ABSTRACT
The adoption of bigger shops in the final design of the Galeries Saint-Hubert is one of the first signs of the tendency towards bigger premises. Shopkeepers in smaller shops soon showed interest in bigger properties too. In the United Kingdom, where historians have often argued that the notion of 'browsing' and 'free entry' had already become common practice in the early modern period, department stores nevertheless became less informal as they grew bigger. The biggest outburst took place in the Rue Neuve in the days following the opening of the Grands Magasins Tietz. The fashion for windows must have been influenced by what happened in the big metropolises, yet it is most likely that designs were more modest in Brussels. Shopping was not a big topic in the Brussels newspapers, but if it was mentioned the practice was mostly associated with women.
