 The goods on offer were in a constant state of change, due to the frenetic change in fashions.A foreign visitor commented that London was "a world of gold and silver plate, then pearls and gems shedding their dazzling lustre, home manufactures of the most exquisite taste, an ocean of rings, watches, chains, bracelets, perfumes, ready-dresses, ribbons, lace, bonnets, and fruits from all the zones of the habitable world".In the second half of the 19th-century, shops transitioned from 'single-function' shops selling one type of good, to the department store where a large variety of goods were sold.