Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-27
WHY GROCERS TRUST YOU
Problem Of Giving Credit Sometimes
Hard One TO Solve.
FEW MERCHANTS NOW REFUSE IT
To Many IL Means More Trade and
steady Customers, but Losses
and Chances Are In
voIved.


tomorrow and pay"
retail grocer says that he and every
other butcher, grocer, and small store
keeper in the fairly good residence sec
tons Of the city hear these phrases
again and again. They are half glad ana
half sorry each time a woman leans over
the counter and alphabetically says one
or the other Of them, observes the Phiia-
delphia Public Ledger. II means more
business and a new, steady customer
Is true but on the other hand one more
account on the books and credit Instead oil
cash.
"a moment like this is critical mo-
mont for me" says this retailer. II must
make up my mind on the instant. IL L
refise this accommodation, in all proba-
bilitv I will lose that famiys trade. IL 1
grant II It means the beginning OF an
account that will undoubtedly grow larger
and larger and require the most caretul
watching"
Yet the retailer keeps on trusting. Sur
rounded on every hand by competitors IL
is the life of his business to accommodate
How he does it is peculiar and interesting
His system has to be scientific, even II
An the crudest possible way, for the aver
age small storekeeper has not very much
money to tie up and less to lose. In re-
ality II is all very simple
There are careless men and men OF
had Judgment in retailing as In other
lines This is TO be seen by the number
Of small stores that struggle along and
finally fail. But the average retailer
prospers Butcher, baker, grocer crus-
Rist to build up their trade, trust Law
ishIy and seemingly improvdently. AS
a matter of fact, they are doing 1t with
the greatest care and watchfulness. They
know
"A city," says one Of these men, who
has been very successful lis, for resi-
dence purposes, simply vast collection
of little villages. The people In the
houses may scarcely know each other, but
we who keep the stores make It our bust
ness to know about every one You would
he astonished how much we know. Every
family that moves into the block Is studied
from the moment It arrives. What we
want to learn is not at all what you would
suppose. We care very little what man
makes and how he makes II. II Is now
the woman spends and whether they are
the kind of people who will pay their bills.
Let me explain the difference. A
wear ago there moved into my village,
into $40 apartment just around the
corner from me- man and his wife lie
was a lawyer a little over 30, that had
come en- here from the west. You could
see he would never be real money
maker They hadn't much, all of us
storekeepers knew But there was some
thing about them that looked right to
US They had paid cash for the first
few months later they commenced to
have little accounts.
Suddenly that man came down with
serious Illness lasting over some
weeks There was practically no money
at all coming to them Did any OF vi
worry? Not DO you know why
We knew we'd get paid In the frs
place we had found out just what sort
Of people they were; in the second. as
the husband got sicker and sicker we
could see little lines of worry thu
wife's face that never came from hel
anxiety about him. She was thinking o.
the bills that were going up and up. You
would have wondered to see the careful
way she was buying now
1T came out just as we knew II would
When he got on his feet he commences
paying back, $40 here, IS there. 1t tool
long time, but the accounts crept down
There are thousands of families in tn
city just as good as that. 1t is merel!
a question Of picking them out"
A butcher of the writer's Acquaintance
says that this mental separating of tn
sheep and the goats is a very simp
thing after all and requires Just ordi
nary judgment you've often noticet
that the men who are successful store
keepers in the very crowded districts ar
chatty and conversational, have you not
They wait upon their trade personally a
much as possible and they make It
point Of knowing every regular customer
Did you think that was to keep the trad
n
customer is important, to be sure. but 1
is only the very smallest end. The store
keeper in this manner without the Gus
toner ever realizing it gets the cream o
the neigh borhood news. He learns in tn
course of a morning talking gossip wit
twenty different housewives an infinit
amount about people.
"Of course. being a wise man and
diplomat, he gives out a great deal. Ever
woman wants to talk to him, he has 8
many interesting things to tell. What h
has told, though, is nothing in eompari
son with what he has learned.
mo, 1t is not hard to get a gauge o
what people are and the way they al
going to pay their bills. What you mu
understand, however. is that all we obtai
is general impression Of a family. notf
ing that we could prove for or againi
them. 1t is just a personal impression
But that is the important thing 1t Is II
regard in which you are held in your in
mediate restricted district that gives you
large credit, a small one, or none at all. -
Another small storekeeper had a story
tell Of two men. You see that fine apar
ment house on the corner" he said Ear
that little cheaper one half down the stree
In the first lives a Mr.. Williamson. II
wife dresses TO kill. and nearly every ds
she comes home in a taxoab. He has
fine position-I guess he's part owner-aI
you never SEQ him without pockettul
money. But trust him? Not beyond
week. don't know how / know, but I d
There's somethng-wen, / couldn't tell Va
what-and all of us on the avenue agr
about him.
That's the woman OF the other famil
Just coming out now, In a blue dress, hel
ing the little girl down the steps. Nice
little woman you ever saw Robbins
suppose. makes just about a quarter
the money Williamson does. He and h
wife can have anything they want in n
store, and charge it up, They'll pay VIII
they can. And, let me tell YOU, II Robbi
lost his position tomorrow he could Ike
right on getting goods from me-"
One OF the curious features of person
In cffx - 49,