E13: The Price Spreads Report Pt 3 - Department Stores

Monopolies Killed My Hometown

I'm continuing my deep dive into the Price Spreads report and it's look at the retail industry in the 1930's. This week's episode is all about department stores, specifically Eaton's, The Bay. In the 1930's Eaton's did 7% of all retail sales in Canada. Canada has a long, history with the Hudson's Bay company. I look back quickly on the history of HBC and how they used similar monopolistic tactics when they had the dominant position in the fur trading industry. And to connect back to today, I talk a lot about Amazon. I know Amazon wasn't around in the 1930's but Amazon has a lot of the same dominant characteristics and impacts today that the department stores had in the 1930's.

Links from today's episode:

• Price Spreads Report
• Episode 11 - Introduction to the Price Spreads Report
• Episode 12 - The Price Spreads Report - Retail as distribution
• Short history of Hudson's Bay Company
• Statistics on Amazon Prime
• Map of the Northwestern Territory
• Boxed Out Report, by Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox, ILSR
• A&P by John Updike
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• California Files Antitrust Lawsuit against Amazon
• From Seattle to Luxembourg: how tax schemes shaped Amazon
• Breakdown of Amazon Prime Scam - Matt Stoller

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