Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-03-15
THE HARDWARE TRADE.
A Walk Through w. w. Woodruff d Co.'s
Establishment,

look into the progress of trade, in its varl-
Gus qualifications, the growth orexpansion
of particular branches is scarcely realized
/ even to the man of intelligence, engaged
in other pursuits, for although he may
have casually observed that Mr. So-and-so
was doing good business, yet as it did not
particularly concern him, he had given
the matter no special thought. s
Very few people outside of the trade are
aware of the stock that is to be found in a
! first class t.aJ
| -- HARDWARE HOUSE,
and walk through one would show hum
dreds of articles in the different depart
| ments, which one could not enumerate
without calling into requisition the service
of a catalogue. One of the largest estab>
| lishments of the kind in the State is that
of w. w. Woodruff & Co., of this city,
| which has been in operation since 1865, and
is doing a heavy business, i'll Tennessee,
North Georgia and Alabama, Southwest
ern Virginia, Kentucky and Western
| North Carolina. HH -
To give an idea of the rapid strides this
| firm has made in business circles. we will
state that the first stand they occupied was
the circumscribed room now used by Peter
Ritter as cigar store, sixteen by sixty
feet This was too small, however, and
the next was an old frame building, after :.
wards occupied by Peter Ricardi as con-
dictionary, that formerly stood where the
Masonic Temple now stands, but this, also
proving too small, Messrs. Woodruff & Co..
purchased the centre building of-the Cot
fin Block, which they have occupied for
the past seven years, and while. by renting
two rooms over Rhea's store their floor
room amounts too12, 600 feet, yet they have
not room enough and they intend in a
short time to build q house sufficiently
large to accommodate the necessities of
their constantly increasing trade
THE PURCHASES
are made from manufa cturers in the
United States and imported from foreign
countries direct, the firm label being on
every package of goods shipped from Wos-
tenholm or Wade & Butcher, the cele-
brated English cutlery manufacturers.
The basement is used for storing the
heaviest goods, and the first floor is the
7 business department aud general sales
room, while the second and third floors are
stored with goods in bulk, some just as
they came from the mandatory, for the
jobbing trade, while samples of almost
every imaginable article are placed for the
convenient inspection of merchants.
This house carries full stock of cutlery
at all times, they having in store one thou
sand to one thousand three hundred dozen
and comprising about two hundred and
fifty different styles ofpocket knives alone.
OF table cutlery they have about one hun
dred varieties, with upwards of fifty sizes
and styles Of scissors. .-..
They are large patrons of home indus
tries, the purchases of this firm from the
Knoxville Iron Company exceeding $780,
900 per annum. .......
Their stock of farmers, blacksmiths',
wagon and carriage makers, carpenters
and builders hardware is complete in all
the departments, while in saddlers' mate
rial and millers' betting they are equally
well supplied.
But without attempting an enumeration
of the thousand and one articles, varying
in size from burglar proof safe to carpet
tack, which they have in store,we will in
stead direct the attention of the reader to
the very conspicuous card of these gentle
men, in another column and invite mer-
chants living at a distance to look through
this house when next they visit our city.
THE SYSTEM
Adopted by this firm has been to take
young lads and let them grow up in the