The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-20
RICHMOND GREAT
IN HAT HAT. BUSINESS ( s
Forty Richmond Travel
ing Men Sell Hats In
Ten States.
RAPID GROWTH /.
IN TEN YEARS
This City is Gateway 70 the
South, and Sells Millions Of 81
Dollars Worth Of Head glSs
gear-The Business 4
is Steadily IN u.
creasing. s5ss

Rchmond's advantages, as a distriputsFs
ing point for the whole South are NnoesE,
confined to any one line OF buslnesssss
The quick railway connections ana the II
water rate advantages are Just as fats
vorable to one line of business az an.ls
other, and the result is that all classesfsii
Of wholesale business are growing fronts
year to year at q sprodigious rate. d ,,tis:
One would hardly believe 1t unless tho
figures were made plain, but It. can anssE
demonstrated that Richmond has maleBl;
within the past ten years more rapIdsst
strides in its wholesalng business THANH
any city In the country AS the trusR}s
gateway to the South It Is invading ter M
ritory that for many long years was M
supposed to be exclusively the sellingks
ground of Baltimore, Philadelphia ana As
New York fl 5i3s 5S35s f95Ss Ssts
H Richmond to-day sells more goods to thap.
retail merchants Of Virginia. North Caro- GU
lima, South Carolina and Georgia thanSEi
does any other one city In addition firSsss:
divides the trade with other markets :nk
Tennessee, West Virginia, Alabama, Flor3sI
Ida, Mississippi. Louisiana and Texas.
and invades parts Of Maryland, Ohio andl
Kentucky, and even more distant States q
Shows Great Increase.
Perhaps no business has shown greater as
increase within the past decade than that
OF the wholesale hat trade. The tactiS,
is that up to about ten or dozen years "a
ago the hats that were wholesaled from
Richmond We're sold by houses engaged !n1ss
other lines. For instance. wholesale drySS
goods houses carried a small line OF hatssss
just to fill In and be able to completasthe 1.
buying list Of n visiting country nlsrs
chant. Wholesale grocers also carrle1NS
a few hats Of the cheaper order heavy
! sun. shades, ETC., and the clothing lnena.
dealt to some extent in straw hats. Ss
But something more than O decade ago 81
| the hat business became distinctive and v
the dry goods men and the grocers were u
willing enough Ito give up the business u
to the pioneers who established housesf,
70 rthe exclusive sale OF hats at whole-s
sale. ST. ss$ sss
There are two houses In Richmond thar
deal exclusively In hats at wholesale. .to.es
wit: The Etchson Hat Company, Incorsf
porated and Il. d. Stokes & Companies.
These are active and up o-date business,
houses that have pushed their business u
into eight or ten States until they have,
given Richmond reputation as a W hole.s!
sale centre that Is not only good busi.as
ness for them, butta splendid ADVERTISE
ment for other branches OF business.
Notsle than forty experienced tr'ayei--ss..t
ing men represent these two houses a
throughout the South and their annual
sales run up into the millions. These
travellers cover the territory thorouKhlyfj
and their efforts have not@onlyE lncreasel&
the business Of their houses from YEAR,
TO year, but have convinced the retailera#
that4they can find anything and every 81 y
, thing they require in their business rightly
here In Richmond. * sSSE4s
what these men have done In the liz t.t
business can be done in other lines and 4.
mas been done in other. lines and alto
sether their figures prove that Rich 4
mond's advantages are superior to those7s
OF any other distributing point In the, b
south. Logically. geogra phically Il ana &.
otherwise, Richmond is the gateway to n
the south, and as such 1t is bound i'top:
DC the greatest Of the wholesale centers Is
OF the new South. IS IS sSs5