Wanamaker, John (1838–1922), department‐store merchant.The eldest son of a
Philadelphia brick‐maker, Wanamaker was largely self‐educated. In 1871 he opened in Philadelphia what he called a “New Kind of Store” named for himself. As a leader in
department‐store retailing for over five decades, Wanamaker pioneered the use of
technology, from pneumatic tubes to escalators; personnel policies that included employee training and paid summer vacations; and such marketing techniques as frequent sales and full‐page illustrated newspaper ads. His innovations in customer service included restaurants, reading and restrooms, and home delivery. Wanamaker's was known for its stained‐glass windows, elaborate store displays, and spectacles including organ concerts, pageants, and storybook characters in show windows. In 1896, Wanamaker expanded from Philadelphia to
New York City. Other merchants such as Rowland Macy in New York, Marshall Field in
Chicago, and the Filenes in
Boston adapted Wanamaker's retailing innovations, but none matched his level of self‐promotion or so enthusiastically incorporated the golden rule into retailing through the maxim that the customer is always right.
A paragon of the Victorian Christian gentleman in business, Wanamker amassed a vast furtune while spurning the crasser aspects of the commercial world. He devoted time and money to the Young Men's Christian Association, the
Civil War Christian Commission, the
Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Sunday schools, and the revivals of Dwight L.
Moody and Billy
Sunday. As postmaster general in the Benjamin
Harrison administration (1889–1893), he championed such Populist policies as parcel post, rural free delivery, and postal savings banks.
See also
Advertising;
Consumer Culture;
Gilded Age;
Mass Marketing;
Protestantism;
Revivalism;
YMCA and YWCA.
Bibliography
Joseph H. Appel , The Business Biography of John Wanamaker, Founder and Builder, 1930.
William Leach , Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, 1993.
Susan Porter Benson
