The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-24
ALL BRANC HES ARE THE SAME.
CHRISTMAS BUsINEss BEGAN EAR
LIER ANDaTIAsssHOWN NO
LET-UP.
Their Stores Have Been Crowded to
Their Capacity From Morning
TIFF Night.

| since the 1st Of December has been bet
| ter than at any time since 1892, and
several Of st. Paul's leading stores say
| that their sales this year will be in ex-
cess of any year since they have been
in business.
The holiday trade commenced much
earlier this year than last and has
continued steadily to date, and the
merchants are looking for the biggest
| business day Of the year today. AS a
| rule, the Christmas trade does but be-
| gin until two weeks before Christmas,
| but this year st. Paul merchants have
been enjoying a fine trade since the
first Of the month, not only doing rec
| undertaking business during the last
| three weeks, but trade since Oct. has
| been excellent.
| Yesterday was probably the biggest
day with the large stores, despite the
| chilling gusts of wind which made it
unpleasant around the street corners.
| The crowd of jostling humanity who
crowded through the aisles Of the down
| town stores yesterday was probably
not as large as the one on Wednesday,
| but everybody who braved the cold
went to buy something, and there were
very few lockers down town yester-
| day.
The last week before Christmas al
ways marks the largest trade Of the
| year and this year Is no exception, but
| the rule Of the last day being the big
gest will probably be broken this year.
as it is doubtful if any more people
could have been damned into the big
| downtown stores than Wednesday.
ayatc, 10
peared today than were waited upon
Wednesday they would be unable to
accommodate them, for the jam of
Wednesday was unprecedented for that
time Of Christmas week.
The stores of st. Paul have presented
holiday appearance for three weeks
past and no effort on the part Of their
owners, has been spared to make them
look as attractive as possible. Many
of them have been hung with evergreen
and wreaths of holly, which, with an
attractive display of their wares has
given their interior a snowy appear
ance. Not only has the holiday trade
been the largest this year, but it has
been of a better class this year than
in former years.
The down town streets have also pre-
scented for some days past holiday ap-
pearance with their crowds of people,
with bundles and parcels of all des-
criptions, hurrying homeward with
their Christmas gifts, and very few
sad faces were seen fnsthe crowd. The
family to whom Christmas does not
bring some cheer this year will be rare,
as the number of people out of en-
ployment is comparatively small, and
those who have plenty have generously
opened their hearts this year as here
tofore, and provided fer Merry Christ
mas for everybody in one way and an
other.
L. L. May, of L. L. May & Co., said
yesterday they had sold carload of
holly and mistletoe since the first Of
the week. The trade on Easter lilies,
azalias, palms and. ferns had been ex-
ceptionally large this year. They had
received a large number of orders from
Montana and the Dakotas for cut flow
ers, which were to be shipped by ex-
press. This was something unusual.
B. H. Evans, of Schuneman & Evans,
said they had been doing the largest
business enjoyed csince they had been
in business. The class Of trade was
much better and they had had more
people in their store this season than
ever before. They were greatly pleased
with the way business had kept up
from the first ofsaDecember. On We'd
nesday they had had more people than
they could handle, and expected just
as large a crowd today The trade this
year on fancy goods and bric-a-brac
had been especially good and all de-
partments of the storeswere working to
their fullest capacity.
Jos. Elsnger, of the Golden Rule, said
they had done much larger business
than last year, and he thought with
out a doubt their sales would foot up
the largest in the history of the store.
They had 40, 100 square feet of fioorage.
of which about half was taken up with
show cases and tables, but the space in
the aisles of the store had been taken
I'D nearly all the time Mr.. Elsinger
said that Monday was almost equal to
Wednesdays rush, and they expected
big crowd today. in fact, If such
thing was possible. they would accom-
MEDIATE more people today, he thought,
as the last day was always the big
gest The people were buying more lib
orally, which was caused, he thought,
by the improved times, and also that
most people were sure of their positions
now that everything seemed to be OPEN
ing up, whereas year ago few people
could count on their positions.
B. F. Goodkind, of Mannheimer Bros.
said: "The wave of prosperity has
struck US. we are doing the largest
business III our dHu IOIlS Ildy
1t continue" He said people were buy
ing largely fancy goods. and they had
never done better and larger business.
ard experienced longer season.
F. r. YerXa, of Yerxa Bros. & Co.,
said their business was way ahead OF
last year and was better than for some
years past. In the candy department
people were buying a better grade of
confectionery, and in that department
al hoy ovnonfad IN sell 40 000 r1O1ndc
of candy during the week. They also
sold thirty tons of sugar weekly, the
year round. Yesterday was a good day
with them but today would undoubted-
ly be the largest in thelyear. They had
had fine trade all week; people were
buying all kinds of groceries. Fancy
goods were in THE lead and there had
been an unusually large demand for
staple goods. ,f
A member of 1.-THE firm of Michaud
Bros reported their November trade
way ahead Of their November trade last
year, 1897 way ahead of 1895. and the
Christmas trade of 1897 far in advance
of 1896. They had had-a large trade on
/ fancy groceries. finei wines, and fine
cigars, and If the coming year saw as
great an improvementover 1897 as this
year had over the preceding one, they
would be we'll pleased. They expect
their largest trade today, although they
had been rushed all week.
Field Schlick & Col said they were
we'll satisfied with this years business
and especially the Christmas trade.
Their rush began over three weeks ago.
which was very much earlier than
usual. The people had bought better
class of goods this year, and as whole
there was an improvement over last
year They had put in a new depart
ment recently of sterling ware. leather
goods and cut glass, which had been