The aim of this study is to examine the weight and evolution of commercial distribution in a medium-sized Spanish city. The paper is divided into four main parts, the first of which analyzes retail studies within a historical context. The second looks at the basic structure and the evolution of the commercial sector in La Coruña from an aggregate perspective, and subsequently distinguishes between retail and wholesale activities. Finally, details are given as to the composition of the sector, according to subgroups of activity. Although the paper has a local focus, an attempt has been made to situate the city's commercial activity within the wider context of the Spanish urban system, and in particular, of medium-sized Spanish cities. The discussion continues to reach some general conclusions about this sector as a whole.
Christina Fowler , “Changes in Provincial Retail Practice During the Eighteenth Century, with Particular Reference to Central-Southern England,” Business History40 (1998): 37-54.
2.
Paul Bairoch, Cities and Economic Development : From the Dawn of History to the Present (London: Mansell, 1988 ).
3.
Gloria Nielfa , “Mercado y Organización del Trabajo en el Comercio 1883-1931,” Estudios de Historia Social30 (1984): 137.
4.
Jesús Mirás , “ Shifts in the Economic Structure of a Medium-sized Spanish Town During the Postwar Period: La Coruña, 1939-60 ,” Urban History31 (2004): 357-74.
5.
There is not a generally accepted definition of the whole of activities that form the tertiary sector because of the wide variety of heterogeneous activities that are grouped under this label. Iain Begg, “The Service Sector in Regional Development,” Regional Studies27 (1993): 818.
6.
Colin Smith , “ The Wholesale and Retail Markets of London, 1660-1840,” Economic History Review55 (2002 ): 31-50.
7.
James B. Jeffreys, Retail Trading in Britain, 1858-1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954); Gareth Shaw, “The Study of Retail Development,” in John Benson and Gareth Shaw, eds., The Evolution of Retail Systems, c. 1800-1914 (Leicester : Leicester University Press, 1992 ), 1; Nicholas Alexander and Gary Akehurst, “ Introduction: The Emergence of Modern Retailing, 1750-1950,” Business History40 (1998 ): 1.
8.
Jeffreys, Retail Trading in Britain; H. Smith, Retail Distribution: A Critical Analysis ( London: Oxford University Press, 1948).
9.
Robert B. Potter, The Urban Retailing System: Location, Cognition and Behaviour ( Aldershot: Gower, 1982 ), 5.
10.
Edward McFayden , “Introduction,” in Edward McFayden, ed., The Changing Face of British Retailing (London: Newman , 1987), vii.
11.
Carl Gardner and Julie Sheppard, Consuming Passion: The Rise of Retail Culture (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), i.
12.
Stephen Brown , Retail Location: A Micro-Scale Perspective ( Aldershot: Avebury, 1992), 1.
13.
Dorothy Davis , A History of Shopping ( London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966), 6.
14.
John Benson , “The Cinderella of Occupations: Managing the Work of Department Store Saleswomen, 1900-1940,” Business History Review55 (1981 ): 1.
15.
Keri Davies, Colin Gilligan, and Clive Sutton, “The Changing Competitive Structure of British Grocery Retailing,” The Quarterly Review of Marketing10 ( 1984): 1.
16.
Peter J. McGoldrick, “University Education in Retailing: Are the Opportunities There?” Retail and Distribution Management11 (1983): 15-19; Stanley C. Hollander, “ Retailing Theory: Some Criticism and Some Admiration,” in Ronald W. Stampfl and Elizabeth C. Hirschman, eds., Theory in Retailing: Traditional and Non-traditional Sources (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1981): 84-94.
17.
Jeffreys (Retail Trading in Britain, xv) felt that [British] economic historians supported the false believe that “distribution is a sterile, unproductive activity.”
18.
Louis P. Bucklin, Competition and Evolution in the Distributive Trades (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1972), 5.
19.
