160 Fun Facts About Shopping

Southdale Center, the first fully enclosed US shopping mall, opened in 1956 in a suburb of which metro area?

It sits in Edina, Minnesota, and was designed to keep shoppers at 75°F year-round through the state's brutal winters.

Which Austrian-born architect designed Southdale Center and pioneered the enclosed regional mall in 1956?

He later came to loathe what his idea became, decrying the 'land wasting seas of parking' that surrounded suburban malls.

Which architect said Southdale had 'all the evils of the village street and none of its charm'?

The mall was loosely modeled on the covered arcades of crowded European cities, an inspiration Wright clearly did not admire.

Piggly Wiggly, opened by Clarence Saunders in 1916, is remembered as the first grocery store to do what?

Saunders patented the 'self-serving store' concept the following year, and later experimented with a fully automated shop called the Keedoozle.

In what year did Oklahoma grocer Sylvan Goldman introduce the shopping cart to his Humpty Dumpty stores?

The invention eventually made Goldman a multimillionaire, though shoppers initially wanted nothing to do with it.

Sylvan Goldman built his first shopping cart prototype by adding a basket and wheels to what?

Men thought the carts looked effeminate and women said they resembled baby carriages, so at first almost nobody used them.

What was the first product ever scanned with a UPC barcode at a retail checkout, on 26 June 1974?

The NCR register rang up 67 cents, and a facsimile of the gum pack later went on display at the Smithsonian.

Who popularised 'Black Friday' for the day after Thanksgiving, describing the crowds and traffic?

The friendlier 'in the black' accounting explanation only took hold by the 1980s, long after the police coined the phrase.

Which organisation coined the term 'Cyber Monday' in a 2005 press release?

The name came from the observation that workers returned from Thanksgiving weekend to fast office internet connections and bought what they had window-shopped.

Singles' Day, the world's biggest shopping day, falls on which date?

The date was picked because the numeral 1 looks like a bare stick, a symbol for unattached people; in 2025 it generated more than US$150 billion in sales.

Long before Alibaba turned it into a shopping bonanza in 2009, Singles' Day originated in 1993 where?

It began as a tongue-in-cheek celebration for bachelors before spreading to other campuses and eventually the whole country.

What was Amazon's original 1994 name, dropped after a lawyer misheard it as 'cadaver'?

He also liked that a name starting with 'A' would land near the top of alphabetical lists.

The first book ever sold on Amazon.com was 'Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies' by which author?

The subtitle was 'Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought', which is not exactly beach reading.

When Amazon Prime launched in 2005, what was the flat annual fee for free two-day shipping?

The price rose to $99 in 2014, and by April 2021 Prime had 200 million subscribers worldwide.

What was the first item ever sold on eBay, back when it was still called AuctionWeb in 1995?

It fetched $14.83 from a buyer who assured Pierre Omidyar he collected broken laser pointers.

A PR manager invented the tale that eBay began so Omidyar's fiancée could trade which collectible?

The story was invented purely to get journalists interested in the young auction site, and it worked for decades.

The name 'eBay' is a shortening of what?

Omidyar wanted echobay.com, but a gold-mining company called Echo Bay Mines already owned the domain.

Walmart, Target and Kmart all opened their first stores in the same year. Which year?

Sam Walton's first Wal-Mart Discount City opened in Rogers, Arkansas, that July; Target debuted in Roseville, Minnesota, and Kmart in Garden City, Michigan.

Roughly how many people does Walmart employ, making it the world's largest private employer?

It is also the second-largest company on Earth by revenue and sits at number one on the Fortune 500.

Before Walmart, Sam Walton ran a franchise of which variety-store chain in Newport, Arkansas?

He bought it with a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law plus $5,000 saved from his Army pay, and lost the lease five years later.

Costco's hot dog and soda combo has been sold at the same price since 1985. What is it?

The quarter-pound all-beef dog comes with a 20-ounce drink and free refills.

Costco's house brand, Kirkland Signature, takes its name from what?

The brand launched in 1995, when the company was still based in Kirkland, Washington, before moving to Issaquah.

