New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-24
THE WHOLESALE GROCERS.
THE busr11No ACTIVITY OF THE SCENES SUD
ROUNDING BUSINESS OPERATIONS WHICH
A,aou:..r LNNIfALLY TO $3.50 900 600

49,
ROUNDING BUSINESS OPERATIONS WHICH
AMOUNT ANNUALLY TO $26o.ooo.
Tho Wholesale grocery district of New-Yorie
that bustng locality on the lower west side 70
A.. vicinity ~ Franklin and Hudson sts. con-
,.,r. within jts boundaries business houses
.,h,oh ora known all through the country. The
yearly transactions are on tremendous scai4
and the far-reaching influence OF the Operations
20 felt the wide world over. In TINS me NeW
york buys In almost every part Oh 'ne s'o"9
and the principal centres OF Europe give hon.c"
to the American representatives. ou ;,a "e GO Won
nous dealers in the good things OF ine, a. w .S
os tho necessities The annual business VI ING
sixty leading grocery houses OF TINS cry :. o
$3.50 600 600 year. During the prese',. se 1911
the war with Spain created new neio iol o ]e
and MANY a local bid was accepted py the 10Y
eminent i'm the way OF canned gooeS, pio.S
sIons flour, sugar and coffee. WINE III .ne ma
ioritv of cases the Army contracts gave 10
| odded rest TO business there were not rev IN
stances where losses were incurred. inns cano
about to a large degree through rise ~ "V ~.
during the first weeks OF the str u 70 sever
average total annual business tnere are o 49,
grocery houses which, combined, do al least
500 100000 -.
There Is an air Of activity in and around inc
grocery district which cannot fail TO interest," .o
casual observer Huge vans rumble through tho
streets. weighted down with boxes ana paeH
Some are FOR loading and others for unoaoins
Al warehouses;.
and fro checking off bills of lading and hurry
ing the drivers in order to have them eaten tne
next freight train or steamboat In the cdp@
cious salesrooms the goods are dispayeo III
manner calculated to tempt even the most
hardened buyer. Statesmen who know every
article of the hundreds for sale and the price
for each on more than dozen different KINDS
of discount are taking hourly orders the SIZE Oh
which would make the quiet little Keeper vi
country store doubt his senses. The whole trade
in all parts of the metropolis and with Its nun
| 10 oil
ment to forty or fifty thousand hands
Three quarters of the immense supply OK COL
fee which comes into the United states Is as
tributed by the grocers and importers Oh New
York The price Of coffee. as we'll as all othef
staples is fixed and determined here. or the
100 900 900 pounds of tea which comes into the
country fully three-ffths is handled In TINS
CITY despite the fact that quite large portion
comes by the way of San Francisco and the
overland route.
tween the producers and the small army OF
iobbers throughout every State. Chicago, Boston,
Philadelphia and all the large cities nave tneir
big wholesale houses. There Is one In Chicago
which is said to do as large a business as any
of the big local concerns. Most OF the jobbers
Of the interior buy from the metropolitan
firms, and in this way distribute the food pro-
ducts and staples to the hundreds OF thousands
Of retailers -
The wholesalers Of New-York to begin with,
have an exceptional field to operate in right here
at home. There are about ten thousand retail
groceries in the present New-York, which sup
ply the 100000 inhabitants with their daily
requirements. One Of the features Of the growth
of the business during the last few years is the
quantity of canned goods handled. This depart
ment has grown to unusual size Many firms
have their own factories and individual brandA
The business as It has both enlarged and con
centrated has required greater administrative
skill and finer trade tactics The $3.50 1000
gross transactions alluded to only yield an es-
timated return of per cent net Great houses
doing S., 100000 business year. with perhaps
$500 900 or 100000 capital invested, will have
at the end OF the year no more than $4,000 net
for the risks and keen work that have been
used in juggling with their capital laid out in
cargoes and trainloads Of groceries, subject 10
conditions that the wisest trader can only guess
at.
The wholesale grocer who used to hands,
only limited line Of staples, has become the
purveyor Of prepared foods. He is the vehicle
whereby the manufacturer Of things to eat and
OF many household conveniences finds a mar;
ket The principal business and the principal
profits Of a wholesaler are not in sugar, coffee
tea, dried fruits cured meats and cheese, but IN
prepared table articles. The wholesale grocer
is for the factory against the kitchen