In 1846 an Irish immigrant in New York named Alexander Stewart opened a business called the Marble Dry-Goods Palace. By (1)so, he gave the world something completely new - the department store. Before this, no-one (2)tried to bring together such a wide range of goods (3)a single roof. The business did very (4). It expanded rapidly and soon had (5)staff of two thousand. For Stewart even that was not enough, (6). In 1862 he moved to an eight-storey building nearby, (7)he renamed A.T. Stewart's Cast Iron Palace. It was, (8)for many years would remain, the largest shop in the world.

Others followed Stewart's example and soon there were stores (9)his in many major cities in the United States. We don't (10)when people started calling them department stores. The expression wasn't used in print (11)1893, when it appeared in Harper's Magazine, but the way that it is used there (12)it clear that it was already widely understood. (13)is certain is that department stores completely changed the shopping experience for millions of people. They offered not only an enormous range of goods, (14)also levels of comfort, luxury and excitement previously unknown to customers. Almost from the start they had restaurants, toilets and many (15)facilities, so (16)was no need to go elsewhere for anything.