Kirkcaldie & Stains (founded 1863) in the capital city, Wellington; and Ballantynes (founded 1854) in New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch. These offer high-end and luxury items. There is a mid-range national chain of stores known as Farmers (originally a mail-order firm known as Farmers Trading Company founded in 1909).

Norway[link]

In Norway, most department stores are located in Oslo. The most known are Christiania Glasmagasin, Steen & Strøm, Åhléns, House of Oslo and Illums

Panama[link]

Panama's first department stores such as Bazaar Francés, La Dalia and La Villa de Paris started as textile retailers at the turn of the nineteenth century. Later on in the twentieth century these eventually gave way to stores such as Felix B. Maduro, Sarah Panamá, Figali, Danté, Sears, Gran Morrison and smaller ones such as Bon Bini, Cocos, El Lider, Piccolo and Clubman among others. Of these only Felix B. Maduro (usually referred to as Felix by locals) and Danté remain strong. All the others have either folded or declined although Cocos has managed to secure a good position in the market. Today major department stores aside from these two include Steven's and Collin's. There are also many discount department stores such as Conway which includes a furniture and decoration department named Conway Design, La Onda, Dorian's, Saks, Madison Store and El Titan among others.

Philippines[link]

Some of the first department stores in the Philippines were located in Manila and established by SM Prime Holdings and Rustan's. Since the foundation of these companies in the 1950s, there are now more than one hundred department stores to date. At present, due to the huge success of shopping malls, department stores in the Philippines usually are anchor tenants within malls. SM Supermalls and Robinsons Malls are two of the country's most prominent mall chains, all of which has Department Store sections. During the American colonial period the best department store in the Philippines was the Crystal Arcade on Escolta, which was destroyed in February 1945 during the Battle for Manila.

Portugal[link]

Currently Portugal has only two department stores, both operated by El Corte Inglés, one in Lisbon Metropolitan Area, other in Porto Metropolitan Area. This small number of department stores can be explained by the wide spread presence throughout the country of shopping malls and supermarket chains like Modelo, owned by Sonae, Intermarche and Pingo Doce owned by Jeronimo Martins which are more akin to the local taste.

Puerto Rico[link]

In Puerto Rico, various department stores have operated, such as Sears, JC Penney, Macy's, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, T.J Maxx and more. La New York was a Puerto Rican department store. Topeka Capri and Pitusa are competitors on the Puerto Rican markets which also have hipermarkets operating under their names. and warehouse Costco,and Sam's Club. Target, Nordstroms and Saks fifth avenue are coming to open(2013) in San Juan with the new mall Plaza internacional.

Russia[link]

Arguably the most famous department store in Russia is GUM in Moscow, followed by TsUM and the Petrovsky Passage. Other popular stores are Mega (shopping malls), Stockmann, and Marks & Spencer. Media Markt, M-video, Technosila, and White Wind (Beliy Veter) sell large number of electronic devices. In St. Petersburg The Passage has been popular since the 1840s. 1956 Soviet film Behind Store Window (За витриной универмага)[2] depicts operation of a Moscow department store in 1950's.

Singapore[link]

Most department stores are clustered around Orchard Road in Singapore. The most well-known department stores in Singapore are BHG (formally known as Seiyu), Isetan, John Little, Marks & Spencer, Metro, Mustafa, OG, Robinson & Co., Takashimaya and Tangs. Some of their branch outlets can also be found in the sub-urban shopping malls.

South Korea[link]

The three most prevalent chains are Lotte, Hyundai, Shinsegae. Lotte Department Store is the largest, operating more than 30 stores (include outlet, young plaza, foreign branches). Hyundai Department Store has about 12 stores, and there are 8 stores in Shinsegae. These three department stores are known to people as representative corporations in the field of distirution in South Korea. From fashion items to electric appliances, people can buy various kinds of products. Every weekends, lots of people are fond of going around these department stores, because their location is usually easy to visit. As of 2010 the Shinsegae department store in Centum City, Busan, is the largest department store in the world.

