The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-14
Successful Ideas In Retailing
By Frederic J. Haslzin.l
uunnnunmnaInun unnnnIn uzumul

The world continues to move. bu
 the person who stops to consider tn
 successful ideas in retailing will readi
 ly conclude that the merchant Is nov
 ing with it. Shopping was once
 sort of druigery. enjoyed alone by tn
 confirmed bargain hunter. Now 1t ha
 been converted into such a pleasure
 able proceeding that many women g'
 among the shops for pastime. Th'
 change has been due to the wide
 awake merchant. and steady stream
 of new dollars flows Into hiss coffer'
 as q result.
 Much has been said of the all-night
 hank. but there has been little men
 tlon of the all-night store. Some oi
 the big department stores have ar
 ranged for an all-night telephone ser
 vice. and orders may be left ps
 niilady any hour in the twenty-four
 The night orders are delivered bright
 and early the next morning. Many
 housewives havs found this a great
 convenience. and the merchant who IS
 enterprising enough to take the mid
 night orders gets thousands of dollars
 worth of new trade
 Getting the children interested is
 one of the tricks the modern mer-
 chant plays to increase his business. It serves not only as a present bust- ness-getter. but some day those child Yen win be grown-up folks with money in their pockets. A new Idea of tn- ferestfng the children is to address . '>s1fke writing" Ietter~to them, telling them that the Buster Brown Store has some Buster Brown things they ought to see, and that if they cannot bring their nammas along, to come them selves and they will be shown every thing just as if they were grown-up without being expected to buy. The children go, and are shown so many new and pretty things that they are converted into real drummers for that store. The merchants who have tried the scheme pronounce it a great sue cess @
 Not long ago a prominent shoe deal CT took all the shoes out of the window of his store. He put a notice in the window saying that something was going to happen there and everybody who missed 1t would be sorry. Sew eraI days passed. and the public be- came interested. Finally a dining room was fitted up In the window. with white linen and shining silver. The sign was still in evidence. A few days later there appeared on the table a new shoe at every plate. At this G4ffAC tHSIG H1o 6 NONAA8 SRhNNSS 9CAAS on In the town. The evening on which the winners were announced. the enterprising shoe man invited the suc- eessfuI contestants to be his guests af dinner. The dinner was served in the show window -dining-room and the service was reported to be a copy of the style followed in serving White House dinner. A great crowd of spec tators were outside the window, and tho event proved to be Q great adveT- tising success
 A biz retail mail order house has hit upon a way to make the consumer think it offering great bargains. It has 6 circular letter ostensibly intend. ed for retail merchants. It sets forth In this letter that the writer would as soon sell to the retail merchant as to his customers. and purports to show that it's prices are as low as those of the jobber from whom he buys. The house is careful to see that copies of this letter fall into the hands of con- suners. with the result that many new customers are made.
 Since the big department stores have begun to handle groceries on a large scale. they are rapidly eating into the trade of the corner grocery. Tn some of those big grocery depart f1ents naiJaly may find a comfortable seat in a coxy reception room, and even if she orders no more than a bar of laundry soap she receives as much at- tention from the obliging clerk who comes to take her order as if she were going to buy half the stock. She finds herself in the midst of as charm ing surroundings as if she were mak- ing a party call. With the new uaer- chant 1t is not how much you will buy today, but how pleasant he can make it for you, so that you will buy of him in the future. Everything that he can do to make shopping pleasant is a business builder. and he lives more for tomorrow than for today.
 Seeing that the department store grocer is taking away his business. the corner grocer has been forced to seek methods of overcoming the drift away from him. One grocer has established d cooking department, ard has a coun- ter on which he displays every sort of cooked stuff, prepared just like mother used to make" You may find baked cod, deviled eggs, Boston baked beans. and many other appetizing viands. His sales have been heavy from the first He has a dainty It, tie Boston girl. direct from cooking school, logged out in immaculate white. to. preside over this counter. It has made new business Tn all the de- partments. and the only complaint GUS toners now have Is that the crowds