The I and K in IKEA are founder Ingvar Kamprad's initials. What do the E and A stand for?

Elmtaryd was the family farm and Agunnaryd the nearby village in Småland; the company has been the world's largest furniture retailer since 2008.

How old was Ingvar Kamprad when he founded IKEA as a mail-order business in 1943?

He started it at his uncle Ernst's kitchen table and did not add furniture to the range until 1948.

When Harrods unveiled England's first escalator in 1898, what were nervous customers offered at the top?

Shop staff also dispensed smelling salts to anyone unsettled by the 'moving staircase'.

What did John Rendall and Ace Bourke buy from Harrods in 1969 and later release in Kenya?

Christian's joyful reunion with the pair years later became one of the internet's first viral animal videos.

Which retail slogan is usually credited to Harry Gordon Selfridge or his old boss Marshall Field?

Selfridge is also credited with the catchphrase 'Only ___ shopping days until Christmas'.

What did John Logie Baird first publicly demonstrate at Selfridges in April 1925?

The store had form for spectacle: in 1909 it displayed Louis Blériot's Channel-crossing monoplane, drawing 150,000 people in four days.

Émile Zola's novel 'Au Bonheur des Dames' was inspired by which pioneering Paris department store?

Aristide Boucicaut turned it into the model of the modern department store, and Gustave Eiffel's engineering firm helped expand it in 1872.

On which Paris department store's roof did pilot Jules Védrines land a plane in 1919?

The Boulevard Haussmann flagship is better known for its glass-and-steel dome and Art Nouveau staircases, finished in 1912.

How many pieces of favrile glass make up the Tiffany ceiling of Marshall Field's 1907 Chicago flagship?

It was the first and largest ceiling ever built in favrile glass; the stores were converted to Macy's in 2006.

Macy's total sales on its first day of business in New York, 28 October 1858, came to how much?

The store's original emblem was a rooster; the red star did not replace it until 1862.

Mall of America was built without central heating for its retail areas. What keeps it warm?

Designers called it the 'flywheel effect', and it keeps the interior near 70°F all year.

Dubai Mall, opened in 2008 with more than 1,200 shops, stands adjacent to which landmark?

It also holds an Olympic-sized ice rink and an aquarium with more than 300 species, sharks and rays included.

James Ritty patented the first cash register in 1879 because employees at his what were pocketing takings?

In 1884 the business was sold to John H. Patterson, who renamed it the National Cash Register Company.

James Ritty got the idea for the mechanism of his cash register from a device he saw counting what?

His machine rang a bell when the total key was pushed, which is why sales are still 'rung up'.

Diners Club was born after Frank McNamara suffered what mishap at a New York restaurant in 1949?

He returned in February 1950 and paid with a cardboard charge card; the company was formally founded that same month with his lawyer Ralph Schneider.

During the 1960s, S&H Green Stamps boasted that it issued more stamps annually than which organisation?

Shoppers licked them into free collector's books and swapped filled books for housewares from a catalog that shipped 35 million copies a year.

The earliest documented coupon, issued in 1888 for a free glass of its product, came from which company?

By 1913 some 8.5 million had been redeemed, meaning roughly one in nine Americans had been handed a free drink.

What was Sears selling by mail when Richard Sears met watch repairman Alvah Roebuck in the 1880s?

The catalog they built became known in the trade as 'the Consumers' Bible', and from 1908 to 1940 it even sold ready-to-assemble kit houses.

How did F. W. Woolworth pay for the Woolworth Building, the world's tallest when it opened in 1913?

It kept the height record until 1930, a monument built from nickels and dimes.

The company once known as F. W. Woolworth survives today under which name?

It became Venator Group in 1998 and then took the name of its top-performing chain; the last British Woolworths closed in January 2009.

Amancio Ortega wanted to name his fashion chain after a 1964 film. What was Zara almost called?

A bar two blocks from the first shop in A Coruña already had the name, so he rearranged the letters he had bought for the sign.

Boxing Day, the 26 December holiday, takes its name from what?

