The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-04

The department store manager
leaned back in his chair.
This is the season of my discon-
tent" he said YEARLY.
'Wlherefore?" queried the writer.
Il thought Christmas shopping was
over"
The manager turned half flercely on
his interrogation.
80" emphatically, you cling to
the old idea that our troubles are
thickest around holiday time. Well
I'll edify you by informing you that
you are very much mistaken. My dear
sir this is our most troublesome
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 pos
ters. This is the season of my dis
content. because it is the time of the
shoppers keenest delight"
The manager gazed for a moment
at a particularly insistent group of
women wrangling around a circular
aisle counter, enclosing a black-garbed
clerk who was having her hands full
trying to fit out the red-faced crowd
with these famous A. 3. G. d. cor
sets were $3.50; now they're only ST."
Then he continued:
You should know that Christmas
is the time OF liberal buying-not bar
gain buying That comes after the
great holiday, when we've taken in
ventories 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, it is at this post-holiday
special sales season that we fully re-
alize the art of shopping and that
shopping-especially bargain shopping
is a universal leveller of womankind.
See that woman clad in silks and
furs and displa ying the unmistakable
hauteur of the arstocratic avenues.
rubbing shoulders with the woman
whose ong-out-of-style coat and
scanned face plainly indicate that she is
InC nara WOTklHR vile OI d IdlTly we'll
to-do mechanic? They're both attracted
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 encased in cloth and
whalebone costing not 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 shopping? Well, with her and
her kind 1t is a case of loving not ex-
clusiveness less. but late rising more.
The woman of fashion. as you know,
only rises in the morning after she has
had breakfast, which is generally about
10 o'clock.As a consequence, she reach
es the store around noon to find ii
overrun with classes below her. These
women have also been late in arriv-
ing. the majority not starting to make
their purchases much before II o'clock.
They're late, not because they rise well
in the day. but because they have to
attend to humble household duties first
thing of all-dish washing, sweeping,
scrubbing and starting the children to
school. and seeing to II that the ice
man or the milk man doesn't add few
cents to his weekly bill for personal
Innings
What's the result? Simply this;
that nine-tenths of all the shopping is
done between 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, be-
cause the rules of the store forbid
treating one customer with more con-
sideration than another and because in
all women the bargaining instinct is,
strong, and where one goes nosing
around the rest follow like sheep.
Department stores Hardest
Problem.
ut is to this feminine trait that l at
tribute the success of the department
store In securing a goodly portion of
the trade of stores denominated ex-
elusive or fashionable. These con-
Germs, as you kno<% Sfke no attempt
to draw trade by means of bargains
and special sales-a more modern and
less plebian phrase for the good, old
word of bargain-preferring to cater
TO those with long and extravagantly