The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-20
Poor Relations
hose Out Of Joint
Fin de Steele Second Hand Clothes Bureau Gets ALI the
SartOrial Plums-Tbs Big Business and Profit
able in the Large Cities-Beneft of
These Agencies.

| scoops in everything worth while, and
the simple folks down to the Vineyard
or up to Cooperstown never get so
much as a whiff or shifting of their
fine relations wardrobs Business peo-
pie of perception, keen for the main
chance and alive to possibilities, have
got hold of the secondhand clothing
trade and are fast altering its repute
| The junk dealers and cheese pairing
| lack-wits still carry on their picayune
commission business in back alleys and
smeared window shops, offering crum-
pied up, bedraggle garments 10 an
unknowing and easily pleased clientele,
but the backbone of the trade that has
! big profit in it. has gone up into ''ex-
elusive accommodation flats" and big
| mirrored business parlors in nice loca-
| tons, where nobody need be ashamed
to go. or feel compunction at buying.
| If the poor relation and his tribe could
visit some of these establishments,
they would realize that they were out
| of it once and for all.
Now, these are art galleries" went
on the auctioneer. I'VE sell rare mo-
sales. Carracca marbles oil paintings,
Venus Martin cabinets and rich bric-a-
brac. But this morning 1 sold fifty hats
and bOnnetS, the stock of a retiring,
l
of secondhand silk-lined gowns and
wraps, dinner. ball and street cos
| tunes. the real creations of world
famous modistes. You saw that tall,
rather Observation-Disclosures woman
who went out a moment ago? She
wouldn't strike one as a secondhand
clothes dealer, would she? But she bid
in nearly the whole consignment, and
she'll make a pretty figure out of it.
and make a number of clients happy
as the result of her mornings work.
| That woman has as many staff assist
ants at her beck and call as any
systematic business plant in Chicago or
Philadelphia, or any old town. She
doesn't confine. her operations to one
locality. or to two or three. She goes
about things in a dignified, matter-of-
course way that allayS scruples and
assures her trade.
=" Transactions confidential is pre-
faced with an asterisk at the foot of
her announcement cardS-cards that
she sees to it reach the right people,
and she has dressmakers, cleaners and
remodelers all ready and at hand, and
strategic ways for disposing of her
goods that would do credit to a great
/ general or skilled diplomat. / know
of four or five other notably success-
full secondhand dealers in various
parts. The best of them do a legiti-
awake to be taken in. The rising mark
of luxury has put distinct CONNER
cial value on clothes. A dress made
OF the best silk or cloth that can be
found, and lined, trimmed and fitted
out with costly material, has always
value. The same thing with good jew
elry that is little old-fashioned, with
dimity, linen, and fine white goods
only needing making over TO be as
serviceable as ever; with shoes a trif1e
off the latest tip, but scarcely worn;
with opera cloaks and furs only need
ing the cleaners and reGnodeler's good
graces; with fianneis slightly shrunken
and worn out, but good for a long time
still. All these the dealer turns to
good account, putting the best fore
most and choosing the right clientele
Ito show them to. A fashionable Wo-
! man now has to have 50 many and va
riously assorted appointments for DIFF
ferent functions. and must needs com
ply so strictly to the styles, that the
clothes don't get chance TO wear out
before being thrown aside; and, more
over, they are so costly, and those that
must replace them are 50 costly, that
any hard cash put in the owners hand
on their account is not TO be snlfted
at. The secondhand dealer has evolved
from these conditions; and TO bring the
people who could use these cast-offs in
S1S0I ana VI lllS beiA - Ne.N@
enough to those who know how
How They Advertise.
"A lady suddenly called into mourn
ing having distinctive new costumes,
made by frst-class artists. will dis
pose of same at half value: seen be-
tween and 5, second floor apartment,
No. SIG Blank street" will be the an
nouncement in the For Sale" column
of a prominent daily. No. 519 is in
good neighborhood; the lady called
into mourning must be fashionable
person, with things worth seeing, the
readers conclude. They go to see and
price; madame knows how to display
her goods. The lady in mourning does
not, of course, appear, and the cleansed
and remodeled costumes from the art
galleries sale find buyers.
Lady going abroad for year will
sell her scarcely used outfit of costly
wraps and gowns, all bearing trade
marks of we'll known makers, is an
other private sale announcement is
suing from the same source. The adj
dress in this case proves to be the par
Tors of a well established dressmaker.
the aide-de-camp who assisted in the
refurnishing, refining and putting in
order OF the garments.
In the Sales Rooms.
That's an Arnaud gown worth $500.
The price now $780," says madam as
the fine-figured young woman model ;
revolves slowly in order to show OF I
a superb peach blow satin, en- train
and trimmed with effective lace and
floats of ribbons. Madams customer
knows good stuff when she sees 1t. She
knows when dress is built on good
lines. and although she may not swal-
low the entire $500 fable, she realizes
that when madam has dropped s2o on
the $95, she will be getting the worth
of her money She sits down in a
rocker TO think it over, while an at |
tendant brings her a pick-me-up and !
gets ready to show off other bargains. !
The women who go to overhaul, price
and size up madam'S wares are OF the |
sort who would never buy cheap things /
in a shop, and who never wear cheap I
clothes, however plain. but who, al !
though ambitious, are limited in means !
and have TO exert all their energies in |
making OUT on a skinny allowance.
They would never take a gown or |
q wrap with a Soiled lining in it, or a |
rubbed and worn foot frill, or other |
direct give-away. but the bureau looks |
we'll to these details before Offering. !
and in nearly ever case gives good |!
value.
The manager knows we'll when TO |
put in a word that will give romantic |
interest or additional Importance to
her wares.