The 26 December holiday usually coincides with the Christian feast of Saint Stephen.

Building of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar began in winter 1455-56, shortly after which event?

It grew into 61 covered streets and more than 4,000 shops, and in 2014 topped a list of the world's most-visited attractions with 91 million visitors.

Since 1979, Trader Joe's has been owned by the German family behind which discount grocery chain?

Theo Albrecht, Aldi's co-founder, bought the California chain twelve years after the first Trader Joe's opened in Pasadena.

Target's mascot Bullseye is a white dog of which breed?

Fans jokingly give the chain the faux-French pronunciation 'Tar-zhay', as if it were an upscale boutique.

What was Kmart's 1965 promotion announced with 'Attention, Kmart shoppers' called?

A rotating light like the ones on police cars marked the spot, and the phrase became a pop-culture staple long after the promotion was retired in 1991.

What do the letters in shopping channel QVC stand for?

Founded by Joseph Segel in West Chester in 1986, its first big partner was a department-store chain under a two-year exclusive deal.

The word 'escalator' was originally a registered trademark of which company before it was genericised?

Charles Seeberger coined it in 1900 from Latin roots, and the Seeberger-Otis machine won first prize at that year's Paris Exposition.

John Wanamaker, credited with creating the price tag, later held which federal office?

He also pioneered the money-back guarantee, and is supposedly the source of 'Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.'

The first self-checkout machine was installed in July 1986 at which chain near Atlanta?

Inventor David R. Humble's company was called CheckRobot; one study later found 6.7% of self-checkout transactions involved some theft.

Jack Ma named Alibaba after a character from which collection of tales?

He founded the company with seventeen friends and students in his Hangzhou apartment in June 1999.

The phrase 'retail therapy' first appeared in print on Christmas Eve 1986 in which newspaper?

Columnist Mary Schmich used it semi-facetiously; a 2023 Deloitte study found nearly 80% of people had bought something in the past month just to lift their mood.

What feature did Margaret E. Knight's 1871 machine give paper bags, letting them hold more?

Paper bags had been mass-produced since 1852, thanks to Pennsylvania schoolteacher Francis Wolle's bag-making machine.

The word 'mannequin' derives from a Flemish word meaning what?

Flemish merchants wrote 'manneken' on invoices for reed dolls shipped to Paris fashion houses, and the French pronunciation stuck.

In 1939 FDR moved Thanksgiving a week earlier at retailers' urging. What was the change nicknamed?

Fred Lazarus Jr. of Federated Department Stores had lobbied for seven more shopping days; the confusion ended in 1941 when Congress fixed Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.

Which 'adopted' soft-sculpture dolls sparked in-store riots among Christmas shoppers in 1983?

Creator Xavier Roberts had originally sold his hand-stitched 'Little People' for adoption fees of $60 to $1,000; by December 1983 the mass-market version was on the cover of Newsweek.

The plush toy that peaked in Christmas 1996, reselling for up to $1,500, was based on which Sesame Street character?

Tyco's Tickle Me Elmo giggled and shook when squeezed; one Denver buyer allegedly paid $7,100 and a radio auction fetched $18,500 for charity.

Which retailer published the Christmas 'Wish Book' catalog, first issued in 1933?

The big-book catalogs were discontinued in 1993, shrank to a 2.5-inch mini version by 2005, and were revived in print and online in 2017.

The Elf on the Shelf began as a 2005 book written by Carol Aebersold and whom?

Chanda Bell suggested turning the family's own Christmas tradition into a book; the elf moves to a new hiding place each night after its trip to the North Pole.

The tongue-in-cheek price index published each December by PNC Wealth Management tracks the cost of what?

Rebekah McCahan has maintained the list since 1986; the swans and the leaping lords are usually the priciest lines.

What is the retail term for stores putting out holiday merchandise well before the shopping season?

The phrase dates from the mid-1980s; by the 2010s Costco, Walmart and Kmart were putting out Christmas stock as early as September 1.

Which company grew out of the Kansas City stationery store that sold French envelope liners as gift wrap in 1917?

