The Portland daily press., 1898-12-26
MAS TRADE,
What the storekeepers Say About
sa 1T.

Up and down Congress street Saturday
evening surged the people. All ages were
represented in the throng and oil its
members carried bundles. 1t was repe-
tition of the scanes on the streets during
the last three days and there certainly
seemed to be no diminution in the ranks
of the Christmas shoppers. The crowds
in the stores did not dwindle until a late
hour, while the humble merchants whose
stores were the curb and whose stock in
trade were the tir trees and greens which
they had brought in from the surround
ing country, did thriving business. A
PRESS man mixed with the throng and
went in and out of the stores. he asked
in many oil them how the holiday trade
had compared with that OF last year and
the answers were monotonous, for all the
merchants had the same tale to tell. lhe
business mas been good, fact shown not
only by the remarks of the stcre keep
ers, but revealed by the size of the crowd
and the merry rattle and buzz of the
Gosh carriers as they slid along their wire
track to the cashiers station. Here are
the PRESS man:
| H. E. Murdock-My business is far
ahead of last year. / bought largely OF
goods for the holiday trade and thought
would have some left over. but have
had to replenish the stock and my trade
has been nearly double what antici-
pated.
n ST. u lorJvR r To
The trade is fully as good as last year and
possibly better. Although the weather
has been bad for winter clothing, we
have had a big demand for smaller arti-
clos, although our clothing trade has held
up remarkably well.
Inquiry at the store of L. f. Foss &
Sons, elicited the information that their
Christmas trade had been remarkably
good in all depar tments.
Albert Dirwanger-l Tho holiday trade has
been good and the demand for flowers
has been heavy. Cut flowers arc scarce
and high and it has been almost impcs-
sible to fill the orders. Holly has the
lead as it is used very extensively now
in Christmas decorating.
w. W. Sabin of Geo. G. Shaw Il Co. ~
Our Christmas trade is far ahead of last
year. Take it all through it is the big
gest Christmas trade we ever had.
Albert Rines of Zines Brothers Co..
1t is the best Christmas trade we have
ever had, and we are moro than salts
tations. We have completely cleared out
our Christmas stock, which is something
remarkable.
Alexis Menage of the W. S. Parker Go.
The trade has been remarkably good
ana is way ahead Of last year.
W. f. Plummer-The Christmas trade
is much better than last year. 1t has
come along very steady for the past two
weeks instead of in spurts as it sometimes
does, and am perfectly satisfied.
Fred NJ Hooper of Hooper, Son Il
Ileighton-Our trade this year has been
remarkable and is far ahead Of last year.
1t has more than exceeded our expecta-
lions.
Jamns A. Broe of Smith & Broe-Our
| Christmas trade has gone way ahead of
last year. We put in about double the
| stock of holiday goods and have cleaned
| out nearly all our stock of fancy articles
t. Carleton of the Atkinson Furnish
| ing Co.-Our business is ahead OF last
wear Trade was very steady and we are
moro than satisfied.
| W. G. Ware OF the Standard Clothing
Co.-Our business is ahead of last year
and has bean very Good. 1t has exceeded
our expectations.
Frank p. McKenney-I have done the
best Christmas business ever did IN my
| life.
Will TT Gondwin-We have done fine
Christmas business and ale way ahead of
last year. 1t has exceeded our expecta-
tions.
One Of the leading jewellers in the city,
man well qualified to speak on this
subject, says that the jewelry business is
better than it has beer for years and
seems to be steadily improving. People
seem to have more money to spend for
lux uries of this kind, which is certainly
craat hpuefit tn orr rnarchnntS