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Interior of the First National Bank, Philadelphia, 1957. Photo courtesy of the Historic American Buildings Survey

Fourth National Bank, Wichita, Kan., 1950. Photo courtesy of the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce

In this circa 1957 Cowboy Cleaners laundry and dry cleaning store, counter fronts and valances continue the company's western theme. In the late 1950s, Cowboy Cleaners operated 12 locations in Wichita, Kansas.Photo by Howard Eastwood, courtesy of Wichita State University Libraries

RadioShack store, circa late 1960s. Photo courtesy of RadioShack Corp.

RadioShack store, modern day

When Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, he had no idea that his invention would become a “wireless” craze more than 100 years later.

The concept for cellular phones surfaced in 1947 when researchers were trying to expand the frequency of mobile phones used in police cars. The Federal Communications Commission was slow to allocate the frequencies needed for mobile services. It wasn’t until 21 years later that the FCC freed the airwaves for business and consumers.

Portable cell phones hit the marketplace in 1973 when Martin Cooper, a former Motorola employee, completed the first cellular phone call —26 years after Bell Laboratories had come up with the concept.

Four years after Cooper’s landmark call, AT&T and Bell Laboratories developed a prototype cellular system and the first cell phone testing began in Chicago with 2,000 customers. The first commercial cellular phone service was launched in Japan, which set up a system in Tokyo in 1979. The United States followed suit in 1983.

RadioShack was one of the first retailers of cellular phones. After being acquired in the 1960s by the Tandy Corp., the electronic parts and products retailer began to expand nationwide over the next two decades. In the 1980s, RadioShack introduced a number of innovative items including the first high-performance satellite television system and the first mobile/portable cellular telephone in 1985.

By the 1990s, the demand for cellular phones was rising, with more than 1 million users. Retail stores owned by manufacturers and service providers began to appear, such as Alltell's first store in 1993.

Most cellular services were regional, however. Anticipating the next wave, RadioShack aligned with Sprint in 1997, becoming a pioneer in national cellular service and a retail leader in wireless communication. It now has strategic alliances with Sprint/Nextel and Cingular, and its retail stores offer a wide variety of mobile phones. Most people consider cellular phones a necessity today, and they carry Bell’s invention with them wherever they go.

During the last several years, existing cellular and technology stores have been changing store layouts, installing self-service kiosks, and implementing other changes to improve customer in-store experience, according to a 2005 report by research firm The NPD Group. New stores are appearing in more places than ever, from Shanghai to San Francisco, and even in tony areas such as Chicago's Michigan Avenue to New York's Fifth Avenue.

Service retailers prevalent in the 1950s included dry cleaners, like the one pictured here, and financial institutions and the postal service, which didn’t view themselves as retailers and merchandisers until the early 1990s. Today, banks and investment services such as expedia.com, e-trade, and ING Direct are true retailers. Shipping services such as Fedex, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service, egged on by greater competition and service options, are focusing more on merchandising and customer-focused retail environments.

Sources: American National Business Hall of Fame, RadioShack, AT&T, and others.