Evening star., 1901-12-14
Bargain Sales Discussed.


day to day and in January and Sep
tember we have semi-annual sales.
This keeps the stock cleaned up,
keeps our money moving, and brings
new trade to the store. There's
everything to be said in favor of a
certain amount of legitimate bargain
advertising'
lust what do you mean by a le-
gitimate bargain?"
Il mean where we actually mark
an article that has been selling at Our
regular price down to a lower price,
the transaction is a bona-fde bar
gain"
What a Bargain Is.
Everybody knows that many
things are advertised as bargains
that are really not bargains. There
are two ways of running a bargain
sale: One way is to take stock that
you have on hand in the regular
course of business-good, fresh, at
tractive, valuable northumberland
mark it below cost-below the ordi-
nary selling price, at any event.
The other way is to pretend to
mark the goods down or buy a lot
of inferior stuff as a job lot some
where and then have a bargain sale
of it just as if it came right out of the
store. It's easy enough to fill up
store with all sorts of stuff that looks
pretty good and pretend to offer it at
a great bargain, trusting to the ex-
citement of the occasion to carry off
the goods; but we don't do business
that way. We never buy anything
for the purpose of offering it as
bargain unless it is first quality, and
we never mark anything up for the
purpose of afterward marking it
down. The regular price on every
piece of furniture, on every yard of
carpet, on every rug, on all draperies
in this establishment shows exactly
the same percentage of profit, and
when it is marked down it is marked
down from that price, and that is
why our bargains are genuine bar
gains.
FURNISHING is always a problem,
no matter whether it is a cozy corner
or million dollar mansion. There is
the question of cost, the question of
color, the question Of design, the ques-
ton of harmony, of utility and Of in
dividual taste. We have been help
ing people to solve these problems
for forty years. We have whole
staff of experts, who bend their en-
ergies to achieve the best possible re-
suits, no matter whether the amount
to be expended is $40 or $4,000.
We study room, we study house,
we study everything that enters into
the proposition, and we do not force
our ideas upon those who come to
us, but we endeavor to assist each
one of our customers to work out
his or her own ideas into the most
pleasing and permanently satisfac-
tory form, giving just as much time
to any part of this work and always
cheerfully, always enthusiastically.
Investigating Furniture.
owe stake our reputation on ev-
cry piece of furniture we sell. We do
not sell piece of furniture unless we
know it is up to our standard of quail
ity."
"How can we always tell?"
Because we investigate every
piece of furniture that comes into
this store"
"How do we investigate it,"
The investigation might be said
to begin in the forest. Travelling for
pleasure, I have taken occasion to
look up mahogany in the West In
dies and South America, and to look
up oak where it grows in various sec
tons of the country. have done the
same with other woods. Then we
investigate the way the lumber is
seasoned. I have visited the factor
les where the furniture is made and
studied every detail of the process.
We buy only from factories with
which we are acquainted. Most of
the firms we deal with we have
known for from fifteen to forty years.
"Are you ever deceivedY
eyes; but no manufacturer ever
deceives us more than once"