Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-08
SHOW WINDOWS OF A CITY
Beauty Of the Modern Urban Business Stree,
Depends on Them.
ATTRACTIVE AND USEFUL IN SERVICE
Display of wares Serves Double Pur-
pose of Making Life Pleasant
and Attracting Gus
toners TO stores.


What dreary and uninteresting place a
retail business street would be II 1t were
not for the show windowsl Especially
about Easter time. II you don't believe II,
stand on a downtown corner In Omaha,
close your eyes and let the noise and dust
pour into your ears dodge street cars and
a. to hurry on a sidewalk congested with
shoppers. One would find the delights Of
an occasional trip to the region OF the
stores is ss per cent gone. All that would
be left. aside from discomfort and exposure
to the ordinary hazards OF urban COM
merclal life, would be the doubtful pleasure
Of entering a shop and parting with more
or less Of the common medium OF exchange.
Even the shoppers time would be seri-
ously extended. There would be no chance
to know the latest that the season has
brought by a mere glance; no opportunity
for the endless observation and comparison
afforded by the windows and their displays;
no chance to see what may be bought at
tempting prices. Dead walls would stare
one in the face and beauty Of color, line
and finished handicraft that now repays
halliday peering into the retail windows
would be gone.
blessing of the show window.
There are no women and few men. who,
after viewing this picture with the mind
eye. for its reality does not exist in the
United States, would not rise up and call
the inventor OF the display window blessed.
And with the dawn OF spring the benedic-
ton would be intensified. It is at this time
as never that the wish for new shapes
and forms and colors exists the strongest
after the garb of winter which has worn
its welcome out long ago. The spirit moves
to housekeeping and bonhres; the cleaning
out Of stuffy closets and desks and the
renovation OF rooms and carpets and rugs
and the Frightening up and Improvement
Of the inanimate things that are sur
rounded about one. The green leaf and the
tender spring flower give JOY for they
are the first. Likewise do new hats and
suits. shoes and other trapplngs.
It's easy enough to see why the shop
window is really necessary at Easter time,
but the gratituous exhibitions OF today
are the fruit OF a slow evolution. march
slowly down the centuries until about
twenty-five years ago, when modern brains
and competition did more for the show
window than evolution had ever dreamed
about There is no inventor of the show
window. It's standard today is the work OF
many minds drawing comfortable salaries
of the trade arts by itself and here In
Omaha as elsewhere It is reaching higher
grade and serving wider purpose an
nually.
Feature of City Life.
Nowadays the show, window is as much
a feature of metropolitan life as the pave
ments, the street cars, the crowds in the
business district. the telephones and the
freighting trucks. The first thing and
usually the last thing rural visitors do
when they land in Chicago is to put in
hours wandering up and down State street,
Just to get look" but incidentally
educating themselves toward obtaining bet
ter results in the shopping that brought
them to the city. The same is true OF
Omaha and it's Sixteenth street, Fifteenth
street, Farnam and Douglas streets and
Chicago is merely referred to because
illustrations are more impressive when i'm
ported from afar.
New Styles in Windows.
A correct estimate OF the money In
vested in show windows in Omaha would
amount to an enormous sum. During the
last several years of business activity the
remodeling of windows has been in
progress constantly. 1t is on now and a
walk down Farnam street will supply all
the evidence needed. The new store build
ings going up and built recently make
elaborate provisions for fine show win
dows. Long ago the old heavy ground
front store types were cast aside. The
effort now is toward plenty of room. wide
expenses of glass and clear and I'M
obstructed view. Wrought iron in hand
some designs is used in toppIngs and fin
ishing The windows are built fairly out
on the sidewalk. In fact. that's where
many OF them actually do exist and the
city council is kept busy granting re-
quests for the use OF the sidewalk space
for the purpose. The lighting Is interior
by incandescents and the windows are
ablaxa every night whether the establish