Spain[link]

Following the 2002 closure by the Australian group Partridges of their SEPU (Sociedad Española de Precios Unicos) department store chain, which in fact was Spain's oldest, the market is now dominated by El Corte Inglés, founded in 1934 as a drapery store. El Corte Inglés stores tend to be vast buildings, selling a very broad range of products and the group also controls a number of other retail formats including supermarket chain 'Supercor' and hypermarket chain 'Hipercor'. Other competitors such as 'Simago' and 'Galerías Preciados' closed in the 1990s, however El Corte Inglés, faces major competition from French discount operators such as Carrefour and Auchan .

Sweden[link]

The largest department store chain in Sweden is Åhléns, which operates stores throughout the country. Its flagship Stockholm store, Åhléns City, is the largest department store in Sweden. Other large stores are Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm and Gothenburg, and PUB in Stockholm.

Switzerland[link]

The Swiss retail market is dominated by two consumers' cooperatives, Migros and Coop, which also run department stores. Migros operates 12 upscale Globus department stores and 34 mid-range Migros MMM centers across the country. Since the acquisitions of EPA in 2002, Coop operates its mid-range department stores under the brand Coop City. Manor operates department stores throughout the country. Jelmoli and Loeb operate upscale department stores in Zurich and Bern respectively.

Thailand[link]

The most popular department stores in Thailand are Central Department Store which are managed by Central Group. These are the list of department stores in Thailand

• Central Department Store - has 14 branches (2012)^[19]
• Zen Department Store - 1 branch 2 under construction (2011)
• The Mall Group - has 9 branches (2010)
• Paragon Department Store has 1 branch (located in Siam Paragon) (2010)
• Emporium Department Store has 1 branch (located in Emporium Shopping Mall (2010)
• Robinson Department Store has 22 branches (a division of the Central Group) (2010)
• The Center has 1 branch (a division of Tesco Lotus) (2010)
• Diana Department Store has 3 branches (2010)

United Kingdom[link]

Most of the early department stores in London started out as small drapery stores which bought up neighbouring stores and increased their range of products.

The exterior of Harrods in London.

• The UK's first purpose-built department store was Compton House, Liverpool, completed in 1867 for the retailer J.R. Jeffrey, to replace a previous building which had burned down in 1865.^[20] It was probably the largest in the world at the time.^[21] It is occupied today by Marks & Spencer.
• Allders of Croydon founded in 1862 by Joshua Allder was the flagship of a large chain of department stores in the UK. The chain went into administration in 2005. The Croydon store was taken over by Harold Tillman of Jaeger and continues trading as Allders.
• Whiteleys in Westbourne Grove was first to grow to department store size. By 1867 it consisted of 17 departments and by 1890 it was operating in a purposely built department store and had over 6,000 staff employed in the business.
• Barker's in Kensington can be defined as a department store by 1880, when it encompassed 15 neighbouring stores, and in 1889 the company moved into a new, large building. This was eventually taken over by House of Fraser and closed for business in 2006.
• Peter Jones in Sloane Square had grown to department store size by 1890.
• Harrods was reborn as a proper department store in 1889, after a devastating fire in 1883.
• John Lewis
• Selfridges was opened in 1909 by the American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge, and thus became London's seventh department store.
• House of Fraser owns and operates several department stores across the UK.
• Harvey Nichols of Sloane Street, Knightsbridge is Harrods' closest competitor.
• Debenhams is one of the UK's most popular department stores.
• Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames was rebuilt in the late 1980s with the impressive Aston-Webb facade retained as the frontage for the new Bentall Shopping Centre.
• Fenwick (department store) was founded in 1882 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Its flagship Newcastle store is one of the largest department stores in the country. The company is still family owned and is one of the largest independent department store chains in the country.
• Williams & Griffin in Colchester, Essex. (Now owned by Fenwick, but the Williams and Griffin brand, premises and logotype remain independent)

John Lewis Newcastle (formerly Bainbridge) in Newcastle upon Tyne, is the world's oldest Department Store. It is still known to many of its customers as Bainbridge, despite the name change to 'John Lewis'. The Newcastle institution dates back to 1838 when Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, aged 21, went into partnership with William Alder Dunn and opened a draper's and fashion in Market Street, Newcastle. In terms of retailing history, one of the most significant facts about the Newcastle Bainbridge shop, is that as early as 1849 weekly takings were recorded by department, making it the earliest of all department stores.[1] This ledger survives and is kept in the John Lewis archives. John Lewis bought the Bainbridge store in 1952.

