The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-31
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AS<1tuIC CD VI p1lolGM01luk0l4A Mo 6luH1y
memories OF the past. He is repre-
scented by travelling statesmen who
scOur the country for trade by terri
1illing of orders a and by credit depart
ments which keep In touch with the
financial and moral responsibility OF
I the men who distribute the goods to
the consumers. Commercial business
has become more and more mechanical
and necessarily, therefore, less and
less sentimental. It has been reduced
from the plane Of sociability and good
fellowship between principals to that
OF a comparatively inflexible system.
I take it TO rgranted that the older
retail merchants in common with the
bbbers depl0re this change from per-
sOnal intercourse to long range tran
sactiOns, however much the visits OF
well-informed and genial representa-
tives may tighten the labor incident to
the making of purchases. The change,
too, subjects the retailer to the temp
tatiOn to mix his stock, to its detri-
ment and to his loss of profit. The
merchant who buys goods (Outside the
staple Slines) OF any good fellow who
comes along, is bound to have a hete-
rogeneous assortment that is neither
attractive nor, conducive to fair pro-
FITS; neither can he have strong hold
upon his customers.
The jobber is, generally speaking,
compelled to adhere, year after year,
to the same manufacturer and the
same brands of goods, IL his original
selections have been wise. The job
, bing house which should, for example,
solicit your business ON steel goods,
this year for Batcheller, next for
Geneva, the third for Ashtabula, and
the fourth for Iowa Farming Tool
Co.'s would make little impression up
on your mind with whatever it might
offer the fifth year. 1t goes without
question that this is true, to an ex-
tent, with the offerings to consumers
by the retailer. If q carpenter buys
good chisel, he wants the same
brand when he makes his next pur-'
chase. Further than this, every good
tool sold a mechanic is a f1rst-class
advertisement for the dealer, to every
other mechanic with whom the for
mer associates, and the advertisement
costs the latter neither money nor
friends. The merchant who buys his
locks and other builders hardware
here, there and elsewhere. never fitted
mp new house to his own satisfaction
or to the satisfaction OF his customer,
and the odds and ends of broken as
Bortment, to be sold at liberal dis
count, materially lessen HIS profits.
My own observation leads me to con-
clude that one element OF business sue
cess lies in the selection Of as high
quality of goods for permanent lines
as the local trade will consume and
adhering to these lines, with their dis
tinctive brands, under all circum-
stances. The same rule applies to the
cheaper Or competing goods, but to a
more limited extent.
III II you are doing business with q
reputable and reliahie jobber, 1t is a
false notion that your goods, which l
have designated as belonging to per-
manent lines, will cost, month in and
month out, year In and year out, more
money. than If purchased indiscrim-
inately Of the salesman who offer spe-
citl Bargains; for the reputable and
reliable jobber could not afford to al
low such condition of affairs to ex-
list. !, h,sssSs
Under the new business regime
comes the better, more attractive dis
play of the wares offered for sale.
The junk-shop appearance of hard
ware store is relegated to the past.
There Is certainly no good reason why
a hardware stock should look like the
after effects of a secondhand cyclone.
No man today can hope for the great
4 est success who does business in a
tumble-down building, behind show
windows SO thickly covered with dust
that they admit darkness rather than
light. thus intensifying the inner
gloom; and who fishes his Maydole
hammers out of a nail key.
Two marked elements in the sue
cess of Marshall Field & Co.'S retail
dry goods house and the popularity
of that house throughout the United
States are, first, the certainty that a
customer will obtain goods of high
quality, IL SO ordered; and, second,
the attractive and fetching way ( in
which those goods are displayed.
1t Is far cry from Marshall Field
& Co.'S dry goods store in Chicago
to a retail hardware store in a remote
country town, but these rules for sue
cess are applicable to both, and the
results will be comparatively the
same. I'll III , 4 Ell
4 Another marked feature Of the evo-
luton Of trade is the variety Of goods
which has fallen to the lot of hard
ware merchant, wholesale. or retail,
to handle. A year or two before my
senior partner, Mr.. Hubbard, died, he
and one day were in the cutlery de-
partment when the men were filling
a new show case with cut glass ware.
He called me across the room and
said: lis it possible, Mr.. Bartlett,
that we have come down to this?"
The retail assortment is no longer
confined to stoves, nails. tools, build
ers' hardware. and the like, but very
frequently includes harness, paints,
Yankee notions, electrical fittings, oil
cloth, and large variety Of house
furnishing goods. X u s..s
Again using Marshall Field & Co
as an illustration, that dry goods store
contains stocks Of boots, shoes, hats,
caps. clothing, furniture, crockery,
jewelry. toys, and almost every other
y article which can be. worn on the body
or utilized in the home. A lady once
told Mr.. Field that she was looking
(! for pair Of coach horses, and asked
him IL he had any marked down" In
his basement. In the same establish
ment you can buy theatre, railroad or
steamship tickets, and II You break
( your leg while on a shopping expedi-
ton, can have the bones set in the
operating room.
There seems to be desire upon the
part Of consumers as well as upon the
part OF retail merchants, to purchase
their goods. as far as, possible. under
4 one roof; for by 80 doing (Other things
! being equal) their purchases are
made as cheaply, with less inconven-