Histories of Australian retailing

This special edition contributes to the growing scholarship on Australian retail history. It collates a range of work that represents and extends existing themes in Australian retail historiography with the aim of encouraging further work in the field. Topics covered include: Chinese storekeepers in remote regional communities, transnational flows of goods to these communities, colonial arcades and department stores, intercolonial rivalry and boosterism that incentivised the early development of large retail spaces, entrepreneurial business women, Australian milk bars, the influence of diasporic migration on food cultures and leisure activities, advertising in twentieth century department stores, urban planning, and post-war shopping centre development. This article provides an outline of these articles as well as an overview of Australian retail historiography.