The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1911-12-01
Running of Small Store by No
Means the Easy Thing It
May Seem.
HOURS LONG AND WORK HARD
Constant Care and Watchfuness
Necessary to Build Up Business
That Is to Be Made Safe
From Possible Com
petition.

Shopkeeping seems so easy that there
is an impression one needs but to
have sum sufficient to buy the first
stock Of merchandise to be on the
road to fortune. Leisure time In
the shop seems a boon to the hard
working man or woman who has spent
his or her days at work at regular
hours"
To serve the customer, keep the
house clean and the stock In order ap-
pears a thing so simple that anybody
can do it.
This is viewing the shop from the
outside. The inside workings are quite
different. In fact. to keep shop is to
be ION watch" all the time. There is
no such thing as being of duty"
night or day. The hours are from
early morning until late at night. The
close confinement Is far from being
conducive to health, and last, but not
least, is the constant, unremitting at.
tentlon that every item In the shop de-
mands to make the business a success.
II not carefully watched all the time
the stock grows old and must then be
sold at a loss II sold at al.
Then there are the ever present
dust and dirt. that cause SO much
work and loss to the shopkeeper Dust
down the shelves in the morning. At
night they require busting again. The
floors must be scrubbed, the cases and
windows must be polished. When all
this elbow work Is done-interrupted
innumerable times by the CUSTOMERS
comes the additional worry of the gen.
eral management.
The door is kept swinging In and
out all the day long by the ubiquitous
drummer, who must be treated with
courtesy. The exacting hypercritical
customer, who demands the prices and
services of shops ten times the size of
this one, comes next The customer
who has an account has found what
she thinks to be mistake in her bill
and is furious at the thought that she
is being cheated"
These are all nerve racking fea-
lures which are new to the beginner
In the shopkeeping world.
The constant worry over bills and
how to raise the money to meet all
obligations promptly grows to be
nightmare to the conscientious shop
keeper.
Credit must be maintained at any
cost and the skimping. the saving of
pennies, is strain unknown to the
person who has been in the habit of
drawing a weekly sum with which to
meet current expenses.
The rent. always a menace to the
success OF a small shop for 1t is ad
justed to the volume of business to a
nicely, fixed charges, such as light.
heat, taxes and insurance-all go
steadily on and must be figured.
These, with the help account. advertis-
ing and other minor expenses. keep
the shopkeeper on the run.
The compensation is to be found In
the possibilities of the future. To be
your own boss" is either a stepping
stone to success or the runway to fail
ure.
AS no rule for success can be laid
down. so no absolute rule against fail
ure can be outlined. In the battle
the big battle we must fight-each In
dividual must find the points OF least
resistance and take advantage OF op
portunity.
The craven wished for a magic blade
with which to fight; the prince found
the broken sword OF common SOL
der and with 1t carved out the vic
tory.