Peddlers to palaces: the evolution of American retailing -- The Hudson's Bay Company: resurgence of the oldest retailer -- Brooks Brothers: America's oldest men's apparel store -- Tiffany's: the most famous jewelry store -- The Singer Company: worldwide pioneer of installment selling -- Filene's: the world's largest specialty store -- F. & R. Lazarus Company: Ohio's famous department-store dynasty -- Marshall Field & Company: elegance for the Middle West -- Brentano's: "Booksellers to the world" -- R. H. Macy & Co., Inc.: the Straus family and the world's largest store -- The food giants: A & P, Safeway, and their rivals -- Rich's: "the store that married a city" -- F.W. Woolworth Co.: "world's greatest variety chain" -- Dayton's and Hudson's: the giants of Minneapolis and Detroit -- Sears, Roebuck and Co.: the world's biggest retailer -- Lane Bryant: maternity and special-size fashion pioneer -- J. C. Penney Company: from Main Street to shopping centers -- Broadway-Hale: colossus of the West -- Neiman-Marcus: the pride of Texas -- Bergdorf Goodman: opulence on the plaza -- Bullock's and I. Magnin: California's glamour pioneers -- L. L. Bean, Inc.: sporting goods by mail from Maine -- Ohrbach's, Inc.: "a business in millions, a profit in pennies" -- Webb's City: "the world's most unusual drug store" -- The discounters arrive: Korvettes, K-Mart, and their rivals -- Retailing in the future: some predictions for 2000 and later.