Huckster shop to superette : an ethnohistorical analysis of the development of the outport shop on the southern Avalon Peninsula (Nfld.)

Keough, Brian M. (1975) Huckster shop to superette : an ethnohistorical analysis of the development of the outport shop on the southern Avalon Peninsula (Nfld.). Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis attempts to deal with a specific entrepreneurial phenomenon characteristic of many Newfoundland outports in the 20th. century - the outport shop. To this end the study commences with an overview of the mercantile credit system of the 19th. century. The purpose here is to show how this system contributed to the emergence of the shop as a petty but crucial alternate supply system to the outport. Consideration is given to certain historical events of the 20th. century which furthered the shop's development owing to their impact on Newfoundland in general and the study area in particular. The use of credit at the shop was fundamental to their growth; hence, there is considerable discussion of this aspect of shopkeeping. In this context some attention is also given to the development of the shopkeeper-client relationship. The final portion of the thesis departs from a preoccupation with economic considerations to deal with the shop in a social context. The prime focus here is to examine the social costs and profits which are peculiar to small indigenous enterprises, not only in Newfoundland but cross-culturally.

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