John Lewis Newcastle retained its original name of Bainbridge until 2002, when the store was rebranded as John Lewis Newcastle.

Also, Kendals in Manchester can lay claim to being one of the oldest department stores in the UK. Beginning as a small shop owned by S. and J. Watts in 1796, its sold a variety of goods. Kendal Milne and Faulkner purchased the business in 1835. Expanding the space, rather than use it as a typical warehouse simply to showcase textiles, it became a vast bazaar. Serving Manchester's upmarket clientele for over 200 years, it was taken over by House of Fraser and recently rebranded as House of Fraser Manchester - although most Mancunians still refer to it as Kendals. The Kendal Milne signage still remains over the main entrance to the art deco building in the city's Deansgate.

In Edinburgh, Jenners saw a similar development. It starting as a drapery store in 1838, which by 1890 had grown into Scotland's largest retail store by gobbling up all the small stores in the neighbourhood. In 1895, after a devastating fire, a new ultra-modern building opened, with lavish electrical lighting, hydraulic lifts and air conditioning. Four hours after the grand opening, 25,000 people had already visited the store.

In the UK the term "department store" still refers to the traditional, classic department store, which has a wide range of independent departments with their own staff and their own tills. Large discount stores with the tills located by the entrance are not regarded as department stores in the UK, although the owners may call them that. Such stores as Marks & Spencer, Britain's largest clothes retailer would therefore not be included in the British definition of a department store.

See also List of department stores of the United Kingdom

United States[link]

The Macy's flagship department store in New York City with its famous brownstone at 34th and Broadway.

In the United States, department stores tend to target different socio-economic and geographic segments:

• Upscale: Barneys New York,^[22] Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's,^[22] Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus,^[22] Nordstrom, ^[22] Lord & Taylor, Von Maur
• Middle-market: Macy's,^[22] Carson Pirie Scott,
• Regional: Belk, Boscov's, Dillard's, The Bon-Ton
• Down-market: JC Penney,^[22] Kohl's,^[22] Sears
• Discount department stores: Target, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Manhattan Superstore^[23]
• T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory are stores that sell designer goods at lower prices, often on a surplus basis.

Stores that carry a general line of groceries and other product lines similar to those of department stores are considered warehouse clubs or supercenters. Warehouse clubs require a nominal annual membership fee, while supercenters do not. Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Sam's Club are examples of warehouse clubs.

See also[link]

• List of department stores by country
• Boutique
• Distribution (business)
• Retail
• Marketing

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Department stores

• History of The Department Store
• The rise of the department store in Britain
• A.T. Stewart's
• Tamilia, Robert D. (May 2002) (PDF). The Wonderful World of the Department Store in Historical Perspective: A Comprehensive International Bibliography Partially Annotated. http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/charm/dept.store.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-13.  (292 KiB)
• International Association of Department Stores
• New York Journal. Under One Roof The death and life of the New York department store. by Adam Gopnik

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2008)

Shelley Berman
Berman in the 1960s.
Born	Sheldon Berman (1925-02-03) February 3, 1925 (age 87) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, poet
Years active	1954–present
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Sarah Herman (1947–present)
Website
http://www.Shelleyberman.com/

Sheldon "Shelley" Berman (born February 3, 1925) is an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, and poet.

Early life[link]

Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene (née Marks) and Nathan Berman.

Career[link]

Berman started as a straight actor, receiving his training at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, honing his acting skills in stock companies in and around Chicago and New York. In the mid-1950s, he became a member of Chicago's Compass Players, which later evolved into The Second City. While performing improvised sketches with Compass, Berman began developing solo pieces, often employing an imaginary telephone to take the place of an onstage partner.

In 1957, Berman landed his first job as a comedian at Mister Kelly's in Chicago, which led to other nightclub bookings, and a recording contract with Verve Records. His comedy albums would earn him three gold records and he'd win the first Grammy Award for a non-musical recording. He was the first standup comedian to play Carnegie Hall. Berman would go on to appear on numerous TV specials, and all of the major variety shows of the day.

