Shopping for Recovery

Abstract

During the early years of the Great Depression, merchants and civic leaders in both Buffalo and Rochester, New York, tried to use the power of private consumption to end the economy's woes. Through a special sales campaign and a coordinated pledge drive, it was hoped that citizens could “buy their way out” of the crisis. Although these initiatives ultimately did not end the depression, they reveal a commitment to local solutions to economic problems and an overwhelming faith in consumption even at a time when consumer capitalism was sorely tested.