The Hall brothers' liners sold out at 10 cents a sheet two Christmases running, and the company began printing its own designs.

What do US retailers call the last weekend shopping day before December 25?

Also called Panic Saturday, it typically brings in about $15 billion in sales; a 2006 study found December 21 to 24 accounted for 13.6 percent of holiday sales.

Which figure's arrival always ends the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, opening the Christmas shopping season?

The first parade featured store employees in costume alongside animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo; the only year Santa led rather than closed the parade was 1932.

A bank in which state introduced the first 'Christmas club' savings account in 1909?

Merkel Landis of the Carlisle Trust Company started the fund; the accounts became a fixture of American banking through the mid-20th century.

Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen in which part of London?

It is now the UK's biggest grocer, with a market share of around 28%.

Sainsbury's was founded in 1869 with a shop on which London street?

It was the UK's largest grocer for most of the 20th century until Tesco overtook it in 1995.

Marks & Spencer was founded in 1884 in which English city?

Founders Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer gave the chain its name.

In 1980, M&S became the first British supermarket chain to sell what?

In 1998 it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion.

John Lewis is owned by a trust for its employees, who are known as what?

The group also owns the Waitrose supermarket chain.

The name of French retailer Carrefour means what in French?

The first shop opened in 1960 near a crossroads in suburban Annecy.

Karl and Theo Albrecht built their discount grocery empire from their mother's shop in which city?

They took over the store in 1946; the business later split into Nord and Süd divisions.

7-Eleven began in 1927 in Texas as what kind of business?

The Southland Corporation began franchising the stores in 1961.

The 7-Eleven name, adopted in 1946, referred to what?

The chain is now owned by Japan's Seven & I Holdings.

Before becoming 7-Eleven, the chain went by what name from 1928 to 1946?

Franchising began in 1961.

Best Buy was founded in 1966 under what name?

It was rebranded as Best Buy in 1983 with a new focus on consumer electronics.

Which tech-support brand is a subsidiary of Best Buy?

Magnolia Audio Video and Pacific Sales are also Best Buy subsidiaries.

Amazon bought Whole Foods Market in 2017 for how much?

The organic grocer is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

John Mackey's 1978 vegetarian food store, forerunner of Whole Foods, was called what?

The name spoofed the Safeway chain.

Dollar General began in 1939 as a family business in which state?

It started as J.L. Turner and Son in Scottsville and took its current name in 1955.

TJX's flagship off-price chain trades in Europe under what name?

Parent TJX also owns Marshalls, HomeGoods and Winners.

TJX, parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, was formed in 1987 as a subsidiary of which chain?

It became Zayre's legal successor after a 1989 reorganisation.

Nordstrom, founded in Seattle in 1901, originally sold only what?

It did not start selling clothing until the 1960s.

James Cash Penney's first stores were part of which chain before he used his own name?

He incorporated under his own name in 1913.

Montgomery Ward, the mail-order pioneer that traded from 1872 to 2001, had what nickname?

By 1883 its catalogue had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items.

Neiman Marcus was founded in 1907 in which city?

Herbert Marcus founded it with his sister Carrie and her husband Al Neiman.

Toys 'R' Us began in 1948 as Children's Supermart, initially selling what?

Founder Charles Lazarus refocused it on toys in 1957.

The dance-on piano at FAO Schwarz was made famous by which 1988 film?

Tom Hanks played the piano with his feet in the store's Fifth Avenue location.

Hamleys, the world's oldest toy shop, was founded in 1760 under what name?

William Hamley opened it in High Holborn; it moved to Regent Street in 1881.

Gap Inc. was founded in 1969 by which couple?

Its brands include Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta.

The name Uniqlo is a contraction of what?

Its parent Fast Retailing was founded by the Yanai family.

H&M began in 1947 as 'Hennes', a Swedish word meaning what?

Erling Persson opened the first shop in Västerås.

H&M is the world's second-largest international clothing retailer behind which group?

Inditex is the Spanish parent of Zara.

Primark trades under what name in the Republic of Ireland?

A trademark clash with JCPenney kept the name out of other countries after 1976.