Television career[link]

Berman's success as a comedian enabled him to continue with his first love - acting. He starred on Broadway in A Family Affair and continued to do stage work in productions of The Odd Couple, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, I'm Not Rappaport, La Cage aux Folles, and Guys and Dolls, among many others. Comedic and dramatic acting roles on television began to come his way, including appearances on episodes of The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, Peter Gunn, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Adam-12, Emergency!, Night Court, MacGyver, L.A. Law, Friends, Walker, Texas Ranger, The King of Queens, Grey's Anatomy, Hannah Montana, CSI: NY, and Boston Legal. Since 2002, Berman has appeared as Larry David's father on Curb Your Enthusiasm, a role for which he received a 2008 Emmy Award nomination.

Film career[link]

Among Berman's film credits are The Best Man (with Henry Fonda), Divorce American Style (with Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds), Every Home Should Have One (with Marty Feldman), The Last Producer (with Burt Reynolds), Meet the Fockers (with Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller), The Holiday (with Cameron Diaz), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (with Adam Sandler).

Personal life[link]

Berman has been married to Sarah Herman since April 19, 1947. The two met while they were studying acting at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.

In the mid-1960s, Berman and wife Sarah adopted two children, son Joshua and daughter Rachel. The Bermans were planning Joshua's bar mitzvah when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Sadly, a year later, Joshua died October 29, 1977, age 12.

Berman has authored three books, two plays, several TV pilot scripts, and numerous poems. For over twenty years, Berman taught humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at University of Southern California, where he is now a Lecturer Emeritus. He continues to do film and television work, and make personal appearances across the country year-round.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Comprehensive Berman interview with Kliph Nesteroff
• Shelley Berman at the Internet Movie Database
• Shelley Berman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Shelley Berman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Shelley Berman at AllRovi
• Audio interview on The Sound of Young America (MP3 link)
• Shelley Berman Laughs Last by Margaret Guroff, AARP The Magazine, November & December 2005
• Shelley Berman Radio Interview WSLR

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television programme series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, with the last television episode, "Goodnight Mr. Bean" broadcast on 31 October 1995.^[2] The final episode, "Hair by Mr. Bean of London", was a video exclusive released on 15 November 1995, but not broadcast in the UK until 2006.

Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson while he was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process.^[3] Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.^[3]

During its five-year run, the series gained large UK audience figures, including 18.74 million for the 1991 episode "The Trouble With Mr. Bean".^[4] The series has been the recipient of a number of international awards, including the Rose d'Or. The show has been sold in 245 territories worldwide, and has inspired an animated cartoon spin-off and two feature films.^[5]

Origins and influences[link]

The character of Mr. Bean was developed while Atkinson was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University. A sketch featuring the character was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 1980s.^[6] A similar character called Robert Box, played by Atkinson, appeared in the one-off 1979 ITV sitcom Canned Laughter, which also featured routines used in the 1997 film Bean.^[7] In 1987, one of Mr. Bean's earliest appearances occurred at the "Just For Laughs" comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When programme co-ordinators were scheduling Atkinson into the festival program, Atkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill rather than the English-speaking program. Having no French dialogue in his act at all, program co-ordinators could not understand why Atkinson wanted to perform on the French bill. As it turned out, Atkinson's act at the festival was a test platform for the Mr. Bean character and Atkinson wanted to see how the silent character's physical comedy would fare on an international stage with a non-English speaking audience.^[8]

The name of the character was not decided until after the first programme had been produced, with a number of other vegetable-influenced names, such as "Mr. Cauliflower", being explored.^[9] Atkinson cited the earlier comedy character Monsieur Hulot, created by French comedian and director Jacques Tati, as an influence on the character.^[10] Stylistically, Mr. Bean is also very similar to early silent films, relying purely upon physical comedy, with Mr. Bean speaking very little dialogue (although like other live-action TV series of the time, it features a laugh track). This has allowed the series to be sold worldwide without any significant changes to dialogue.^[8][11]

Characters and recurring props[link]

