The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-25
sHOPKEEPERs WATCHFUL.

SHOPKEEPERS wATCHFUL.
Another feature of the Rue de Rivoli
which think 1 shall not soon forget is the
game of spider and fly which the shop
keepers play. They lie in wait for you
behind their shop doors. especially at night
when business is not so brisk. For these
places are open at night and on Sunday,
too. after the shopkeeper has been to
church. If you stop more than a minute
or two before a brilliant show in one of the
windows the shOpkeeper pounces on you.
You are known for an American at first
glance. and il is the English speaking clerk
who says with her sweetest smile. Would
madam like TO see a pretty chain?" She
has the prices of all the things in the win
dow at her tongues end. but her chief en-
deavor is to wheedle you to go into the
shop. where she can exercise her persuasive
powers to the utmost degree.
i was in Paris when the first of the gun
metal ornaments came out, the long chains
which common now in the United
States, the cigarette cases and hairpins
and all the little articles Of bijouterie which
lThe French design and make so much more
attractive than our own workmen can.
For these French workmen are clever and
artistic. l met an American traveller who
told me with that lofty dissatisfaction
which is so characteristic of some Ameri-
cans abroad that he could get just as fine
and just as beautiful things on Union
square as he could in Paris. Which per-
'haps Is true. but the jewelry house on
Union square gets its designs from Paris.
where II has a permanent branch.
But 10 get back to the gun metal
wanted a cigarette case for a gift and saw
one amazingly cheap. judged by Ameri-
can standards, in a shop on the Rue de
RivoI Warned by past experience.
though. I told the shop woman's assistant,
who spoke English and who referred to her
employer the missus.' that the price
was more than I wanted to pay. She used
all her efforts of persuasion and COMPARE
son 10 prove that il was not too dear. Then
when 1 arose as though to go away she
called me back. A hurried conference with
''the missus' resulted in an offer, which I
met with a counter bid. and after some
haggling l got it at two-thirds the original
price
OF course. these tactics are not possible in
the big shops. where everything is plainly
marked-even the occasion" which is the
French for bargain. These bargains of the
cheaper sort are often displayed on the
sidewalk. At one end of the Magasin du
Louvre is a series of booths extending from
street to street. open TO the sun and air.
on which are displayed mems cheap straw
hats and shoes, women's parasols and cheap
petticoats. At the Bon Marche all the door
ways are fanked BY these out-of-door
stalls. At the Printemps they border the
sidewalk on all three sides of the shop.
Shoppers block these sidewalks as they ex-
anime the bargains, but that is OF no conse-
quence in Paris. where no one is ever in a
hurry.
The system of paying in the big shops
Is unlike anything in London or New York
AT intervals through the shop are cash
desks When you have made a purchase the
salesman leads you 10 one OF the desks,
purchase. ''Deux franc quarante cinq,"
cries the salesman in a nasal voice. 'Deux
franc quarante cinq.'' echoes the chashier
an a mOnotOnous baritone as he writes the
figures in a book which lies open before
him. he takes your money and hands you
your change. Meantime your salesman has
gone to wrap the purchase, which presently
he hands 10 you.
Altogether. the experiences Of an Amer
3can woman shopping abroad are not cal
cUlateG TO make her long for London or
Paris so long as Broadway and Twenty
third street within easy reach. She
may long for London and Paris, TO be sure
what woman does not? But that is an
other story A MD