John Benson and Gareth Shaw, eds., The Evolution of Retail Systems, c. 1800-1914 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1992); John A. Dawson, Commercial Distribution in Europe (London: Palgrave Macmillan , 1982). See also European City in Comparative Perspective. Seventh International Conference on Urban History ( Athens-Piraeus, Greece, 2004); Vaughan Reimers and Val Clulow, “ Retail Concentration: A Comparison of Spatial Convenience in Shopping Strips and Shopping Centres,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services11 (2004): 207-22; Carlos Flavián, Adrian Haberberg, and Yolanda Polo, “ Food Retailing Strategies in the European Union: A Comparative Analysis in the UK and Spain,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services9 (2002): 125-38; Jonathan Morris, “Piccola Bborghesia in Europa: Per una Ccomparazione dei Temi e Delle Strategie di Ricerca,” Storica11 (1998): 77-113; Ronald Savitt, “A Historical Approach to Comparative Retailing,” in E. Kaynak and R. Savitt, eds., Comparative Marketing Systems (New York: Praeger , 1984): 147-55; Antoni Estevadeordal, “El Patrón Comercial a Finales del Siglo XIX: Un Análisis Comparativo,” Revista de Historia EconómicaXII ( 1994): 611-48.
20.
Brown, Retail Location, 3; Alexander and Akehurst, “Introduction.”
21.
Gareth Shaw , Andrew Alexander, John Benson, and John Jones, “ Structural and Spatial Trends in British Retailing: The Importance of Firm-level Studies,” Business History40 (1998): 79.
22.
Shaw, “The Study of Retail Development,” 2.
23.
Alexander and Akehurst, “Introduction ,” 3; Nicholas Alexander, “ Objects in the Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are,” The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research7 (1997): 383-403; Nico Vink, “Historical Perspective in Marketing Management: Explicating Eexperience,” Journal of Marketing Management8 ( 1992): 219-37; Shaw, “ The Study of Retail Development,” 4; Ronald Savitt, “ Looking Back to See Ahead: Writing History of American Retailing,” Journal of Retailing65 (1989): 326-55; Stanley C. Hollander, “ A Rearview Mirror Might Help Us Drive Forward: A Call for More Historical Studies in Retailing,” Journal of Retailing62 (1986): 7-10.
24.
Shaw, Alexander, Benson, and Jones, “Structural and Spatial Trends in British Retailing,” 79-80.
Robin Pearson , “British Business History: A Review of Periodical Literature for 1995,” Business History39 (1997): 1-20.
27.
Alexander and Akehurst, “Introduction,” 1-3; Stanley C. Hollander, “ Who and What is Important in Retailing and Marketing History,” in S.C. Hollander and R. Savitt, eds., Proceedings of the First North American Workshop on Historical Research in Marketing, East Lansing (Michigan St. University, 1983).
28.
Javier Casares and Julián Briz, “Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” in Javier Casares , ed. et al., La Economía de la Distribución Comercial ( Barcelona: Ariel, 1987 ), 95-96. At the international level, see Daniel I. Padberg and David Thorpe, “Channels of Grocery Distribution: Changing Stages in Evolution—A Comparison of U.S.A. and U.K,” Journal of Agricultural EconomicsXXV (1974): 1-19, and Jeffreys, Retail Trading in Britain, for whom the transition towards a modern distributive system took place from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the introduction of new methods of operation, the generalization of advertising and fixed prices clearly displayed, the retailer's changing role within the distribution channels, and the transformations of institutional forms of retailing (large-scale retailing, department stores, cooperative retail, multi-branch firms, and so on).
29.
Casares and Briz, “Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” 94; Pilar Toboso, Grandes Almacenes y Almacenes Populares en España. Una Visión Histórica (Madrid: FUNEP, 2002), 24.
30.
Casares and Briz, “Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” 94-95; Javier Casares and Alfonso Rebollo, Distribución Comercial (Madrid: Civitas, 1996), 195-97.
31.
Daniel Marcos and Lorenzo Montiel, Historia del Comercio. De Los Albores del Comercio a las Grandes Superficies (Madrid : Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación , 2002), 296.
32.
The Spanish model differed substantially from that of Italy, in which the fascist government aimed to “discipline” the retail sector during 1922-1940. See Jonathan Morris, “The Fascist `Disciplining' of the Italian Retail Sector 1922-40,” Business History40 (1998): 138-64.
33.
Casares et al., La Economía de la Distribución Comercial, 116.
34.
See Casares and Briz, “ Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” 95-96.
35.
The first variety store in the world was installed in United States in 1878. Variety stores did not reach Europe and Spain until the 1930s. Nevertheless, it was in 1960 when the first important store was open in our country. See Alfonso Rebollo, “ Grandes Almacenes y Almacenes Populares,” in Javier Casares, ed. et al., La Economía de la Distribución Comercial (Barcelona: Ariel, 1987), 220.
