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Along with patent medicine makers, department stores began advertising heavily in newspapers and magazines in the late nineteenth century. By the early 1890s, more than 20 percent of ad space in these media was devoted to department stores.

By selling huge volumes of goods and providing little individualized service, department stores saved a lot of money—and passed these savings on to customers in the form of lower prices (as Target and Walmart do today). The department stores thus lured customers away from small local stores, making even more money that they could reinvest in advertising. This development helped further fuel the growth of a large-scale consumer culture in the United States.