Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-12-23
MEN ARE WORST OFFENDERS
IN LAST MINUTE SHOPPING
Running Wild Today in the Big Stores in Desperate Effort to
Catch Up With Vanishing Supply of Christmas Goods.
Worst of General Rush Now Past the Stores Report

Men are the worst Offenders in
last-minute shopping is the unani-
nous declaration of heads of stock,
hoorwalkers and sales people gen
orally throughout the retail district
of the city today. With Christmas
only thirty-six hours distant, the bulk
of the holiday trade has been dis
patched. The babel of voices and
Kaleidoscope confusion of holiday
! decorations, brilliant counter displays
and beautiful trinkets has gradually
[ toned down to the every day hum of
! tongues and the well-ordered array of
stock. Aisles now show floor space
here and there, as the thinning crowd
of shoppers relieves the congestion
of the last two weeks. But con-
spicuous by his distracted haste, no
1 less than by his unusual numbers,
mere man" is today the dominant
note in the department stores of
Broad and Market streets.
Mere man, to whom the miles of
heaped up counters and crowded
shelves of the average large store
are as the painless jungle, and who,
left to his own devices, would shun
the shopping district as the ruler of
hades shuns holy water, is today
running amuck" in the down town
stores with recklessness as to
poeketbook and a despair as to
the fitness of his selection that would
move a harder heart than that of the
average saleswoman.
The Eleventh Hour.
They come in here at the eleventh
hour" confided a pretty clerk behind
Goerke's jewelry counter. this morn
ing, "and they say to me. Give me
something suitable for a nineteen
year-old girl that has everything on
the face of the earth, and wants the
moon on the side Something that
no one else is likely to give her.
How much do you want to pay?' I
ask. looking over the stock.
Hang the price, the man will
come back. Just give me something
she isn't likely to get from anyone
else, and I'll come across with the
COIN
Men are like that. 1t doesn't mat
ter a rap to them what they have to
pay as long as they get something
better than the other fellow is going
TO give her."
And what do you advise them to
get under such circumstances? the
reporter asked.
We have so many novelties IN sill
yer, bronze, brass and near and real
ivory this year" was the reply, that
it's a mans own fault IL he can't suit
girl, even If she has got every
thing on the face of the earth
At the Bee Hive corroborative testi-
mony as to mans eleventh hour shop
ping was given by Superintendent
Read. who spoke out of the fullness
of fifteen years experience.
Three Things.
"In the mind of the average man
there are just three things suitable
to give at Christmas" said Mr.. Read.
For children, dressed dolls. For
women relatives, trimmed hats; for
women not relatives-and this is
where the foxy old bachelors come
in-classy underwear is the thing If
l see a middle-aged man ploughing
through the crowd, wiping the per-
spiration from his forehead and ask
ing every other woman he meets how
do you get to the toy Department.
know what is on his mind. He wants
a dressed doll. and he wants 1t quick.
Unless you accommodate him with at
least four saleswomen, and trot out
something put aside in a holly-pa-
pered box, he doesn't feel that he is
getting the right amount OF atten-
tion, and as. he will usually pay the
top price for what he thinks he wants,
it is worth while to turn the depart
ment upside down.
"Then there is the fastidious bach
elor, who comes in and stands in the
middle of the aisle, looking around
sheepishly while women jostle and
step on him from every side, for half
an hour or so. before he gets up his
courage TO tiptoe up to a male clerk
or fioorwalker. and ask timidly 'er-
er-ahem-could you direct me to the