Mr. Bean[link]

The title character, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a childish and selfish buffoon who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He lives alone in his small flat in Highbury, and is almost always seen in his trademark tweed jacket and a skinny red tie. He also usually wears a digital calculator watch. Mr. Bean rarely speaks, and when he does, it is generally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. His first name (he names himself "Bean" to others) and profession, if any, are never mentioned. In the first film adaptation, "Mr." appears on his passport in the "first name" field, and he is shown employed as a guard at London's National Gallery.^[12] In Mr. Bean's Holiday, however, his name is listed on his passport as "Rowan", the actor's first name.^[13]

Mr. Bean often seems unaware of basic aspects of the way the world works, and the programme usually features his attempts at what would normally be considered simple tasks, such as going swimming, using a television set, redecorating or going to church. The humour largely comes from his original (and often absurd) solutions to problems and his total disregard for others when solving them, his pettiness, and occasional malevolence.

At the beginning of episode two onwards, Mr. Bean falls from the sky in a beam of light, accompanied by a choir singing Ecce homo qui est faba ("Behold the man who is a bean"). These opening sequences were initially in black and white in episodes 2 and 3, and were intended by the producers to show his status as an "ordinary man cast into the spotlight". However, later episodes showed Mr. Bean dropping from the night sky in a deserted London street, against the backdrop of St. Paul's Cathedral, perhaps suggesting Bean is an alien. At the end of episodes 3 and 6 he is also shown being sucked right back up into the sky in the respective background scenes (black scene in episode 3 and street scene in episode 6). Atkinson himself has acknowledged that Bean "has a slightly alien aspect to him".^[14] In the animated series (episode 38, "Double Trouble") he is taken inside a spacecraft with "aliens" who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. In an obvious homage, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light similar to the opening of the original Mr. Bean series. Whether Mr. Bean himself is an extraterrestrial is not clear. Mr. Bean lives in Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, London, England.^[15]

Teddy[link]

Teddy is Mr. Bean's teddy bear and perhaps Mr. Bean's best friend. The bear is a dark brown, knitted oddity with button eyes and sausage-shaped limbs, invariably ending up broken in half or in various other states of destruction and disfiguration. Although Teddy is inanimate, Mr. Bean often pretends it is alive. For example, when Mr. Bean hypnotises Teddy, he snaps his fingers and the bear's head falls backwards as if it has fallen asleep instantly (Bean used his finger to prop Teddy's head up). Mr. Bean behaves as if the bear is real, buying it a Christmas present or trying not to wake it in the mornings. The bear is often privy to Mr. Bean's various schemes and doubles as a dish cloth or paint brush in an emergency; it has been decapitated ("Mr. Bean in Room 426"), used Teddy as his paint brush ("Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean") and shrunk in the wash ("Tee Off, Mr. Bean"). Teddy is also Mr. Bean's "pet" in "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" and is used to win a pet show. The Teddy that was used in filming sits in the windshield of the replica of Mr. Bean's mini that is on display at the National Motor Museum. Over the years, Teddy has undergone several changes. When it debuted on "The Trouble with Mr. Bean", it had a smaller head. Two episodes later, its head reached its current size, but its "eye" wasn't present until Bean placed gold thumb tacks on its face. The "eyes" have since been replaced with two small white buttons sewn over Teddy's face, giving it a distinct image.

Mr. Bean's car[link]

Rowan Atkinson demonstrating a famous scene from the Mr. Bean episode "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" on a Mini at Goodwood Circuit in 2009

Mr. Bean's car, a British Leyland Mini 1000, developed a character of sorts over the series and was central to several antics, such as Mr. Bean getting dressed in it, driving while sitting in an armchair strapped to the roof or attempting to avoid a parking garage toll by driving out through the entrance.

At first, an orange 1969 BMC Mini MK II (registration RNT 996H) was Mr. Bean's vehicle, but this was destroyed in an off-screen crash at the end of the first episode. From then on, the car was a 1976 model (registration SLW 287R), applejack green in colour^[16] with a matte black bonnet. It made its first appearance in "The Curse of Mr. Bean".

