Shops are real estate specially used for business activities, and are places where operators provide commodity transactions, services and experiences to consumers. Broadly speaking, the concept of shops includes not only retail business, but also real estate used for entertainment, catering and tourism, profitable exhibition halls, stadiums, bathrooms, and commercial business trading places with physical buildings such as banks and securities.
Shops evolved from "market", and Shuowen interpreted "market" as "a place for centralized trading", which is today's shops. The Tang and Song Dynasties were the heyday of China's feudal society. Chang 'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, was the center of cultural and commercial exchanges between the East and the West at that time. Chang 'an and its east and west sides are crowded with businessmen and many shops, and the business is very prosperous. Shops and markets were separated in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the capital Tokyo (Kaifeng) was the largest commercial center city at that time. According to historical records, from Dongjie to Xinsongmen (Tokyo), fish markets, meat markets, lacquerware and gold and silver shops are the most concentrated, while from Xijie to the new main entrance, there are fresh fruit markets, jewelry and jade shops, and everything is available outside Donghuamen, the imperial city. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival records the scenes of ancient shops and commercial streets in Ceng Xiang.
According to the above review of the history of shops, we can define "shops" as follows, that is, shops are places where operators provide goods trading, services and experiences for customers. Compared with the previous definition of shops, there are similarities, that is, shops are first and foremost places for commodity trading; The difference is that the concept of modern shops includes not only trading functions, but also service functions and sensory experience functions.