The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-25
CAN SUPPLY ANY WANT.
A London Merchant Who Has Every
thing In His Stores.
William Whitley, Who Employs 5000
People and Owns over Twenty
stores-supplies Every Want of the
Citizen From Birth TO Death.
From the Haberdasher.

OlJl2en from Birth TO Death.
From the Haberdasher.
William Whitley, variously called the
Wizard of Bayswater,r the king of
Westboume Grove" the Great Mogul
Of West London" is a Yorkshireman by
birth. At the age of 16 William was APP
prenticed for four and half years to a
firm of diapers in the town of Wakefield.
In the spring of 1851 great worlds fair
was opened in London, the first of its
kind, and such was the impetus it gave 10
the world of commerce that every provin-
cial, however humble, deemed it his duty
TO reach the metropolis. Young Whitley
scraped few pounds together and be-
took himself thither.
BY dint of hard work aud thriftiness,
IN 1868 he had managed to save a few hun
dred pounds and began To look around for
proper way of investing the amount.
During his wanderings in search of a
suitable location, Whitley happened TO
pass one day through Westbourne Grove,
when his eye fell on a placard in a shop
window announcing that the place was
to let.
81 stood and had good look, )" he says.
Il rather liked the general appearance of
the place, | stood opposite for two hours,
and l felt quite sure that if / had that
shop and took care to have the window
nicely dressed and ticketed at prices COM
handing a sale, had seen enough passen-
gers and traffic go by in the two hours to
insure sufficient business TO pay expenses.
| then inquired about the shop from a
man who had the letting Of it. / found
there had been two tenants in it since it
had been built and that both had failed.
However, felt that that was their own
fault, and not of the shop or its situation.
So ] made up my mind TO take il. | spent
my little money on the shop and started
business on March Ii, 1853 with two
young ladies and an errand boy TO assist
me.o
At the conclusion of the first twelve
months he was employing sixteen sales
men and women, and two light porters,
and three years later the enterprising
young tradesman-he was little over 30
years of age-was able to rent the ad-
joining shop, which he further extended
by building over the garden at the rear Of
the house.
NOW OWNS TwENTY-oNE STORES
His most rapid rise, however, dates
from the year 1873. At that period the
retail trade of the United Kingdom was
suffering from a general and prolonged
depression, due partly to the coming into
existence of large stores conducted on the
cooperative plan, with which competition
became next to impossible. Thanks to
the double advantage of cheapness, and
an ability to supply every ordinary want,
from clothing down to cOmestibles, these
stores for while threatened to wipe out
their smaller rivals throughout the me-
tropolis. When Whitley discovered that he
had this depression TO encounter on one
side, and the keen competition of power
full organization on the other, he decided
to adopt the very methods that were
bringing success to his rivals. He real
lied that the success OF the "co-opera-
tiVes' was due not TO the small member
ship fee exacted from every customer,
but TO their enormous volume of business,
which enabled them TO secure proportion
ate discounts at their base of supplies.
With this end in view. he first made sure
of competent help Then he set to work
with unflinching perseverance and untiE-
ing energy to extend his already well-es-
tablished business until it should surpass
all its rivals.
His dream had now been realized. Shop
after shop has been added to the estab-
lishment, so that there are fourteen in
Westboune Grove and seven in Queens
Road, the former being brick buildings,
the latter stone. A few hundred yards
away are extensive stables, accommodate
ing 400 horses, and at Craydon another
large stable. Then, again, there is the
Manor farm at Finchley, which supplies
not only large quantities of fodder, vege-
tables, fruits and flowers, but meat and
dairy produce for the provision de-
partment. From this farm alone sixty
two-horse wagons come to London daily.
Whitely's great ambition seems to be TO
deserve the appellation of Universal
Provider." He aims at supplying every
want of the citizens, from the moment he
sees the light of day (Which includes
medical attendance at his BIRTH to the
moment he skuffles of this mortal coil
and this last phase includes the coffin,
the hearse, the parson and the plot IN the
cemetery. OF course, Whitley acts as a
mere intermediary in many cases, but he
will secure you medical attendance, all
the same at pretty short notice; he will
build you yacht, engage actors for you,
find tutorship for your children, and so
forth and so on. He will do all this for
you at discount for ready money, and
having beaten down the doctor and the
undertaken, the shipbuilder, the actor
and the tutor, he will pocket handsome
profit.
MERCILEss IN sTIFLING COMPETITION.
But his enterprise does not end here.
He deals in fowls of the air, the beasts Of
the field and the denizens Of the deep
alive for the aviary, menagerie and aqua
rum, dead for the table Of the epicure.
Do you require railway ticket, or wish
to arrange for journey 10 any portion of
the habitable globe' Whitley is your
man, for through some ''scalpinQ' process
he is able TO accommodate you cheaper
than even the renowned Cook He will
book you at any London theater, sell or
buy your stocks and shares, attend TO
your real estate transactions, bank your
money at per cent interest.
collect your rents. and manage your
property. And while he is thus occu-
pied he finds time 10 do the largest dry
goods, clothing and general utility article
business in the world. Every shop in
Westboure Grove and Queens Road rep
resents different branch of industry. II
is told as characteristic of him that on
one occasion, when lady asked for GER
tain kind Of Indian chutney not at the
time in stock, she was requested 10 take
a seat, while an employee in a fast cab
drove to the heart OF the city TO obtain
the article from the importer, which she
got for less than the usual retail price.
Coy waiting rooms are placed at the
disposal Of the women. provided with pa
pers, periodicals, writing materials and
lavatories. while the men have their
smoking and louDging compartments.
Even the footmen are not forgotten, a
room being set aside for them.
Whitley, in building up his enormous
trade, has done so at the expense Of
dozens, nay hundreds, Of smaller fry He
has mercilessly run them to the ground