Sephora takes its name from the biblical Zipporah, the wife of whom?

The chain was first launched in Paris in 1970.

Which UK pharmacy chain did Walgreens fully acquire at the end of 2014?

The deal created the holding company Walgreens Boots Alliance.

CVS was founded in 1963 as an abbreviation of what?

The first store opened in Lowell, Massachusetts.

RadioShack began in 1921 as a mail-order business serving which hobby?

Tandy Corporation later bought its parent and turned it into a retail chain.

At its 2004 peak, roughly how many stores did Blockbuster operate?

David Cook founded it in 1985 as a single video rental shop.

Which Barnes & Noble rival was liquidated, leaving it the only national US bookstore chain?

Barnes & Noble is headquartered on Union Square in New York City.

New York's Strand Bookstore is known for what slogan?

The New York Times called it the undisputed king of the city's independent bookstores.

Powell's City of Books, said to be the world's largest independent bookstore, is in which city?

Walter Powell founded the business in 1971.

On Etsy, items described as 'vintage' must be at least how many years old?

Sellers pay a $0.20 listing fee per item.

E-commerce platform Shopify is headquartered in which Canadian city?

It was founded in 2006 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake.

Zappos launched in 1999 under what domain name?

Amazon bought the company in 2009 in a stock deal worth around $1.2 billion.

Grocery delivery firm Instacart's legal corporate name is what?

It offers service from 2,200 retailers covering nearly 100,000 stores.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com was formerly known by what name?

It is China's largest retailer by revenue and a major rival to Alibaba's Tmall.

Temu's name was originally short for what slogan?

It is operated by PDD Holdings, owned by Colin Huang.

Fast-fashion giant Shein moved its headquarters in 2022 to which country?

It was founded in Nanjing in 2008 as ZZKKO and relocated its head office in 2022.

Buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna was founded in 2005 in which country?

It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Which Canadian shopping centre is the second largest in North America by floor area?

By store count it tops every mall in the Western Hemisphere with over 800.

The King of Prussia mall, one of America's largest, opened in which year?

A 2016 expansion called The Connector joined its two complexes into one.

Which Dubai shopping centre contains Ski Dubai, the Middle East's first indoor ski resort?

It opened in November 2005 with more than 630 outlets.

The Country Club Plaza's Baroque and Moorish Revival design echoes which Spanish city?

Opened in 1923, it is considered the first planned suburban shopping centre in the US.

The Burlington Arcade, built in 1818, runs from Burlington Gardens to which London street?

It is regarded as a precursor of the modern shopping mall.

Which ancient Roman complex is often called the world's oldest shopping mall?

Many now think its arcades were actually administrative offices.

Khan el-Khalili is a famous bazaar in which city?

It was established as a trade centre in the Mamluk era.

Chatuchak, the world's largest weekend market, is in which city?

It has more than 15,000 stalls and draws over 200,000 visitors every weekend.

La Boqueria market has its entrance on which famous Barcelona boulevard?

A market was first recorded on the site in 1217.

London's Borough Market, in Southwark, claims to have existed since which year?

The present buildings date from the 1850s.

Portobello Road Market, famous for antiques, is in which London district?

The market runs on Saturdays.

KaDeWe, Europe's second-largest department store, is in which city?

The name is short for Kaufhaus des Westens, 'Department Store of the West'.

During the Soviet era, who was the sole vendor in Moscow's GUM store?

The building facing Red Square is once again a shopping mall.

Mitsukoshi, founded in 1673 as Echigo-ya, originally sold what?

In 1683 it pioneered selling from a store for cash instead of door to door.

Which Spanish chain is the largest department store group in Europe?

It was founded in 1940 by Ramón Areces and César Rodríguez.

The world's oldest department store still trading under its original name (1838) is in which country?

Welsh merchant David Jones founded it after emigrating.

The Hudson's Bay Company, North America's oldest corporation, was founded in which year?

It was liquidated in 2025 after 355 years.

London department store Liberty is most famous for what?

Its mock-Tudor building sits on Great Marlborough Street.

