The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-07

hunting Tor a NlBn grace OF DiiC-
EWESpi a-brac and dry goods Of various
- kinds at cheap price is an occu-
patton only for the feminine portion Of the
race. If. however, one could hear crowd
of buyers for the large retail stores talk he
would find that their whole time is put in
looking for bargains. The buyer is. of
course an expert along his special line, and.
therefore, when he gets anything cheap it
is only so in price. for.the article must be
hrst-cIass in quality. The instant concern
goes bankrupt and it becomes known, the
place is besieged with buyers from the
stores that handle the same class of goods
that the bankrupt store does. and often in
this way the various shops about town are
able to have a sale with the prices so much
reduced that people often wonder if the
goods are as represented by the advertising
writer.
OF course, it is as essential for a mer-
chant TO buy as it is for him to sell. and
consequently every store in this city has it's
buyer or buyers, as the case may be, each
watching his department alone, and each
grasping every opportunity to pick up any
thing in his line Some of these men who
purchase for the large retail and wholesale
houses make annual trips abroad to all of
the large markets of Europe and lay in
their supplies from there. Others. however.
only find IL necessary to go as far as New
York and there buy from the commission
ers who represent the foreign houses. and
from these they can purchase anything.
Many buyers from Indianapolis do not buy
in large enough quantities to get their ar
ticles direct from the foreign manufacture
ers, and. therefore, are compelled TO buy
through the commission men in this cOun-
try. This is a great help to them, for the
reason that IL would require great amount
of running around all over Europe to get to-
gether the stock that these buyers want;
another way the commission men
of great aid to the buyers is that they very
often get goods that the buyer might travel
all over the world in search for and then
The local department stores do not have
eny particular system of buying, each
man who us engaged in this business has
his own tsas about such things and works
accordingly II is said that one of the most
essential things a buyer must possess is
forethought, because the goods that he buys
are delivered 10 him so many months after
he has purchased them that it is neces-
sary for him TO foresee what the demand is
going TO call for. One young man, who is
buyer for large local store, says that buy
ing is very discouraging work, and often
the goods look much better at the factories
than after they are brought to the store
THE TICKLE PUBLIC.
"Sometimes," he continued, lone will
have u large sale on one particular line of
goods, in fact will not have enough of it
TO supply the demand The buyer will nat
urally think that it is just what he wants for
next season, and will, therefore, lay in a
large stock of it, and after he has done this,
for come unaccountable reason, the public
will change its mind. and you couldn't give
away the stuff that was last years favor
lie. Often it will nearly drive a man wild
to come TO the store and look at the stock
he has bought; things that looked beauti-
full in Europe look cheap when you get
them over, here, and you can't get rid of
them. If anyone has Il in his head that the
life OF buyer is without troubles he is
greatly mistaken. Our path of life seems
TO be strewn with thOrns instead OF roses"
There is distinction between the buyers
who go to Europe and those who make their
purchases in this country. Some of the
local stores do not demand large enough
quantities to be able 70 buy direct from the
European manufacturers. and then the kind
of goods they handle does not warrant
them in going across the water. The toy
stores and those that handle various kinds
of art goods and glassware generally go
abroad to the countries where these things
are produced TO make their purchases.
Other buyers, however, claim that they can
do as well by only going TO New York and
buying through the commissioners. Toys
glass. art and Oriental goods are probably
handle.
Mr.. Albert L. Zoller. the buyer for
Charles Mayer & Co. in speaking of his an
nual trips abroad. said
Mr.. Mayer always accompanies me on
these expeditions, and we go in April and
return about June. The goods that we buy
on this trip are delivered TO us in October
for the holiday trade. In our European trip
We go to London. Paris, Berlin, Vienna.
Soi.neberg and Nurnberg. Probably the most
Interesting thing that we have TO buy is
toys, which, of course, we get in Germany.
They are for the most part manufactured
In the villages OF that country, and each
one or these hamlets has its own particular
kind of toy it makes and from which the
Inhabitants never vary. There is one ex-
eeption TO this rule. however, and that is
with the town of SOnneberg.
Here every year, from January to De-
cember, all through the Sultry DAYS of July
and August. when Christmas is the far
thest from the thoughts Of the rest of
creation. about 1900 people are working
Hike beavers TO meet the great holiday
rush. The town has no other Industry. and
the entire population finds its subsistence
its sole source OF revenue. III the manufac-
ture OF dolls which is really its speciality
and toys of other varieties. In speaking OF
the dolls alone. / may say that there are
about two millions made annually. and the
total cash value of the Christmas trade to
Sonneberg amounts to something over
1.-The goods manufactured in this place
consist OF two general classes-those of the
less expensive grades intended for home
consumption. and the more elaborate and
England. France and this country.
THE DOLL METROPOLIS.
at is needless to say" Mr.. Zoller went
\ on, that when one goes TO Sonneberg he
meets buyers from all over the world. and
they all, IL might be said. come for dolls.
for the making of which this place is IA
NOUS The dolls are made with bisaue.
china and metal heads. There are also dolls
that can talk, walk unaided cry and per-
form almost all of the functions OF the
normally constituted child toys Of every
conceivable shape. size and variety. SOL
diers, wagons. locomotives. ship sets music
boxes. Christmas tree ornaments and mar
velously ingenious animals some of them
life size and which. by means OF clever
mechanism, can initiate with wonderful
fidelity the sounds OF the animals they are
supposed To represent. The lambs bleat
the lions roar, the cats NEW. the dogs bark
the horses neigh ana the uninitiated visitor
suddenly entering one OF the wOrkrOOms
when the artisans are hxing in each animal
its proper vocal chords might imagine ami
mails in a menagerie bedlam had suddenly
broken loose
"A very interesting feature OF the toy
making Industry IN SOnneberg is the fact
thut considerable portion of the doll max
ing Is done Il. the homes OF the inhabitants.
Each family has its particular share In one