When the first big department stores opened in cities around the country they created a whole new way of shopping. Buyers could browse a huge range of goods in a warm sociable indoor ambiance that was entirely safe, and almost domestic. You could see and touch and even try on the goods, and discuss them with sales staff – it was a fully interactive consumer experience and even a kind of entertainment. Department stores were an immediate success, as were the suburban malls that appeared in the mid-twentieth century to provide much the same shopping experience outside the big cities.