The Mini also had a number of innovative security measures, for example Bean uses a bolt-latch and padlock, rather than the lock fitted to the car, and removes the steering wheel instead of the key. These formed a running joke in several episodes, at one point deterring a car thief. The car, confused with another demonstration car of exactly the same model and colours (but no padlock) (registration ACW 497V), was crushed by a tank in "Back to School, Mr. Bean", but returned in later episodes, perhaps having actually been the identical demonstration car from that point on.

Mr. Bean has a long-running feud with the unseen driver of a light blue Reliant Regal Supervan III (registration GRA 26K), which will usually get turned over, crashed out of its parking space and so forth. This conflict originated in the first episode, when the Reliant's driver held the Mini up on the way to a mathematics exam, and subsequently became a running joke throughout the series.

Both the Mini and the Reliant re-appeared as characters in the animated Mr. Bean cartoons, and in the film Mr. Bean's Holiday, yet another Mini, registration YGL 572T, appears. Also seen is a left hand drive version of his Mini, owned by the character Sabine which has a French registration.(registration 207 UHO 75). For the 1997 feature film a sequence involving the Mini driving through Harrod's Department Store was shot, but this was not included in the final cut.^[17][18] In the animated series, his Mini's registration plate number is STE 952R.

After filming ended, the original Mini used in filming was sold to Kariker Kars to be hired for various events. It was then temporarily displayed as a major attraction at the Rover Group's museum. In 1997, it was purchased by the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum and is now on display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.^[19]

Irma Gobb[link]

Mr. Bean's "girlfriend", Irma Gobb, played by Matilda Ziegler, appeared in a number of episodes. She is treated relatively inconsiderately by Bean, who appears to regard her more as a friend and companion than a love interest. However, he does become jealous when she dances with another man at a disco in "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", and she certainly expects him to propose to her on Christmas Day in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", with his failure to do so resulting in her leaving him for good (she does not appear in any subsequent episodes). The character later appeared in the animated series. The spin-off book Mr. Bean's Diary (1993) states that Mr. Bean met Irma Gobb at a local library.^[20]

Prior to the episode Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, Irma's name is not revealed. In "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean Goes to Town," the character is credited as "the girlfriend."

Other characters[link]

Although Mr. Bean is the only significant human character in the programme, others appear, usually as foils for his various antics. Other than his girlfriend, Mr. Bean's only friends appear to be Hubert and Rupert, who appear as Bean's New Year's party guests in the episode "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean" (although they altered his living room clock and fled to the party in the flat opposite, gaining real friends in the process) and Robin Driscoll appears in many episodes as various characters. However, several notable British actors and comedians appear alongside Atkinson in sketches as various one-off supporting characters, including Richard Briers, Angus Deayton, Nick Hancock, Paul Bown, Caroline Quentin, Danny La Rue, Roger Lloyd Pack, David Schneider and Richard Wilson.^[21]

Production and broadcast[link]

The programme was produced by Tiger Television (later Tiger Aspect Productions) for Thames Television from 1990 to 1992 and for Central Independent Television from 1993 to 1995. Rather than being shown as a series, each episode of Mr. Bean was produced individually, and broadcast at intermittent intervals on the ITV network in the United Kingdom across six years, often around New Year. The episode "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" has not been broadcast on ITV, but was instead reserved for video release. After its original run it has been shown repeatedly on PBS and satellite channels such as Telemundo in the United States, CBC in Canada, TV1 in Australia, TVB in Hong Kong, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and ITV3 in the UK, Disney Channel Asia in Southeast Asia, TV3 in Malaysia, MediaCorp TV Channel 5 in Singapore and RCTI in Indonesia.^[22] Digital channel ITV3 began rebroadcasting the series on 5 January 2010, and again on 24 May 2010. In Pakistan it has been aired on a number of channels such as Cartoon Network, Starlite TV, Raavi and on Syndicated Networks as well.

The record-selling UK videos were withdrawn shortly before the release of Bean, and DVDs were released on an annual basis as of 2004.