36.
Gregorio Núñez , “Modernización de las Ciudades Españolas Durante la Crisis Política de la Restauración,” Ciudad y Territorio. Estudios TerritorialesXXXIII (2001): 252-54.
37.
David-Sven Reher, “Urbanization and Demographic Behaviour in Spain, 1860-1930,” in Ad Van der Woude, Jan de Vries, and Akira Hayami, eds., Urbanization in History. A Process of Dynamic Interactions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990): 282-99; Gloria Luna, “La Población Urbana en España, 1860-1930,” Boletín de la Asociación de Demografía Histórica6 (1988 ): 25-68; Antonio Gómez Mendoza and Gloria Luna, “ El Desarrollo Urbano en España, 1860-1930,” Boletín de la Asociación de Demografía HistóricaIV (1986): 3-22.
38.
Francisco J. Monclús, “Las Ciudades Españolas en la Edad Contemporánea. Procesos de Crecimiento y Estrategias Urbanas,” in Francisco R. García and Francisco Acosta, eds., Córdoba en la Historia: La Construcción de la Urbe (Córdoba: Ayuntamiento de Córdoba, 1999), 362.
39.
José L. Oyón , “Crecimiento de las Ciudades,” in Francesc Bonamusa and Joan Serrallonga, eds., La Sociedad Urbana en la España Contemporánea (Barcelona: A.H.C. , 1994), 12.
40.
Monclús, “ Las Ciudades Españolas,” 358; David-Sven Reher, “ Ciudades, Procesos de Urbanización y Sistemas Urbanos en la Península Ibérica, 1550-1991,” in Manuel Guàrdia, Franscisco J. Monclús, and José L. Oyón, eds., Atlas Histórico de las Ciudades Europeas. Península Ibérica (Barcelona: Salvat-Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 1994): 1-30.
41.
Luis Lanaspa , Fernando Pueyo, and Fernando Sanz, “The Evolution of the Spanish Urban Structure During the Twentieth Century,” UrbanStudies40 ( 2003 ): 577.
42.
Leopoldo S. Díez Cano, “¿Ciudad «levítica» o Ciudad Diferente? En Torno a la Historia Urbana de la España Interior,” Historia Social26 (1996 ): 63; Oyón , “ Crecimiento de las Ciudades,” 13.
43.
Julio Vinuesa , “Dinámica de la Población Urbana en España (1857-1991),” Ciudad y Territorio. Estudios TerritorialesXXVIII (1996): 195; Jacinto Rodríguez Osuna, “Proceso de Urbanización y Desarrollo Económico en España,” Ciudad y Territorio55 (1983): 26-29.
44.
José M. Serrano, “Las Ciudades Capitales de Provincia en España. Un Crecimiento Primado e Ininterrumpido,” Estudios Territoriales22 (1986 ): 126-27.
45.
Gonzalez points out that most Spanish cities were unsuccessful because the dynamism that can be seen in the nineteenth century was short-lived, and after this takeoff, many cities went into a long lethargic period. Only the large cities escaped from this scheme by the beginning of the twentieth century. Esmeralda González, “ Industrialización y Desarrollo Metropolitano en España,” Ería26 (1991): 200.
46.
Monclús, “ Las Ciudades Españolas,” 358; David-Sven Reher, “ Desarrollo Urbano y Evolución de la Población: España 1787-1930,” Revista de Historia Económica4 ( 1986): 62; Elena Estalella and Enrique Gubern, “ Estructura Funcional de las Ciudades Españolas en 1900,” Estudios GeográficosXXXI (1970 ): 27.
47.
Santiago Zapata et al. eds., La Industria en Una Región no Industrializada: Extremadura, 1750-1990 (Cáceres: Universidad de Extremadura, 1996); Severino Escolano, Comercio y Territorio en España (Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias , 1988).
48.
José M. Martínez Carrión, “La Industrialización Española y Las Fuentes Fiscales. Una Valoración Regional Desde la Contribución Industrial, 1856-1950,” in VI Congreso de la Asociación de Historia Económica (Girona, 1997): 3; Santiago González and Manuel Redero, “La Matrícula Industrial Como Fuente Histórica al Estudio de la Ciudad de Zamora en 1935 ,” in Fuentes y Métodos de la Historia Local (Zamora: Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos , 1991): 443; José Antonio Miranda, Hacia un Modelo Industrial. Elche, 1850-1930 (Alicante : Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, 1991), 47-61.
