The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-12-29

Il AHAs NJ % OhGs
In the current issue OF scribnsr's Mags-
cine there is begun q series OF articles
under the general title, "Conduct of
great businesses In the United States. -
The opening article deals with the depart
ment store. The pSfpess OF the series is
not so much to prefent statistics as to
show the part that mems brains play In
the organizing, tie originating and the
developing Of large enterprises that are
commonly recognized as s'great busi-
nes'es" ano perhaps there 10 nothing OF
the sort that people generally Gre more i'm
mediately familiar with than the great
collection Of shops gathered under ore
roof that has become known as the de-
partnent store, rather than the bazaar,
and that has revolationized the retail
bufiness Of the country In the larger
towns and cities.
Tho department 5tore is not OF course
an American institution, and the writer
OF the article in scribner's points out
that not one OF the tremendous estab-
iishmentl has reached the magnitude of
the precursor of them nll, the great bon
Marche ~ Paris, witch, upon capital
OF four millions Of dollars, does busi-
ness Of $4,000. 900 year. about double
that of the lsrgest American store, with
profits CT million and a half, or more.
Many ct our own stores, however, do
business equal to that OF rai road with
a thousand miles of service. Oue firm IL
quoted as srending $500, 600 year In adver-
tising. Single departmcnt, in several
storoi do businss, OF $4,000, coo ysar
and in the busiest days quite hundred
thousand parsons visit several OF the
lsrgos. stores in tho large cities. The
writer 's,imatss thar there GRE todsy in
the United ststeI one thousand distinctly
impoitint stores Of this kind. In many
instances the jobtes Is entirely eliminated
In taeir purchasing trsn,aotions and In
not few cafes these retail establishments
are manufacturers in mary important
lines. It 10 recalled that In the early
days Of the branching out into Depart
ment stores tne enterprising merchants
met with considerable opposition to their
plars, not only from other tradesmen but
from tho public at large, who looked ask
anoe at the mixing up of other lines with
dry goods or clothing for instsnce, and
In Pbiladelphia, the press kicked up
tlne rumpus in the way of criticism be-
cause dry goocs store proposed 90 s,ll
nmbre las and canes. But the depart
ment store continrei to expand until
today In many OF them there i no article
obtainable anywhere on earth that 1t, or
like 1t, is not to ne found.
The article rsferrsd to Is worth reading
by every shoppsr--snd all the world goes
'shopping now days We &c, an i'm
pressive idea Of the magnitude OF the op-
'rations inyolyei in the running Of thess
big establishments aud there are half a |
iozea in our city that are conducted |
'pon precisely the plan OF the store that |
he writer citss az ons example, where are |
'mployod from $500 to 5000 people, that
conductsu al daily expense of 5000 |
o meet which was sold last year nearly
10, oOO, 900 worth of goods, the highest
,riced Individual article teing q $500 Or
hestrian and che lowest priced being
eprssentad by "a patent clothes pin for
me cent; and that, with all this tremen-
|ous business OF small things at small
rices rather than with big individual
alos, the establishment looks mainly for
IS profits to the cash discounting of its
ills. Our American department stores
re especially distinguis bed from the big
'aris shops il appears, In that the Coop
raiive system, or profit sharing, has
ardly got foothold any where among
be former.