Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-19
WOMEN AND CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
Some observations Made in q Biz
WashingtOn Store.


Washington store.
There are few things more interesting just
now than to stand at the corner Of 18th and
streets on an afternoon and watch the
crowds Of femininity that surge in and out
OF the great Boston Store. Inside this NAM
moth establishment, with its departments
by the score and employees by the hundred.
all is life and activity, BETTING the season
just before Christmas. A few years ago
the statement that Washington could sup
port business of such dimensions would
have seemed idle vaporing. but. as II In de-
NAL Of such a slur upon the city, Messrs.
Woodward & Lothrop have kept peggfng
away with business methods. enterprise
fatr dealing and a liberal use Of printers
ink until they have built up a trade that
would be a credit to any city in the coun-
try. 1t is an axiom in business methods
that when a firm has secured the conf
denR Of the women its success is practical
ly assured, and 1t is upon this. as the foun-
dalton stone Of their commercial structure,
that Woodward & Lothrop have built SO
well in the days since they first began In
this city on small scale in a store on Mar
ket space.
In an that time, however. there has never
been an occasion when the crowds of shop
pers in the Boston Store were as large as
they have been yesterday and today. The
holiday business this year has assumed pro-
portions far in excess Of last year, and,
judging by their lavish expenditures, II
seems hard to believe that these people have
felt the pressure Of hard times in the least.
Any number of new departments have been
opened up this season, until now II Is posi-
BILE to buy almost everything in the way of
the necessities or the Injuries of life, from
a ball gown to a chatting dish, clothespin
or a box Of face powder. That the women
of oh 8 a
way they patronize the store Speaking to
Star reporter yesterday afternoon, Mr..
Lothrop said: lone reason why women
have confidence in the Boston Store is that
we have made 1t an invariable rule never to
advertise an article that we did not have
and never to make any claims that we
could not substantiate. II any woman
sees an article advertised by us
and then fails to find 1t our
counters the reason is that II has been sold
to some one else before she got here. I
been cheated in the Boston Store It was her
own fault. We have a bureau Of complaints,
and we are ready and anxious at all times
to give complete satisfaction to any one
who is not thoroughly pleased with his or
her purchases from us.
In proof Of this, as IL were. a lady passing
by interrupted the converse ton long enough
to explain a little matter to Mr.. Lothrop In
which she thought she had had the worst
of 1t. A note was hastily scrubbed by the
polite proprietor, she was directed to the
proper department, with the assurance that
all would be satisfactorily arranged, and
she went off highly pleased with the treat
ment she had received. This is one of the
secrets of their success. In this way there
are few men who have such a large circle Of
personal acquaintances as these two busy
men. They seem to be always around on
the floor Of the store, very much in evil
dence, and neither one Is ever so busy but
what he can stop to politely answer an in
quiry from a customer. whether II be with
reference to a brocade dress pattern or a
paper Of hairpins. From the first they have
endeavored to make women feel at home
and welcome at the Boston Store, and the
good results Of this system are seen in the
liberal patronage they receive from the
female half Of Washington's population.