Evening star., 1916-01-03
WHERE You BUY.
IiI.-chain Stores.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

Do your shopping in person, pay cash
and carry home your purchases your
self. This is the advice frequently
given the American woman as means
Of reducing the high cost OF living. It
is pointed out that the elaborate credit
systems and extensive delivery service
which the American public demands is
one of the most important causes OF
high prices and a typical example OF
our national extravaganza.
| What the woman is thus advised to
do by economists she is compelled to
do by the management Of a certain
chain Of dry goods stores. These stores
sell only for spot cash and deliver
nothing. Yet they successfully compete
with the single stores Offering credit
and delivery service, because their eco
nomical methods and large buying
power enable them to sell goods at
lower prices.
This chain consists Of seventy stores,
mostly in small towns. Each OF them
has q manager and four assistants
None of them pays rentai OF mose
than 800 a month. These stores 90
cent of their .otal sales. which Is ex-
tremely low, the usual cost for dry
goods stores being about from II 70 II
per cent. The manager OF each OF thess
stores is made the owner OF one-tnlro
Of it's stock, and he also has the privi-
lege of investing in other stores OF the
chain, some of the managers being IN
terested in as many as a dozen. ine
promising employe who wishes 10 MAKE
a small investment may be advanced
personal loan In this way the ele-
ment of personal interest. the lack OF
which is the chief disadvantage Of
chain stores, Is infused into the system
The buying for this concern is done
by six committees, each consisting of
chief buyer
Six Committees and hve as
Do All the Buying. men 20 to
New York once a year and buy several
million dollars worth of goods in few
days, always paying cash for It, Natu-
rally. they get every discount given for
cash and quantity. These stores spend
very little money on window displays
and their newspaper advertising is
carefully planned and systematized.
The chain has grown up from q single
store, founded In 1902. This chain is
highly typical of the system which has
gained tremendous proportions in the
last thirty years.
munity Ia a matter of much contre-
versy. On the one hand. the best chain
stores often give the consumer more
efficient and economical service be-
cause Of their superior organization
and buying facilities. Critics of the
chain store system point out. however.
that being owned outside Of the COM
munities where they are located they
take away money which would other
wise remain at home. Chain stores are
cially on nationally advertised and
standard goods. This evil, however,
is not inherent in the system and can
be remedied by proper legislation.
The important fact to be noted, how
ever, is that chain stores represent
the incursion Of
Big Business in Big Business INTO
the Retail Field. they are the mod
ern tendency toward organization and
cooperation applied to store-keepins.
They are numerous. prosperous and
increasing. Therefore. it is important
that the consumer should understand
them both as a buyer and as q. citizen.
The most reliable estimates place the
number of chain store systems in the
United States at about 1000. aggre-
eating more than $4,000 separate stores.
They include grocery, hve-and-ten-cent.
tobacco. drug. shoe. hat, confectionery.
jewelry, meats. dairy products. liquors.
furniture. clothing. hardware. automo-
biles, corsets, flowers, books and many
other things These stores fall into
three classes: Retailers. jobbers' and
manufacturers chains.
Retailers chains have sometimes
been formed by a gradual extension.
man who made a success in one town
setting up a store in another. In a
few instances retail corporations nave
been formed for the purpose OF .estab-
chains are cooperative. a number Of
retailers forming a corporation. Al!
of these combinations have been formed
because of the increased buying power
or efficient advertising and better
methods generally which result from
their organization.
Jobbers' chains have sometimes been
acquired accidentally when the jchber
had to buy the
How Chain Stores stock Of q retail
store in order to
Are Acquired. saw. himself from
Losses and so gradually got into the re-
tail business. In other cases, iobbers
have been forced by composition to
establish stores Of their own. It 10 a
noteworthy fact that in some instances
jobbers have acquired factories as well
as retail stores. the middleman thus
eliminating both the end men.