Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-01
The John Wedderburn Co.
New Idea Family
Liquor Store.

u family trade liquor store has been De-
veloped by The John wedderburn Com
p pany at 61s F st. NV. 1t Is really a oe-
partment store In the spirit line. and at
8, first sight 1t has more the appearances
of drug store than of anything eise-
=. The Offices of the company have been AT
. the above address for two years past
>. but 1t Is only within two weeks that the
. store Idea has been put into execution
. and the result is one OF the most at
Z tractive places Imaginable, where any
lady can go to make purchases LOT inc
= family, though, as matter OF fact'
much of the trade and the ordering -
3 done over the telephone
= The store IS an attractive place ana
;, well worth visit, II merely from curl
ositv, The counters, plate-giass cases
:. and all the fittings of the place are as
= has been suggested, more reminiscent
, of a drug store than OF anything else
p There is no odor of spirits in the air.
and the whole business of the retail de-
g partment is conducted by women clerks
The floors are of linoleum and mosaic
n and the easy chairs and tables are IN
. keeping with the cool white wood Mt
,, tings and general air Of quiet and ease
The cases and windows are lined with
. the wines and liquors of all countries
3 and cllmes. from the champagnes anu
burgundies of France to the clarets ana
= sauternes Of the Pacific coast. There
. are the beers and ales of England, the
q gin of Holland and liqueurs from all sec
q tions of the continent. with domestic
,, cordials of all sorts made in this coun-
= try, and a whole assortment of both
. foreign and domestic whiskey.
= While the place has been established
to do a general business in liquors and
, spirits. the standby of the establishment
Is the Wedderburn Rye. Back of the
a effort to get this whiskey satisfactorily
established In Washington, there Is
. long story. The rye is a blended
y whiskey Those who are expert enough
> TO want to know can ascertain just
3 what the blend is. but. this is n matter
of more or less technical discussion. The
, point is that the whiskey Is a blend that
has the softness and the flavor that a
q straight whiskey cannot have. The
> management of the company claims
:. that it Is the best whiskey on the mar
y ket. and they have taken rather IN
= usual method Of proving 1t. They say
> that man who drinks in a bar, in the
first place, is seldom in a position to
really judge liquor on its merits, and.
in the second place, is seldom sure of
> getting what he calls for. Therefore
) they have undertaken for time to let
7, any one who wants make a practical
8 test of the whiskey at home in competi-
ton with any other standard brand.
, The liquor IS regularly sold for $l.25
J" bottle, and for time the firm is going
to continue selling it at this price, and,
? in addition, to give away with 1t a
standard bottle of any standard brand
= of whiskey called for. This is rather an
but II 10
any one who wishes TO take home the
8 two bottles and compare the contents.
. The company says that they are willing
TO stand on the judgment of the GUS
? toner. and II he does not prefer the
: Wedderburn to the brand he has been
: in the habit of drinking, he can get his
, favorite brand cheaper at the companys :
store than at any other place.
a This is also an innovation. Sometimes
3 a store. for the sake of the advertise -
ment. viii cut the price of a standard
3 brand of liquor for Il while. But the
. Wedderburn company has made an ar
rangement whereby it can continually
! supply all of the standard brands at
from ten to thirty cents less than they
. are sold for elsewhere. The company is
, part of a syndicate with stores in all
parts of the country. and there are
;, agents out all the time buying Up big
! Consj gnments OF liquor wherever there
is a chance to get 1t at special price
2 There are continually occurring failures,
= deaths. over stocks and the like, at
which big cousignments OF standard
? liquors can be had cheap II the pur-
: chaser can take them in quantity. The
agents of the syndicate have enough
> money to do this and distribute the
stocks among the various stores of the
= country as they are needed. so that the
, Wedderburn place is able always to
offer Hunter. Sherwood. Mt. Vernon.
8 Wilson and a dozen other brands at
y ninety. eighty and even at seventy-five
cents bottle. as the case may be.
3 1t is partially owing to this method OF
= handling standard goods that 1t can af-
ford. for time at least, to give them
y away In order to have them tested be-
side the Wedderburn Rye. Mr. We'd
= derbuTn. in speaking of the matter,
, said:
Il believe that the only way we can
2, ever prove to the public that the We'd
p derburn is really what 1t claims to be,
the best rye whiskey obtainable, Is to
8 have it tried out by the consumer at
home / do not want to stigmatize all
;, bars as dishonest. but you have no idea
J OF the number of cases in which we
have found that our bottles We're being
!, refilled. We tried the best we could to
2 combat II. The old, old problem of the
unreliable bottle. of course. suggested
= Itself TO US, and we tried over hun
. dred designs, In fact. all on which pat
ents had ever been granted by the
3 Patent Office. and some on which they
: had not. We had a special man. who
thought he had bottle of that sort
p perfected. and we kept him on a salary
and experimental TIL we had sunk over
!, 5000 in the attempt Then he went
3 away. and now he is working for dis
tillery I know of. stfli trying to do the
4 impossible and bring out that bottle.
THE only way, to my mind that you
can do is TO get the public educated TO
3 the quality OF our goods, and then they
: VIII know II they are being fooled over
a bar. and will keep the Wedderburn at
home. where they cannot be fooled In
preference TO any other.
J. And l VIII say this, especially on
= catering to the home trade that we
have to keep this brand up to standard
q II we want to keep the trade. We can
y not afford to let anything go out that IS
going to lower the reputation of our
= best article of goods and we must keep
: that up to standard to keep up the
reputation of the other goods in the
p place For instance. II you buy your
) whiskey here for some time and then
,, find that II does not keep up to stand
p ard, you are not going to give US your
wine trade or any other sort of trade for
q that matter. This is a business where
y you have to trust more to the integrity
OF the man who IS selling the goods than
q IN almost any other business. But X
: you are dealing with an honest man you
; viii get what you pay for.
J. Now we have cheap liquors OF many
, sorts. You can get whiskey all the
= way from 50 a gallon up. And you can
, get wines and cordials IN the same way.
AS to the wines and liqueurs. l must say
l.