The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-13
ALEX RICE'S OPENING
CLOTHING STORE FORMALLY
 THREW WIDE ITS DOORS.
Over Forty-Rve Hundred Mortgom- erfans Attended Occasion and Ad- nafred Beautiful Establishment
 nud Complete Clothing Stock.

| Over 4,500 Montgomery people at-
 tended the formal opening of the mag nifcent new clothing and furnishing store of Alex Rice Monday morning, af- 1 ternoon and night.
 From the bis, handsome plate glass | front to the neatly arranged dressing
 rooms in the rear of the building, there
 was constantly moving mass or hu- ! rnanity No nsore suspicious opening could have been had by business house. With a history of years Of | busia ass progress and prosperity be- | hind him, Alex Rice on Monday swung i open the doors of his new place Of busi- ness and showed the Montgomery pub | lie a store that in floor space, furniture stock and service has few superlors Tn the largest cities.
 From morning until night. the crowds poured through the big plate glass doors As each visitor entered q carnation was pinned on them There | were 2,500 of these carnations and long before the store closed for the night the entire number had been disposed of and there were hundreds who visited
 the store without receiving flower, al- though they were rendered to all. Nothing but admiration for the law
 ish regard for every detail could be
 heard in the expressions of the vast
 crowd Mir Rice and his associates
 were constantly complimentedN and the
 immense force of salesmen and sales
 ladies were busy throughout the day
 displaying the merits of their various departments.
 The store was beautifully decorated in ferns, palms and cut flowers. At the entrance were two massive floral horse-
 shoes bearing the legend Good Luck sent by one of the houses with whom Mir, Rice does business. The floral con
 tributions for the occasion were re- markably numerous.
 Near the front of the store was stack of telegran1s from various houses felicitating Mir Rice in his opening.
 In the middle of the store was the Bijou Theatre orchestra. the best musi- cal organization ever gathered togeth- CT in Montgomery. Both morning and afternoon programs were rendered..
 The new store. which occupies the entire building 6, [, and Court Square, formerly occupied by Goetter. Well & Co. and a large part as we'll of the building at the rear facing Lee Street was beautifully decorated for the open ing with palms and ferns. The hand some stock of suits, overcoats, wool-- ems and furnishings was displayed tas~ tily and during the day Hoffman's Bijou orchestra rendered delightful pro- gram cf music. Each visitor to the store was given a carnation. Visitors from out of town were free to pro- nounce their opinion that not even in the largest cities had they seen stores superior In point of convenience and nerfection of arrangement and fixtures. The tweutv-hve all glass show cases and the beautiful clothing cabinets for inc dispIav of fine suits and overcoats are the latest thing in the line of store fixtures. The stock displaYed shows careful and discriminating buying. Oualitv is in evidence in all lines. A
 raUaIfV the fuF-Hnpd overcoats, in seal. Russian hare and beaver.
 Fortv-four empIores ar4 necessary to the conduct of the immense business and in addition eighteen tailors to cara for the custom tailoring denart- ment. A feature of this department not annarent to the casual visitor is the sanitary workshops occupvino the third floor Of the Lee Street hui,dinE perfertly ventilated and lighted and equipped with every modern appliance of the taiIor's art.