Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-01-03
THE BUYING MANIA.
Observations Of Floor Walker on Women who
Bay for the Sake Of Buying.

shopping said an experienced
| floor walker, lis, to considerable ex.
tent, habit, and know many instances
in which it has grown into a passion.
The remark is often made that women
come into these large general stores and
compel our saleswomen to show them
whole lines Of goods out of pure wanton-
ness. / do not think that such is gem
orally the case. The purchasers are
seized with the buying mania, that is
all, and if they happen to be out of
ready money. they feel obliged to make
believe buy. / know those customers
tolerably well and can pick them right
out if can only get sight of them in
the doorway. They will enter sort of
cast down. but brighten up as soon as
they get their eyes on the goods. The
sight seems to act on them somewhat as
cocktail operates on man; its reg
ular morning stimulus. Women haven't
the head to stand against a genuine
mark down. and if they can't buy them
selves, they are bound 10 see other peo-
pie buy.
"A man whose wife deals pretty
largely here told me last summer that
she had bought seventeen dress patterns
in two months, and had only three of
them made up. He said the habit ran
in his wife's family. Her sister, it
seems, had about two dozen pair of new
shoes of all kinds on hand last winter,
and only stopped buying when her hus-
band told her yarn about woman
being sent to private asylum for doing
such things. A dozen pair is not very
strong, but two dozen beats even Napo-
leon Ill, who had only twenty pairs of
boots when he was trapped at Sedan.
mo, do not think the buying ma
MIA is stronger than kleptomania, but it
is quite as strong. and, in my opinion,
good deal more genuine. Cases of
true kleptomania are rare.
us not kleptomania result of what
you call the buying maniac" asked the
reporter.
mot by any means. The two cases
are entirely different. The chronic
shopper has the habit of buying, that's
all; L have seldom known one to steal
anything. The true kleptomaniacs,
however, act from an irresistible i'm
pulse which only breaks out occasional
ly. There are bogus kleptomaniacs-
'magpies, we call them-who tuck
away anything they can lay hands on;
but they are nothing more than thieves.
People exaggerate somewhat as to the
number of sboplifters detected in stores;
we watch people closely nowadays"
1.-The worst cases among those who
have the buying mania well developed
are the specialists. A woman used to
come in here who would buy six dozen
handkerchiefs at once, and even repeat
the act on the following day. l under
stand that she is an excellent lady, who
is greatly beloved by her husband. He
once sold twelve gross of handkerchiefs
purchased by her, at auction, and his
wife did not miss them. 1t is lucky that
he is very wealthy man. As for the
stocking rage, they all have it. Gloves
used to be the great articles for run,
but stockings of all varieties are now
the craze. This has been the case for
a long time, but this year it is stronger
than ever. l do not think the average
woman is ever SO entirely happy as
when she is buying those articles. The
trade runs in streaks on stockings; when
we marked down those Isle thread,
silk-finished stockings from 80 to 45
cents this house was stOrmed. We have
about 900 varieties of those goods, vary
ing from 20 cents to $3.50 pair. There
is grade at $12, but we sell few at
that price. The affection for stockings
is very general among women. The
rich h,1v braa or forr dozen nf N bale
dozen varieties, but have known plenty
of women who were hardly able to buy
anything at all to pay IS cents or 81
for a single pair of stockings. l would
be willing TO make a small bet that if a
woman felt her habitual call to shop,
and had but dollar, she would pass
that amount in at the stocking counter.
''Some ladies take very strongly to
white goods and keep an immoderate
quantity on hand, but it is not a very
expensive taste. Those, however, who
indulge in multitude of hats, as some
of them do, have to pay heavily for
their fancies. You would not think a
dozen hats small number for lady
to buy in a single season. Well, have
known women tospurchase thirty with
in that time. All women who have the
buying habit indulge in some leading
article. 1t is only when they cannot
afford that particular thing that they
take to the thread and needle business.
(Which are the most extravagant?
The lace buyers, by all odds. If you
could contrive to look over some of the
collections of laces in private hands, you
would be surprised. There are women
in New York who have laces to larger
amount than the average dealer is able
to keep in stock. Fans also are rage.
l know lady who has forty fans, but
somehow she doesn't manage to keep
herself cool with them"