The sun., 1902-12-28
STRENUOUS MONDAY SHOPPING
WOMiN'S WEEKLY RUSH on the
BARGAIN COUNTER.
Customers who Are on Hand Earl,-A
Time Of Hard Work In the Stores
Rivalry Between shoppers Bargain
Hunting as Confirmed Habit.


Rivalry Between shoppers Bars ain
Hunting as Confirmed Habit.
The dry goods man who established
Monday as bargain day in the stores OF
this town has got a lot to answer for. II
he is alive to-day he ought to go into one Of
the big stores early some Monday morning.
look upon the result of his work and then
retire to a monastery or some other quiet
and secluded spot and spend the rest Of his
days in repenting the evil he has done.
A store isn't a store on Monday morn.
ings any more. 1t is a battlefield, with
women as soldiers, and each woman an
army In herself. fighting for different
cause, and little needing the comfort or
desire Of the woman next to her, the woman
dozen PAGES from her or the frantic ono
on the outside fringe Of the melee. II ia
great battle and il is waged every Monday
morning in the stores OF this city, the ami
mating motive Of every person engaged
in 1t being to buy some thing that has been
advertised the day before at a less than
the usual price before some other woman
can cut in and get it ahead Of her
They come early on Monday morning
and stand around outside the stores wait.
ing for the doors to open. Each woman
has little batch of clippings in her hand.
She has clipped sections Of each stores
advertisement out of the Sunday papers
and she consults them and compares them
with the skill and dexterity that a form
player Of horses displays when he is figuring
out winner from the dope"
The shop girls arrive and go in the side
door. They groan as they note the ever.
increasing army Of bargain hunters and
hear the clatter of their tongues as they
discuss the particular material in which
they propose to invest their money. From
the general conversation each woman gets
the drift Of the other woman's intentions,
and where they happen to conflict with her
own, she man9uvres for better position
in the rush line that Is waiting for the doors
to open. II some other women should
get to the hosiery counter ahead Of her
and get Ascent stockings for a quarter
and she had to take Accent ones for the same
price, she would never forgive herself,
and certainly would never forgive the other
woman.
The storekeeper is very artful. and by
punching his bargains stimulates com.
petition among the buyers. and is really
responsible for the Monday morning row.
They are all good flannel waists. but some
were originally marked IS. some n, others
S2 and still others $3.50.
Despite this range Of original values, all
are advertised to be sold at the uniform
price Of 9s cents. There is something about
f,ur-dollar or five-dollar-waist at es cents
that is irresistible to a woman. but when
she reads the advertisement she is filled
xx-ssH L. L.. -
get one q the higher-priced waists and the
fear that she may be obliged to take one
Of the cheaper. Therefore, with several
hundred other women who have read the
same advertisement and gone through
the same process Of reasoning. she In ear,v
on the scene, and quite prepared to elbow
thump and push any other woman VIII,
happens to get in her way when the grard
rush for the counter begins.
Night after night women stand on tho
Brooklyn Bridge platforms and cry -Brutesl'
and Beastsr' at the men who are shoulder
ing their way past one another to get seats
own sex at work on bargain day and maybe
they haven't, but II they haven't, the sooner
they do witness one Of these Monday morn.
ing spectacles the better 1t will be for
men.
AZ q - CiUNk tut stOfc uOOTS 0I0 OpSuoQ
and TIE first rush begins By Q o'clock
the counters are SO crowded that later
comers cannot see what Ia being sold un-
less they happen to be six feet tall.
Women on the outskirts protest because
women in front won't get out of their way.
The women in front stick their noses In the
air. there are some choice remarks, not pro-
fame but crushingly sarcastic, and then the
floor walker steps in aud tries to straighten
the matter out.
kA L.
doesn't. A. rule he gets II from all sides
and finally retires. wondering how II is
that some men can sit back while their
money earns them SIS, 900 a year, while
others have to stack up against propo-
sition like this for $25 week.
Hostilities on the outskirts Of the crowd
are interesting, but the real trouble is In
the front ranks. Two women grab the
same article and begin to examine II. One
saws:
Il haven't finished looking at this vet,
madam!'
Indeed" says the other. "You will
have plenty Of time II decide not to take
well. the ideal"
Some women haven't any manners!"
should say they hadn't
Sometimes the saleswomAn gets tho
trouble adjusted, sometimes she doesn't. II
the row goes on too long, the crowd be-
hind takes hand In 1t. The other women
all the room around the counter, they reach
over and pluck an article from the pile and
y anything is said about il, they get very
dignified and say:
Well. res,ly. madam, I don't want 20
wait here all day long while you talk to
your friend"
As rule 1t is the unfortunate saleswoman
who suffers. When the customers get
ured OF abusing one another they turn on
the saleswoman. II one woman gets an
article another woman wanted the sales
woman Is blamed for selling it to her.
Many disputes arise over who has first
laid hands on an article and OF course it
TO be settled by the woman at the counter.
A girl who gets through Monday with
ont at least twenty complaints to the mana
ger about her regards herself as very lucky
indeed
The Monday morning bargain sales are
haro on the employees Of the stores, but
they are great money makers for the mer-
chants. The bargain hunters have money
TO spend and lots Of II and so long as they
get bargains, real bona fde bargains. they
are satisfied
The store people say that year in and
year out the Monday morning crowd is
made up OF the same people. The same
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