The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-20
GREAT
IN HAT BUSINESS
Forty Richmond Travel.
ing Men Sell Hats In
Ten States.
RAPID GROWTH &.
IN TEN YEARS
This City is Gateway Is the
South, and Sells Millions 81 III
Dollars Worth Of Head SSa
gear-The Business i AZ
is Steadily In IN
creasing. 5133aS5 q; u

Richmonds advanta ges as a dis trl putstasHs
Ing point for the whole South are no siseyt
confined to any one line OF buslnessss2s
The quick railway connections and the ys
water rQte advantages are Just as fa-ssssSAs
yorable to ono line of business as g y. sss,aa nh
other and the result8ls that all classeSs$a
OF Wholesale business are growing from We
year to year al q prodlg iols rat
One would hardly believe It unless the ~,
figures were made plain. but IL can y ~ Il
demonstrated that Richmond has lliadaEttss
within tho past ten years more ra pld ffb
strides In It's wholesallng business tina
any city In the country AS the true HID IN
gateway to the South 1t is Invading ter f5 as
ritory that for many long years was n Ill
ground of Baltimore. Philadelphia ana ssTFs
& New York. Nh n 5 ss
81 Richmond to-day sells more goods to- hasts
retail merchants of Virginia, orth Ga ro=sss5;
lima, South Carolina and Georgia thanstly
does any other one city. In add ton es{s
divides the trade with other mark ets ;nSE
Tennessee, West Virginia !, Ala BAN al IT. r4sfI
Ida. mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
and slnvades parts OF Maryland, Ohio and III
Kentucky, and even more distant stat TN
5 Shows Great Increase
u Perhaps no business has shown great rg
increase within the past decade than that;5y
OF the Wholesale hat trade. The q. tactssaa
is that lip to about ten or @ dozen years hi
ago the hats that were wholesal ed n romEsss
Richmond were sold by houses engage sinYss
other lines. For instance. WHOLESALE drySSt5s
goods houses carried a small line Of hatsssS
lust to fill In and be able to plete the 81
buying list OF n visiting country nlerss
chant. Wholesale grocers also carrile08S2
n few hats Of the cheaper order, heavy IS
sun shades, ETC.. and the clothing men y IL
dealt to some extent in straw hats. ibssS
But something more than q decade ago
1.-The hat business became distinctive and NJ
the dry goods men and the grocers tSyerehI
willing enough to give up the businI s N
to the pioneers who established houses SF
10 &rthe exclusive sale OF hats g Wholle-ssa
sale. 5,i$ a NIX
| There are two houses In Richmond thar u
deal exclusively8in hats at wholesa le. TOT
wit: The EtchIson Hat Company, g Inc
porated, and q. d.. Stokes g. Company.gy
These are active and up-to-date bushes hi
houses that have pushed their bu stness "
into eight or ten States until they haYe6SIIss
given Richmond reputat ton as a VIII Dies n
sale centre that Is not only good busl..e hi Il
ness for them, but a splendid ADVERTISE.
ment for other branches Of business. Y ~
Not less than forty experienced trayei-sii'
Ing men represent these two # houses N
throughout the South and their annual Z
sales run up into the millions These
travellers cover the territory thoroughlyhH
and their efforts have not only increassdfs'
the business of their houses from " yeaIsts
to year. but have convinced the retailers
that they can find anything and every
s thing they require In their business rightsSss
here In Richmond. n tss
What these men have done in the llne.bl
business can be done In other lines and sN
has been done in other lines and ,9alto-Ss
gether their figures prove that Rich sf1I
mond's advantages are superior to- those9a
of any other distributing point In thegsa
TNy CrnN art liz nj IN
otherwise, Richmond is the gateway toS5tss
the South, and MS such 1t s. bound to- 81
be the greatest Of the wholesale centers sas
of the new South, I,