Episode guide[link]

Music[link]

Mr. Bean features a choral theme tune written by Howard Goodall and performed by the Choir of Southwark Cathedral (later Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford). The words sung during the title sequences are in Latin:

• Ecce homo qui est faba – "Behold the man who is a bean" (sung at beginning)
• Finis partis primae – "End of part one" (sung before the advertisement break)
• Pars secunda – "Part two" (sung after the advertisement break)
• Vale homo qui est faba – "Farewell, man who is a bean" (sung at end)

The theme was later released on Goodall's album Choral Works. Goodall also wrote an accompanying music track for many episodes. The first episode of Mr. Bean did not feature the choral theme tune, but instead an up-beat instrumental piece, also composed by Howard Goodall, which was more an incidental tune than a theme. It was used while Bean drove between locations intimidating the blue Reliant, and as such, was sometimes heard in later episodes whenever Bean's nemesis is seen.

In the episode "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" Howard Goodall's choral theme tune for another Richard Curtis comedy, The Vicar of Dibley, is heard playing on a car stereo. In Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean., while playing with Queen's Royal Guards figurines and the nativity set, he hums "The British Grenadiers", which was quoted in the theme to Blackadder Goes Forth.^[23]

Mr. Bean appears in a music video made for the 1991 Comic Relief fund raising single by Hale and Pace called The Stonk.^[24] Mr. Bean also appeared in the music video for Boyzone's single Picture Of You in 1997.^[25] The song featured on the soundtrack to the first Bean movie.

Mr Bean also made a Comic Relief record in 1992. This was (I Want To Be) Elected and was credited to "Mr Bean and Smear Campaign featuring Bruce Dickinson". This was a cover of an Alice Cooper song and reached number 9 in the UK singles chart.^[26]

Awards[link]

The first episode won the Golden Rose, as well as two other major prizes at the 1991 Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival in Montreux.^[27] In the UK, the episode "The Curse of Mr. Bean" was nominated for a number of BAFTA awards; "Best Light Entertainment Programme" in 1991, "Best Comedy" (Programme or Series) in 1991, and Atkinson was nominated three times for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" in 1991 and 1994.^[28]

Spin-offs[link]

The animated series[link]

Bean was revived in a 2002–2004 animated cartoon series, again featuring little dialogue, with most being either little soundbites or mumbling. The series, which consist of 26 episodes (with 2 segments each), expanded the number of additional characters, featuring Bean's unpleasant landlady, Mrs. Wicket, and her evil one-eyed cat, Scrapper. Atkinson provided the voice for Bean, and all of the animated Bean actions are taken from Atkinson himself. Other characters' voices are provided by Jon Glover, Rupert Degas, Gary Martin and Lorelei King.^[29] A video game based on the Animated series was released on 14 December 2007 and was a third person platformer. The games were released on PAL only for PS2, Nintendo DS, and Wii (called Mr. Bean's Wacky World).

Film adaptations[link]

Two films featuring Bean have been released. The first, Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie was directed by Mel Smith and released in 1997. This broke from the programme's tradition by using a subplot with more developed characters – instead of being the sole centre of attention, Bean here interacted with a suburban Californian family he stayed with while overseeing the transfer of Whistler's Mother to a Los Angeles art gallery. The film grossed over US$250 million globally ($45 million in the USA)^[30] on a budget estimated at $22 million.^[31]

News broke out in March 2005 that a second Bean film, Mr. Bean's Holiday was in development, with Atkinson returning in the title role. The film had been through several changes of name during its development, including Bean 2 and French Bean.^[32] Filming began on 15 May 2006 and began post-production in October 2006. It was released in the UK on 30 March 2007. On 17 July 2007, the North American premiere was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the Just For Laughs festival; the launching pad for the Mr. Bean character 20 years earlier.^[8] The film was then released nationwide in North America on 24 August 2007. The film follows Bean on an eventful journey across France for a holiday in the French Riviera, which after a number of misfortunes culminates in an unscheduled screening of his video diary at the Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Steve Bendelack and, according to Atkinson, is the last appearance of Bean.^[33] It grossed nearly US$230 million globally ($33 million in the USA).^[34]

Books[link]

Two books were released related to the original series: Mr. Bean's Diary in 1991 and Mr. Bean's Pocket Diary in 1994. The two books have identical content and differ only in the format in which they are printed. The content of both is a template diary with handwritten content scrawled in by Mr. Bean. They provide some additional information on the setting: for example, they establish that Mr. Bean lives in Highbury and rents his flat from a landlady named Mrs. Wicket. They confirm the name of Mr. Bean's girlfriend as "Irma Gobb", and also give the name of the other man she actually dances with in Mr. Bean Goes to Town (Giles Gummer). An additional book called Mr. Bean's Diary was released in 2002 to accompany the animated series; this book was also graded as a children's reader.

