The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-21
The Woman Buyer.
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
One of the largest stores in the city en-
ploys a woman as buyer and manager Tor
its cutlery department. Her trade sense is
as keen and trustworthy as the knives and
scissors she handles, and she has full
swing in all matters connected with her
department, her success in the past having
led the firm to rely on her judgment, no
matter what innovation she may see fit to
make.
Until recently women buyers were en-
ployed chiefly in the infants or women's
departments, in buying corsets and art'
cles exclusively feminine. But they are
being trusted with the buying Of higher
priced lines of stock, shoes, umbrellas,
leather goods and jewelry-departmen In
which. as in cutlery. men and youths are
as often catered to as women and children.
The fur department in one of the biggest
shops in a Northwestern city is controlled
by woman, who buys s25O0OO worth of
goods in a single season. She gets them
direct from the factories and makes such
shrewd selections that the men say she
can't be fooled on the value of garment.
In the little business volume published as
a buyers directory there are more than
nine hundred womens names registered,
firms all the United States that send
to New York for goods. Those who should
know say that there are more women buy
ers than this list shows-women whose
names are merely set down as s. Brown or
c. Jones, without the distinguishing prefix
of Miss or Mrs.
come such after a lorg apprenticeship in
the house that employs her, having begun
work a cash girl or in the taking care of
the stock, and worked her way through all
ha in a.
sionally bright woman with a talent for
comparing values will learn the market
and its possibilities and limitations in less
than five years time.
You may make sure that whenever a
woman occupies the position of buyer it is
because she is exceptionally qualified for
it, said a Twenty-third street merchant.
From the time that women first entered
the stores at all their ability to select was
noticed. What kept them from attaining
the highest positions and what holds them
back now was the fear that they could not
be trusted with money. / mean, they
couldn't be relied upon to make judicious
investments. Many women are incapable
in this respect. But the exceptions, the
successes, not only have keen business
instinct and conservatism, but they are
enterprisng and will risk getting novelties
to keep their department up to the mark.
Women buyers, too, are nearly always
in the store. A man, when his exact work
is over, goes away to pass the time pleas
antly. but the woman stays. and her en-
ployer gets all her time and attention.
They seem to love their work, and become
surprisingly familiar with the ms and outs
of their line in rival houses
II have this to say of one of my women
buyers that when she came to me $50 was
the highest-priced child's cloak L could sell,
and to-day s175 is no exceptional value for
my best goods in that line said the pro-
prietor of a fashionable store. This
woman has been with me twelve years.
When / would hold back about investments,
afraid that L was risking too much she
would represent matters so plainly that /
let her lead. She knows what our run of