El Nuevo mexicano., 1916-12-21
Santa Ee Stores

Ever notice that the stores of Santa 20
have improved about 500 per cent since
last year?
No need to worry about finding Christ
mas gifts at home this year. The New
Mexican is rather proud of~the appearance
OF the Santa Fe store windows this holiday
season. We will cheerfully and confidently
put our money on them against any store
windows In the Southwest-and the store
stocks live up to the window displays. Our
home merchants are becoming more alert
and more enterprising every year and the
progress since last Yule-tide is extremely
gratifying to Santa Re boosters.
If you have neglected to inspect and APP
p~reciate the holiday displays in the local
stores we recommend that you get out and
do it now. They are beautiful, they are ex-
pert, they are catchy. they are u~pto-date,
they are clever and they are decorative;
the arrest the eve and they appeal to the
holiday purse.
IA good many people are fond Of saying
that Santa Fe has no commercial future.
The statement should not be made too
sweeping. The New Mexican believes that
santa re has a trade territory which is sus-
ceptible OF important development and ex'
pansion. A year ago many people said
Santa re mercantile progress had about
reached its limit. So far as that is con
cerned, similar statements have been made
by somebody every year for the past decade
or SO. And yet these stores have seen their
biggest Improvement and expansion in the
past year. Everybody has been moving into
somebody's else old store, renoyating and
beautifying it and going after more busi-
ness; handsome new mercantile establish
ments have been built-and everybody
seems to be getting business.
It was pleasing to hear the comments OF
the 1900 teachers at the recent convention
Oh the stock, service and prices Of Santa
re stores, Everybody was entirely salts
fled; nobody heard any unfavorable COM
PARSONS between our stores and those q
Albuquerque or any other New Mexico city;
no one recalled having received any more
courteous attention or obIiging service from
managers and salespeople.
A good many Of Santa FEES mercantile
men were IN a rut for years. Men who a
few years ago were still carrying the dust
covered remnants OF Civil War stocks with
tlyspecks on the front windows are bios
soming out with spick-and-span modern dis.
plays, right up to the minute, and are up
in the collar after the very latest methods
Of successful merchandising. Merchants
who used to think If the public wanted
anything it would come in and knock them
down and take It away are now hitting the
public squarely between the eyes with bust
n~ess-pulling appeals behind plate glass that
can't be resisted; men who for years car
ried in the home newspaper a two-inch sin
gle column ad reading John Smith, Genl
Merchandise-We Aim to Please are now
building up business with in~telligentIy
framed and shrewdly timed half-page and
full page advertisements, having discovered
that they are a first class business invest
ment; and the recent educational conyen-
tion has been the final convincing argu-
ment, with these home merchants. that 1t
pays to invest money in getting trade.
Now you watch the Santa Fe merchants.
They are waking up; and when they get
fully walked up you will find that all bets
are off and all previous estimates are in the
discard SO far as concerns the limit Of
Santa Fg tradetbuilding.