Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-06-13
SHOPPING IN LONDON,
Methods of the Big Stores In the
English METROPOLIS.
TRICKS OF THE MILLINERS.
A Ruse That Was Met by Clever
Counter Ruse-Ths Asitating Ex-
perienoes of an American Woman
Who Was Looking For Bargains.

periences of an American Woman
Who Was Looking For Bargains.
In American shops the establishment
and the customer are separate entities.
The firm displays its wares; the buyers
examine them and purchase or not, as
they see fit.
In London it is different. The mo-
ment you enter the door of shop you
are accepted as part and parcel of Its
interests, member of the family, as
1t were. Then n sbopwalker pounces
upon you and insists on knowing what
you want. If you hesitate as TO your
reply, he plants himself squarely in
front of you and waits. When, in
sheer desperation 0or you had intend
ed a happy, aimless sort of looking
about, you say gloves" he grasps
your arm. firmly marches you to the
glove counter, seats you at it and de
tails Il salesperson to wait upon you.
All this happened to me, and in an
exasperated frame of mind | bought
pair of gloves merely to keep peace in
the family, but the bland and gentle
manly glove seller had no notion of let
ting me off so easily. lie took it for
granted that that first pair was simply
by way of preface, and he displayed
gloves of my size OF all styles and col
ors The very foregoneness of his con-
clusion that | would buy them all irri-
tated me, and, briefly announcing that
| wanted no more gloves, | paid him
for the pair | had bought Surprised
and grieved beyond expression, he
beckoned the shopwalker, and together
they cross examined me as to why |
refused to buy more gloves. Did the
colors not suit me7 Were the prices
not reasonable? Disdalning to answer
these questions, | endeavored to stalk
haughtlly away, but this was not al
lowed. More in sorrow than in anger,
they told me l must wait for my bill.
AS the gloves were to be sent and l
had given the exact change / deemed
this unnecessary, but l soon found 1t
to be one of their inexorable laws.
Bills, signed and countersigned, must
be waited for, no matter how trifiing
the purchase.
The next thing l learned was that
the price asked is far from being the
real selling price Of the article. ]
cring8d at the thought of offering 3
guineas for seven guinea hat but |
soon learned that 1t was expected of
customer and that the marked prices
were merely amounts from which to
begin the dickering.
And the ruses resorted to by these
wicked milliners, In Mayfair is one
of the most fashionable millinery shops
in the world. Over the door gilt let
ters spell one of the most famous
Partisan names. To this shop | went
for hat Being very cahny. | e1-
pressed great interest in several hats
which | knew ! should not buy. At
last l carelessly Inquired the price OF
a hat which had really charmed me
from the first The price was s guineas
As it bore four magnificent ostrich
plumes, this price was not eXorbitant;
but, knowing the game, bargained.
First | asked If they would call 1t
pounds instead Of gulneas This meant
Il reduction In price of only S shillings.
but the indigniy Q discovered) was
beyond all words. With a scathing
glance the saleslady informed me that
they never sold by pounds In that shop,
and | stored away the knowledge for
future use In swagcer establishments.
Determined TO beat them at their
own game l then offered gulneas
for the hat. This was met with ap-
propriate expressions of Mortified sur.
prise, and as great concession ~
gulneas was proposed. | remained
firm in my six guinea offer and, after
feint of leaving the shop without
buying n hat, 1t was reluctantly ac-
cepted.
Then followed what I considered a
ruse OF extreme cleyerneSS on my part
had been told that if left new hat
to he sent home the milllner would
change the trimming for others that
looked the same, but were of inferior
quality. / had been advised. therefore,
on purchasing a hat to carry 1t away
with me in order 30 prevent this. So
l remarked on paying for this hat that
as l wished to wear 1t that very after
noon would take 1t with me, the
large bandbox being easily managed I'm
my hanson cab. The saleslady kindly
agreed to this plan and sent the hat
upstairs to be boxed.
After waiting fifteen minutes for the
hat to return to me began to grow
suspicious, and when 1t did come 1
deliberately united the box, removed
the tissue paper wrappings and ex-
amined the hat Sure enough, the four
long, rich ostrich plumes had been re
moved and replaced by four others OF
the same color, but of a distinctly
cheaper grade. boldly declared this
fact, but the saIeslady haughtily de-
MED it,
"But" said l, ''Iook In the hat. See
the stitches, hastily put In to hold
these feathers. They were not there
when the hat left me-
"Ah," she said, "merely few
stitches to fasten bit Of trimming
that was looser'
And nothing remained for me but to
take the hat and depart. / could not
prove my case. l could get no redress.
But learned. when buying a hat, to
pin 1t firmly on my head and walk
away, leaving my own old hat to be
sent home.
think such an episode would not oc-
cur in any reputable shop In America