shop-walker
Shop-walker is a British term for a floor supervisor in a retail store — a member of staff who walked the shop floor directing customers to the right departments and overseeing sales assistants.
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Shop-walker is a British term for a floor supervisor in a retail store — a member of staff who walked the shop floor directing customers to the right departments and overseeing sales assistants. The role was a feature of large Victorian and Edwardian department stores, where the shop-walker was an imposing figure of retail authority. The term is largely obsolete, replaced by 'floor manager' or 'department supervisor,' but survives in historical accounts of retail culture and Victoriana.
The shop-walker guided her firmly toward the haberdashery department with the air of someone who had done it ten thousand times.
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(British) A retail store floor supervisor.
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