Fortnum & Mason, established in London in 1707, was founded as what type of shop?

William Fortnum and Hugh Mason gave the store its name.

A 'loss leader' is a product priced low to do what?

It is priced below its minimum profit margin, though not necessarily below cost.

In retail, what is a planogram?

Its effectiveness is measured by the sales generated from the diagrammed area.

Prices like $19.99, also called charm prices, are an example of what kind of pricing?

Shoppers tend to round just-below prices down to the next lowest unit.

QR codes were invented in 1994 by Denso Wave to label what?

Inventor Masahiro Hara's design uses Reed–Solomon error correction.

Tesco's Clubcard loyalty scheme had gained over how many users by 2021?

The scheme launched in 1995 after Terry Leahy asked the marketing team to investigate loyalty cards.

The US purchase plan 'layaway' is known Down Under by what name?

The customer only receives the item once every payment is made.

Which company created Small Business Saturday in 2010?

It falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Buy Nothing Day, a protest against consumerism, is promoted by which magazine?

Artist Ted Dave created it; in North America it coincides with Black Friday.

A researcher who poses as a customer to assess service quality is known as what?

The staff being evaluated are unaware the visit is anything but normal.

The world's first duty-free shop opened in 1947 at which airport?

Brendan O'Regan's Irish shop is still in operation.

Hero of Alexandria's 1st-century coin-operated machine dispensed what?

The first modern vending machines, in 1880s England, sold postcards.

Which HSN pitchwoman holds the record for most units sold in a day, 216,000 pillow sets?

HSN began in 1982 as a local Florida cable channel.

King Kullen, the New York supermarket chain, was founded on August 4, 1930 by whom?

He had managed 94 small grocery stores before proposing a bigger, cheaper format.

Oxfam began in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for what?

It set out to alleviate hunger caused by World War Two.

In pawnbroking, what are the items left as collateral called?

Slang for pawning an item includes 'hocked' and 'up the spout'.

A flea market is also known in the US by what name?

Such markets emphasise used goods, antiques and vintage clothing.

Sotheby's was founded in London in 1744 by Samuel Baker, who traded in what?

The Sotheby name only arrived in 1778 via Baker's nephew John Sotheby.

A. T. Stewart, whose 1846 'Marble Palace' pioneered the New York department store, was born where?

He abandoned plans to join the clergy and sailed for New York in 1823.

Bernard Arnault, one of the world's richest people, runs which luxury group?

He studied civil engineering and mathematics at École Polytechnique.

Charles Lewis Tiffany of Tiffany & Co. is credited with creating America's first what?

He also introduced the English sterling silver standard to imported jewellery in 1851.

The supermarket retail format first appeared around 1930 in which country?

It spread abroad after extensive worldwide publicity in 1956.

The term 'mall' originally referred to what?

It became a generic term for enclosed shopping centres in the late 1960s.

Supercenter chain Meijer was founded in 1934 in which state?

Dutch immigrant Hendrik Meijer started it in Greenville.

Publix, the Florida supermarket chain founded in 1930, is wholly owned by whom?

Members of founder George Jenkins's family also hold shares.

Texas grocer H-E-B was founded in 1905 by Florence Butt in which town?

The Butt family still owns about 87% of the company.

Bernard Kroger founded the supermarket chain that bears his name in 1883 in which city?

Today Kroger runs everything from marketplace stores to fuel centres, pharmacies and in-store clinics across the United States.

The first two Home Depot stores opened in 1979 in the suburbs of which US city?

Co-founders Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank leased former Treasure Island hypermarket spaces in Doraville and Decatur to build superstores bigger than any rival's.

Why did the founder of Lidl pay a retired teacher 1,000 marks for the rights to 'Lidl'?

Legal reasons blocked him from using his father's old partner's name, so he tracked down painter Ludwig Lidl after reading a newspaper article about him.

Latin America's most visited e-commerce site, Mercado Libre, was founded in 1999 in which city?

Marcos Galperin started the company while studying at Stanford; it is now headquartered in Montevideo and incorporated in Delaware.