The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-03-15
Wholesale Trade OF Charleston

We extract the following from the
Charleston Ne,rs, of Friday:
The impression that New York
was the only commercial CITY
in the United States, is gradually
leaving the brains. of the few who
were deluded into visit to that
metropolis with the hope of purchas-
ing cheaper goods. These wanderers
are now fast returning to their first
love, and have become convinced
that Charleston is not what her enc
mics represent her, but that she still
possesses the same reputation aud
the same elements Of success that
made her SO popular as market in
by-gone years. Ihe old houses are
gradually being revived, and even
those lately formed are filled with
familiar faces. The wholesale mer-
chants of Charleston have determin-
ed that the old city shall not retro
grade, and they have used every
means IN their power, and have
offered every inducement to their
former customers, to bring them
back.
Although the stocks are not as
large as they formerly were, they
have been selected with even more
care, and the quantity is lost sight
of in the quality and the prices
of the articles now offered for sale.
The facilities for communicating
with the city are now perfect: and
although her sister cities have enter
ed the list as competitors with
Charleston for the country trade.
yet the latter has been steadily re-
gaining her popularity, and is now
III a condition to supply all demands
made upon her. Havne and Meeting
streets have long been known as
the great head centres of the whole
sale trade, and their glory has not
departed. Many of the old stores
are now occupied by their former
owners, and the same faces that once
welcomed the country merchants to
examine their stocks are still to be
seen, and the same business integ-
rlty which caused the Charleston
houses to he so Justly celebrated is
preserved, as q guarantee to the
buyer that his purchases will be
what they are represented.
''Slow but sure is the motto that
the South has been forced to adopt.
and although her steps are cautious,
yet she is still advancing, and her
future will be the more glorious as
1t will have been made only by her
own strenuous eXertions From Sc
veral unfortritoCs circumstances
Charleston has Oeen retarded in this
march of progress. bnt rctrospec-
tive glance viii show that she has
nevertheless accomplished wonders.
Stores have been built and repaired,
until their former looks have been
forgotten; and better still, occupants
have taken possession before the
buildings were completed. This is
particularly noticeable on Havne
and Meeting streets. where the
ranges recently erected have thrown
into the shade their more unpretend-
ed predecessors.
\ stranger would have some little
difficulty i'll locating the different
establishments, but once inside. all
doubt would be removed, and his
purchases would be made with the
same confidence in the proprictors,
that he possessed before the war.
10 say that Charleston is rival of
New York would be nonsense: but
We assert il truth when we state that
goods can be bought as cheap in
this market as in any Northern
city, and those who go further will
find to their sorrow that, in the long
run, they fare worse.