Video and DVD releases[link]

The series was available on a number of Thames Television VHS compilations. In the United Kingdom (Region 2), episodes of Mr. Bean were released on a yearly basis by Universal Pictures UK from 2004. The complete collection is now available, including the two feature films and other extras. In the United States (Region 1), the complete series has been available since 2003 on A&E Home Video as "The Whole Bean".

In August 2009 an official YouTube channel was launched featuring content from the live action and animated series.^[35]

DVD format[link]

Volumes

Best of Mr. Bean

VHS format[link]

Popular culture[link]

The sale of Mr Bean worldwide has enabled his character to secure a place in the popular culture of several countries. Notably, a number of public figures have been compared to the character, usually as an insult. Tony Blair, then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was identified by Homer Simpson as "Mr. Bean" when his cartoon form greeted the Simpsons to the United Kingdom in an episode of the eponymous programme, allegedly demonstrating the stereotypical view of the British by Americans.^[36]

Arthur Batchelor, one of the Royal Navy captives held by Iran during the 2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel, has stated that some of his captors had mocked him calling him "Mr. Bean".^[37] NRL Referee Sean Hampstead is regularly nicknamed "Mr. Bean" in nationally broadcast commentary by Australian television/radio personality Ray Warren as a result of his similar appearance. In 2007, Vincent Cable, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, described the recent decline in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's fortunes as his "remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr. Bean".^[38] The Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often mocked in his own country for his facial resemblance to Mr. Bean, and a computer hacker broke into Spain's official website for its presidency of the European Union, inserting the character on the front page of the website. Satirists have also compared Zapatero to Mr. Bean when discussing government policies that are deemed to have been unsuccessful.^[39]

Several of the visual jokes in the series have been used as experiments on the Discovery Channel's MythBusters series. In episode 52 – "Mind Control", the idea of painting a room with a stick of explosives (Firework, or other) placed in a paint can, as in the episode "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean", was tested and deemed impossible, as adequate coverage was not achieved.^[40]

An image of Mr. Bean has also been used as an internet meme usually accompanied by the statement, "if you know what I mean."^{[citation needed]}

Though Rowan Atkinson is not typecast to characters like Mr. Bean, he has played similar characters in other works, such as Enrico in the 2001 film Rat Race.

In Tetsuo Hara and Buronson's manga Souten no Ken, a parody of Mr. Bean can be found in a minor character appearing in chapter 45, contained in vol. 5. In it, a barman identical to Mr. Bean tends the main character Kenshiro Kasumi, for comic relief.^[41]

In the videogame Resident Evil 2, during the opening sequence in the streets of Raccoon City, Mr. Bean's British Leyland Mini 1000 can be seen parked against a barricade.

See also[link]

• List of films based on British sitcoms
• Uncle Max
• Jacques Tati
• Ernest P. Worrell

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Mr. Bean website
• Mr. Bean at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Bean at TV.com
• Mr. Bean: The Animated Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Bean's Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
• Filming locations from Mr Bean

v t e Richard Curtis Screenplays The Tall Guy (1989) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Love Actually (2003) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) The Boat That Rocked (2009) War Horse (2011) Director Love Actually (2003) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Producer Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Sixty Six (2006) Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Television Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982) The Black Adder (1983) Spitting Image (1984–1985) Blackadder II (1986) Blackadder the Third (1987) Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) Mr. Bean (1990–1995) Bernard and the Genie (1991) The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007) Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) The Girl in the Café (2005) Casualty (2007) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) Doctor Who: "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010) Other works Comic Relief The Atkinson People (1979) Dead on Time (1983) No Pressure (2010)