The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-11-23
The Case ofLeUii
A TRUE STORY FROM PlTrsRuRc
DISPATCH ILLUSTRATING THE
POWER OF ADVERTISING.
LEVI PAID THE CAR FARE. AND
GOT TIE TRADE,

Sometimes your city merchant
could do worse than go out ID the sub
nrbs to and perfect example Of the
power Of Advertising" said the occa,
sional story teller, who was one of i
crowd of Pittsburg buyers returning
in a Pennsylvania sleeper from a ay.
ing trip to New York.
81 live out in the suburbs Of Great, i
Pittsburg, and the other eday whom
went to urge my chiel to spend more
money In advertising a drive had
planned In my deparsment ! found tae
story Of Solomon Levi, OF D'enk Run
helped lot,
Solomon Levi isn't his name, but
I'll give his name to any Of YOU wha
want to use him on the old man 70 /,
an object lesion. Levi arrived at
Blank Run only little over a year
ago. No; | dom live in that heaven
forsaken spot. Ny home is across the
hills, in oakhurst, but I'm only hall
an hour away from Blank Run by troll
ley. :
That little settlement is the last
place on earth where anybody would
expect to make a success with a de.
partment store. But Levi made sue,
cess Of It simply through advertising
There's only dozen Or two. families
in the settlement, all with limited buy.
ing capacity. Levi went prospecting
| along the trolley line shortly after il
opened and found biz vacant barn IN
the place that he could get for a song
He took It because the tent Vas next
to nothing and started TO do a little
lnSxPsas!ye Eemodellng. Then he let
q patent medicine paiaIcr put him ur
tlarlng yellow sign across Ire end oi
the building, Solomon Lewis Depart.
ment Store Everybody laughed-a
department store in Blank Run
But they didn't know Levi. He laid
in a modest stock. That was the only
thing about his establishment that
was modest. He has since boasted
that he had only $180 rapial and pre-.
ctous little credit wheel he started thai
wonderful general store. The next
week we were ull amazed to see a dou.
Bile page ad. right across the inside
pages Of our little weekly paper down
at oakhurst. telling people what they
could get at Solomon Lewis for CEN,
the things they could buy for 5 cents
and the things for 10 cents. There
must have been hun lred articles that
he advertised for cent-four clothes.
pins thirty irvisibte lalrpins-yo..
know, the things that women are al.
ways running out OF.
"Tae merchants OF my home town
had been taking the usual six inch
spaces to announce their sales. Sol.
onion Lewis new general store at
Blank Run overshadowed them. 1ne
following week he was quoting prices
offered in all the other stores in the
suburbs roundabout in parallel col
umns with his own and offerinS To nav
the trolley fare OF every patron who
bought GO cents worth or over at ais
store, Such catchllnes as why moi
savev 10 cents on dollars purchase
and get a trolley ride thrown in?'
seemed to catch the eye of frugal
housewives In the .workingmen's IS
homes along the trolley line. Every
week for five mortal weeks he kent
that double page ad. going in our pa.
per-the biggest ad. in the paper,
Every one OF those ads com pared the
the prices at the stores in the nearby
suburbs with those of solomon Lewis
emporium, for 1t had grown to be an
emporium by this time.
Then he reduced the stze of his al.
vertlslng in the one paper and wen:
into every blooming country paper he
could find along the trolley line. By
this time swarms OF women with ba..
! ketS were asking tho oa,1,.a4