Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-11-18
FRONT AN
AID TO BUSINESS
Display Windows and Neat
Salesrooms Influence Sales
Says REQ Sales Manager

mo use talking" says r. C. Rues-
chaw, "an attractive sales room has
| just as much to do with the sale of
automobiles as any other commodity.
"Since we've dolled up our store on
Broadway, and washed the windows,
mopped the floors and busted off the
furniture in the Chicago place when
we made it branch, business has
| actually quadrupled at those two
| points.
II don't know why people ever have
| imagined they could sell goods in un-
attractive surroundings. because every
salesman knows that gloom is contag-
| ious and that whatever optimism a
! customer may have had when he
| comes in out of the sunshine, is quick
ly dispelled by the darkness and dis
array of the average automobile sales
room.
II suppose one reason for the prev
alence of this condition among auto
mobile dealers is the fact that auto
mobile were originally sold in ma
chine shop. Gradually 1t became a
garage" and it was several years
waste O. little space in the front and
put plate glass window in to Vshow"
the cars.
when 7 think of the conditions
under which the customer used to buy
his automobile in the early days; !
marvel at his hardihood.
The "demonstrator" usually stood
near the back end of the garage so as
to be close to the exit, and was hedg-
ed in on both sides and in front by
cars in various stages of disassemble
and repair. Broken parts and grease
Uttered the floor and the atmosphere
was conducive to anything but a
sale.
"Of course the answer is that de-
mand has always greatly exceeded
supply despite the fact that each sue
cessive season some timorous ones
have hollered wolf and worried about
where all the automobiles would go
to!
'"For. several years the REQ branch
in New York was around the corner
on the back street, and we really felt
that we were making money by saving
on the rent. Truth to tell it took us
a long time to persuade ourselves to
pay a Broadway rental, but when we
did, we went after it in the usual REQ
way-we bought the best there was.
II verify believe that the corner Of
| Fifty-fourth and Broadway is the best
| location on Manhattan Island, and
while it hasn't increased our whole
sale business materially, the retail
end of it has increased by leaps and
! bounds.
Even the truck sales increased tre-
mendously within the first month,
showing that the man who wants an
article and knows he wants it, still
wants it little harder when it is
brought before his gaze and in attrac-
| tive surroundings.
I'VE REQ folk are not believers in
the branch house system as a general
rule; but recently we made up our
! minds we ought to have a branch in
Chicago, as we have in New York, so
we took over the lease and dolled up
the place there. The result was start
| ling; in the first week the increase of
| right. And it has steadily increased
ever since.
THE improvement in automobile
sales rooms during the past year has
been very noticeable. The matter of
lighting has developed into quite a
problem, the great depth of the show
window resulting usually in q mirror
effect instead of transparency.
Notice the ladies who stop in front
of automobile show Windows to ad-
just their hats and to see il their hair
is straight, and you'll see that the
average front is a better mirror than
show room.
Architects are now specializing on
automobile show rooms, and in the
near future these will add to the at
tractiveness of our cities instead of
constituting an unharmonious effect
in the general ensemble as they too
frequently have in the past"