49.
Horacio Capel , “Estructura Funcional de las Ciudades Españolas en 1950,” Revista de GeografíaII (1968): 93-129.
50.
Joaquín Díez Nicolás, Especialización Funcional y Dominación en la España urbana (Madrid: Fundación Juan March-Guadarrama, 1972).
51.
Estalella and Gubern, “Estructura Funcional,” 23.
52.
Luis Racionero , Sistemas de Ciudades y Ordenación del Territorio (Madrid: Alianza, 1978 ).
53.
Andrés Precedo , La Coruña, Metrópoli Regional ( La Coruña: Caixa Galicia, 1990); Andrés Precedo, “ La Estructura Terciaria del Sistema de Ciudades en España,” Estudios Territoriales24 ( 1987 ): 53-76.
54.
Jesús Mirás , “La Estructura Profesional de Una Ciudad Terciaria: A Coruña, 1900-1960,” Geo Crítica/Scripta Nova163 (2004). http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sn/sn-163.htm
55.
James R. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
56.
The number of inhabitants in La Coruña evolved in the following way: 1900 = 43,971 inhabitants; 1910 = 47,984; 1920 = 62,022; 1930 = 74,132; 1940 = 104,220, oscillating between fifteenth and eighteenth place in the national urban hierarchy. The ratio for 1914 has been calculated with respect to the nearest census (1910). In 1931 this number rose to 15.95 establishments per 1,000 inhabitants.
57.
The importance of the peddlers was considerable in the past, because they served as a complement to the periodic sales that took place in the markets and fairs. Nevertheless, their social consideration was very low, and they always suffered the opposition of the established commerce, gathered in guilds. Gloria Nielfa, “ Conflictos de Intereses Entre los Comerciantes Establecidos y la Venta Ambulante en Madrid (1900-1930), ” Anales del Instituto de Estudios MadrileñosXXI (1984), 469.
58.
Jesús Mirás , “El Puerto y la Actividad Económica en la Ciudad de A Coruña, 1914-1935,” Geo Crítica/Scripta Nova177 (2004). http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sn/sn-177.htm
59.
Pamela B. Radcliff, From Mobilization to Civil War. The Politics of Polarization in the Spanish City of Gijón, 1900-1937 ( Cambridge, Cambridge University Press); José M. Cardesín, “` A Tale of Two Cities': The Memory of Ferrol, Between the Navy and the Working Class,” Urban History31 (2004): 329-56; Andrés Precedo et al., Vigo, Área Metropolitana (La Coruña: Caixa Galicia, 1988); Francisco Pérez Rojos, Cartagena 1874-1936 (Transformación Urbana y Arquitectura) (Murcia : Caja Murcia, 1986).
60.
Elvira Lindoso , Empresas y Empresarios en La Coruña, 1830-1914 (Madrid: FUNEP, 1999).
61.
Casares and Briz, “Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” 95.
62.
Manuel Gallego and Juan González-Cebrián, “Análisis del Desarrollo Urbano de La Coruña,” Ciudad y Territorio1-2 ( 1975): 67-93.
63.
The income levels of the urban population should also be taken into account. But its calculation has traditionally presented many problems. For this reason, we still have no reliable estimates available.
64.
Antonio López, “ La Coruña y el Ahorro Gallego, Con Algunos Apuntes Sobre la Política Monetaria y las Entidades de Crédito,” in Presente y Futuro de La Coruña (La Coruña: Instituto José Cornide de Estudios Coruñeses, 1984), II: 279-334; José A. Alonso, “La Banca y la Economía de Galicia en el Primer Tercio del Siglo XX,” in José L. García Delgado, ed., España, 1898-1936: Estructura y Cambio (Madrid: Universidad Complutense , 1984): 189-236; Lindoso, Empresas y Eempresarios en La Coruña, 5, 207.
65.
At the regional level, La Coruña stood out as the administrative, commercial, and services city, while Vigo and Ferrol were the two main industrial centers. Ferrol's industrial base was linked to ship-building, thanks to the state naval policy that set the long-term economic evolution of the city. Vigo had an increasingly diversified industrial structure, although linked to maritime activities, as well. The economic orientation of these three coastal cities maintained a close relation with the strategies developed by their local bourgeoisie.
