Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-06
TOLD OF SHOPPERS
The Department Store He I'd
Grows Reminiscent.
PLENTY TIME ON HAND
HAPPY ONLY WHEN BIG SALES
ARE BEING MADE.
Trying to Please the Bargain Hunters
as Well as the Steady
Customers.
PLENTY TIME ON HAND

The department store manager leaned
back in his chair.
This is the season of my discomfort" he
said YEARLY
Wherefore" queried the writer. II
thought Christmas shopping was over"
The manager turned half fiercely on his
interrogation.
So" emphatically, you cling to the old
idea that our troubles are thickest around
holiday time Well. I'll edify you by in
forming you that you are very much mis-
taken. My dear sir. this is our most trou-
blesome period"
"Wherefore?"
Wherefore? Just look around you,
please. Behold the special sales signs and
placards and announcements everywhere
Haunting themselves. And look at the
struggling. bargain-hunting mass in the
shadow of the gilded posters. This is the
season Of my discomfort because it is the
time Of the shoppers keenest delight
The manager gazed for a moment at
particularly insistent group Of women wran-
Cling around a circular aisle counter. in
closing a black-garbed clerk who was hay
ing her hands full trying to fit out the red
D. corsets were $3.50; now they're only 81"
Then he continued:
You should know that Christmas is the
time Of liberal buying-not bargain buying.
That comes after the great holiday, when
we've taken inventories and inaugurated
sales Christmas crowds keep US moving
lively. but. as a rule, they are easily and
speedily pleased. while on the other hand
the bargain hunting hosts are ten times
more difficult to handle. Why? Simply
because they're looking for bargains and
trying to save money. instead Of spending
1t extravagantly, as at Christmas time.
Why the Rich Shop With the Mass.
Indeed, 1t Is at this post-hoiiday special
sales season that We fully realize the art
of shopping and that shopping-especially
bargain shopping-is universal leveler of
womankind.
See that woman. clad in silks and furs
and displaying the unmistakable hauteur Of
the aristocratic avenues, rubbing shoulders
with the woman whose g-out-of-style
coat and scanned face plainly indicate that
she Is the hard working wife of a fairly
well-to-do mechanic? They're both attract
ed to the counter by common impulse-to
see the bargain. More than likely she of
the furs will not buy, but the bargain idea
fascinates her. even though her waist would
revolt at the thought Of being incased in
cloth and whalebOne costing not a cent less
than SIS or $40
And you'd think, too wouldn't you. that
the lady's haughtiness would cause her to
select an hour when the mob isn't shop
case Of loving not eXclusiveness less, but
late rising more. The woman of fashion,
you know, only rises in the morning
after she has had breakfast, which is gen.
orally about 10 o'clock. AS a consequence,
she reaches the store around noon to find
1t overrun with representatives of all the
so-called classes below her. These women
have also been late in arriving, the major
ity not starting to make their purchases
much before IL o'clock They're late. not
because they rise well in the day, but be-
cause they have to attend to humble house
hold duties first thing of all-dish washing,
sweeping scrubbing and starting the chill
dren to school and seeing to it that the ice
man or the milk man doesn't add a few
cents to his weekly bill for personal lin
ings.'
whats the result? Simply this: that
nine-tenths of all the shopping is done be-
tween the hours Of IL and 4, and woe to
the pride OF any woman who thinks that
during that period she can be wrapped In
seclusion while making her purchases. She
can't. because the rules Of the store forbid
treating one customer with more consider
alton than another and because in all wo-
men the bargaining instinct is strong. and
where one goes nosing around the rest fol-
low like sheep.
A Department Stores Hardest Problem
ut is to this feminine trait that attrib-
ute the success Of the department store in
securing a goodly portion Of the trade Of
stores denominated exclusive or fashionable.
These concerns, as you know. make no at
tempt to draw trade by means of bargains
and special sales-a more modern and less
plebeian phrase for the good. old word of
bargain-preferring to cater to those with
long and eXtravagantly leaking purses. Here
the aristocratic woman can get all the isola-
ton she wants. but, bless me, lives there
woman with soul SO dead who never to her
self has said, please, where're the bar
gains?'
% lob,
woman to get out of bed before 10 o'clock
and of the average woman to let her break
fast dishes go over until later In the day,
the problem Of handling all these hosts OF
women, descending us simultaneously. is
the greatest one we have to cope with. The
average mind thinks the delivery question
our hardest, but it's smple-terribly simple
when compared with the other. For in
stance. we can keep our wagons at work
until midnight If necessary. and I've known
several times when we had our delivery
men ringing door bells as early as o'clock
in the morning. But, strong as the shop
ping instinct Is in woman. you generally
can't get her to stay with you later than
o'clock; and that's one of the reasons why
we lock the doors at that hour.
1--WE have to get at the shopping problem
in another way. and. while generally
manage to meet 1t, we invariably do SO at
a loss Of hundreds of dollars daily. I'll ex-
plain.
During special sales, as we'll as at
Christmas, experience has taught tempo
rarily to augment our force about one-third.
Our average pay roll contains the names Of
1900 salespeople; today 5000 are trying to
attend to the demands of the crowds.
"All Of the extra 1000 have had to be
employed by the day. despite the fact that
we really need them for only half day
and they work but little over that time.
Remember that I said that the shoppers
don't come down upon us in strength. be-
fore IL? Well, what shoppers do, put in
appearance before that hour arS easily
taken care Of by the regular salespeople.
In the meantime the extras are chewing
gum and yelling Mag and Name at ore
another in the employees rooms and pick
Ing up some bargains on their own hook.
A Shopping Trick Worth Knowing.
THAT reminds me Of a good shopping
trick that Is worth dollars to the initiated.
Nearly every big store permits its en-
ployes to leave their stations, after they've