BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-09-15
The Corner Grocery.

.
The small American retailer, espe-
cially the grocer, is not alone in his
complaint that the department store is
Slowly but surely driving him to the
wall in the larger cities. In England
the same complaint is heard, and if
trade report are trustworthy the plight
of the English small grocer is becom
ing desperate, so much SO, in fact that
in certain cities he is resortipg to self
protective measures which smack stron-
ely of the boycott. The small Ameri-
can grocer has but one enemy, the de-
partment store. The English grocer
has two, the cooperative societies and
the limited companies, large organiza-
tions which scatter branch stores
throughout the country and by we'll
known and easily understood economi-
cal systems are able to undersel1 the
Individual trader who does business on
a comparatively small scale, The
growth Of this business during the last
few years has been like that of mtsh-
room. One company operates 23o sto-
res, and there are half dozen with
headquarters in London which operate
from ten to sixty branches. The way
in which they press on the individual
grocer is seen in the fact that last year
for the retail grocery trade as a whole
was one of the most disastrous in the
history of England, there having been
no less than o34 failures with liabilities
aggregating $375oooo. And yet for
these companies it was one Of the most
prosperous, one of the largest declaring
a dividend of IS per cent.
But dangerous as these. companies
are as rivals TO the individual grocer,
the latter's real enemy is the cooopera
tive society which is now so popular in
all parts of the kingdom, particularly
in the north. In 1883 1850 of these
societies were registered which report
ed sales of goods Chiefly groceries,
amounting to $o2ooo,ooo. In 1900 the
number of societies had increased tc
I43o and the sales to $25o277,535. lr
the former year the total membership
was o27o25 in the latter year it hac
grown to I,7o7,oII. AS an illustration
of the way these societies are cutting
into the trade which once was securely
lodged with individual merchants. Leeds
with a population of $4,000 has co
operative society with eighty branche:
which last year did grocery bushes:
of over S. 100000. Bolton with a popu
lation a third as large as that of Iced!
has a society which last year did a busi
ness of s. 100000 Manchester and Sal
ford have a society which does between
them business of So 100000 a year.
All this trade is at the expense O.
the "corner grocery" and in severa
parts Of the kingdom the grocers have
organized to fight these societies. The
first battle ground will be the city o
St. Helens, town of $1,000 people. 1t.
cooperative society has a membership
of 9 900. each member representing al
average Of five persons, SO that consider
ably over half of the population btly
their groceries Of the society. The sale!
for the last quarter amounted to S323,54,
!, on which there was net profit o
E$44,73o yielding IS. rod in the poun6
On the members purchases, returned tx
them as dividend. Here the regula
retailers have formed an association t.
fight this all-devouring rival. They
have issued a proclamation calling
|" clergymen, professional men, bankers
master builders, joiners, plumbers, paint
ers, saddlers, wheelRrighs, smiths
agents and shopmen to refuse to havs
anything to do with the stores or with
any one who is connected with or trades
with them, with the implication that i
they refuse to accede' to this reques
they are likely to get into trouble. ST
nilar movements are being started il
o.her towns and the whole question i.
very likely to come up in the next ses-
sioa OF parliament when it will be pro
posed that these societies be compelled
to pay the income tax. In Glasgow i
is said that the grocers waged a partly
successful campaign but it is more
! difficult undertaking in a town like St
i ielens where the members of the SO
ciety are able to save 10 per cent. O
their grocery bill each quarter by trad
ing at the cooperative.