66.
Galician and Spanish banking sectors have adapted to the transformations derived from World War I. The Banco de Vigo (founded in 1900) took advantage of the industrial and maritime growth caused by the war to increase its activity and expand throughout the region. Joan C. Maixé (dir.), Margarita Vilar, and Elvira Lindoso, El Ahorro de los Gallegos. Orígenes e Historia de Caixa Galicia (1876-2002) (La Coruña: Fundación Caixa Galicia, 2003), 108, 133. In this case, and in the two main banks of La Coruña, their administration boards (and their issued capital) were constituted by the most dynamic elements of each local bourgeoisie.
67.
Toboso, Grandes Almacenes, 26.
68.
The first third of the century witnessed a growth and modernization of the regional agrarian sector. Manuel Barreiro, “La Generalización de la Producción de Mercancías y la Modernización Productiva de la Agricultura en Galicia, 1876-1976,” Revista de Historia EconómicaI (1983): 133-46. This allowed an increase in the imports of several agricultural inputs (chemical fertilizers, machinery, and so on) and the development of certain farming exports. The port of La Coruña was the main vehicle, both for arrivals and departures. On the other hand, during moments of blockage of the foreign sector, the urban commercial sectors reoriented themselves towards the Galician and local market.
69.
M. Rodríguez , El Comercio Mayorista y Minorista en el Sector de la Alimentación (La Coruña: Cámara de Comercio, 1973).
70.
Prices were lower than the Spanish average during the first third of the century in La Coruña. During the First World War, however, prices rose substantially, in line with the Spanish economy as a whole. Assigning a value 100 to the period 1909-1914, in 1920 the index for the province of La Coruña was 198, and reflected the ninth largest price increase in Spain. Nominal wages, on the other hand, grew by only 58 percent over the same period. The consequent loss of purchasing power finds La Coruña ranking seventeenth in a list of provinces, indicating the extent to which real wages had fallen in Spain. Estadística de Salarios y Jornadas de Trabajo Referida al Período 1914-1930 (Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social, 1931); Movimiento de los Precios al por Menor en España Durante la Guerra y la Post-guerra, 1914-1922 (Madrid: Instituto de Reformas Sociales, 1923).
71.
Carmen Delgado , Las Pequeñas y Medianas Capitales de Provincia en el Proceso de Modernización del Sistema Urbano Español ( Las Palmas: Universidad de Las Palmas, 1995).
72.
Crisis Industrial de las Capitales de Provincia. Resumen de los Informes Remitidos por los Inspectores del Trabajo en Mayo-junio de 1921 (Madrid: Instituto de Reformas Sociales, 1921).
73.
Boletín de la Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de La Coruña, November 1916, 1-2.
74.
Jesús Mirás , La Actividad Pesquera en el Puerto de A Coruña, 1914-1960 ( La Coruña: Universidade da Coruña-Instituto de Estudios Marítimos, 2003), 3-5.
75.
Jesús Mirás , “ Una Modernización Inconclusa. Estructura y Transformaciones Económicas de Una Ciudad Española de Tipo Medio. A Coruña, 1914-1935,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Universidade da Coruña, 2004).
76.
Bruno Lanvin, “ Services and New Industrial Strategies: What is at Stake for Developing Countries? ” in Peter W. Daniels and Frank Moulaert, eds., The Changing Geography of Advanced Producer Services (London: Belhaven Press, 1991): 197-210.
77.
Mirás, “Una Modernización Inconclusa.”
78.
Marcos and Montiel, Historia del Comercio , 296-97.
79.
The history of small commerce and trades are mixed, due to the fact that the establishments were born linked to craftsmen workshops, in most cases regulated by strict guild norms. Ernst Samhaber, Histoire du Commerce ( Paris: Arthaud, 1963 ). On the other hand, the movement towards the nineteenth century industrial system led to a rise of a great variety of functions related to the tertiary sector in the cities. At the same time, incipient urbanization brought a larger demand and, therefore, a greater movement of goods and a stronger dependency on other areas, which increased the possibilities of commercial distribution.
80.
