ABSTRACT
Historians of employers’ organisations in France have shown little interest in large-scale retailing, while surveys of the field have but rarely included this important sector of the economy in their analyses. It is the organisation and representation of industrial employers which have dominated the field. In defence of historians, two remarks need making. The first is that the commercial world was a very particular one, both unpredictable and demanding, which has kept it consistently independent of the larger world of employers. The case of the Belle Jardiniere store reveals the extent of employer hostility: by May 1919 the directors were raising doubts about the application of the eight-hour day legislation and proclaiming a ‘labour supply crisis', linked in particular to a reduction of outwork and a shift of workers to the factory. The world of department store employers is undeniably a conservative one.