The first department stores dates back to 1852, in Paris (the Bon Marché). Hrant Pasdermadjian , The Department Store (London : Newman Books, 1954), 86; John A. Dawson and Steve Burt, “ Evolución del Comercio Minorista en Europa,” Distribución y Consumo9 (1999), 25.
81.
In Spain, the first establishments that fulfil the requirements of a department store were founded in Barcelona during World War I years, and in Madrid by the mid 1930s. Nevertheless, the first department store to be considered as such was Galerías Preciados, which opened in Madrid, in 1943. Casares et al., La Economía de la Distribución Comercial, 219.
82.
Javier Casares and Alfonso Rebollo, “Distribución Comercial. La Aceleración del Cambio: 1966-1991, Veinticinco Años de Revolución Comercial en España ,” Distribución y Consumo1 (1991): 10-38.
83.
Rodríguez, El Comercio Minorista. A report by the Ministerio de Economía y Comercio (La estructura del comercio interior en España, n.d., n.p.) showed that Spanish retail was still characterized by an enormous smallholding character, economic marginality, and a considerable resistance to evolve.
84.
Toboso, Grandes Almacenes, 24.
85.
Luis Antonio Giadás, La Vida Política Municipal en La Coruña Entre 1900 y 1931 (La Coruña: Ed. do Castro, 1997), 37-38.
86.
Jesús Mirás , “The Spanish Tramway as a Vehicle of Urban Shaping: La Coruña from 1903 to 1962,” The Journal of Transport History26 (2005): 20-37.
87.
Casares and Briz, “Una Revisión Histórica del Comercio Español,” 19.
88.
Rafael Sande , La Coruña Económica y Financiera, 1938-1965 (La Coruña: Instituto José Cornide de Estudios Coruñeses, 1966), 20.
89.
Clifford Guy, “ Classifications of Retail Stores and Shopping Centres: Some Methodological Issues,” GeoJournal45 (1998): 255-64; Neil Wrigley and Michelle Lowe, eds., Retailing, Consumption and Capital: Towards the New Retail Geography (Harlow: Longman, 1996); Rosemary D. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas , eds., Retail Change: Contemporary Issues ( London : UCL Press, 1993); Larry O'Brien and Frank Harris, Retailing: Shopping, Society, Space (London: David Fulton, 1991).
90.
“Pétite Entreprise et Croissance Industrielle de la Fin du XVIIIe Siècle à nos Jours dans Cinq Continents,” Actes du XV Congrés International des Scienes Historiques ( Bucarest, 1980, III): 113-53. On the other hand (although it is not the aim of this paper), the working and accommodation conditions of the store assistants were apparently quite deficient, even despite the promulgation of labor laws, such as the Ley del Descanso Dominical ( 1904). Información Acerca de la Jornada de Trabajo de la Dependencia Mercantil (Madrid: Instituto de Reformas Sociales, 1912). This report advised that the working hours were excessively long—usually ranging between twelve and sixteen hours per day—in all the Spanish provinces, including La Coruña, and that they had not diminished since the beginning of the century. The entrepreneurs seemed to systematically disobey the laws. Nielfa, “Mercado y Organización del Trabajo ,” 146. The comparison between salaries and the cost of living during 1910s and 1920s shows very unfavorable results for the shop assistants ( Nielfa, “Mercado y Organización del Trabajo ,” 140). In 1918 the government passed a new regulation of the sector, which was very important, because, for the first time, it effectively controlled the working hours in retail, fixing them at ten hours daily. It also established a guideline to inspect working conditions. Ley de 4 de Julio de 1918 Reguladora de la Jornada de Dependencia Mercantil y Reglamento Provisional Para su Aplicación Aprobado por Real Decreto de 16 de Octubre de 1918 (Madrid : Instituto de Reformas Sociales). Even so, in 1919 the effective working hours still surpassed the legal maximum. “Duración de la Jornada de Distintos Oficios y Términos Geográficos de España (marzo 1919),” Revista de Trabajo8 (1964): 241-84.
91.
Lindoso divides urban economy into twelve sectors. The average invested capital in commercial firms ranked tenth, and only surpassed three sectors (hotel trade, personal services, and real estate activities). Elvira Lindoso, El factor Empresarial en la Galicia Atlántica, 1820-1913 (Ph.D. dissertation, Universidade da Coruña, 2005), 202, 385.
92.
Lindoso, El Factor Empresarial en la Galicia Atlántica, 298.
