Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-10
PUT A FRONT ON WALNUT
STREET

WE TAKE off our hats to the man who
s'' can plan a city and plan it right
There is genius in the fellow who can sit
ut his desk and change the courses of trade
and residence. But every city is a Topsy
and just grows up, whether a Penn models
\ 1t or not. Buildings first so where they
the corner where people pass. But busi-
ness can direct the course Of its own ex.
pansion. The hosiery shops might all be
4 on Main street, but if shoemaker little
( better than any of his competitors did
business on Side street, the crowd would
find him out: that is. if Side street were
business must have self-respect thing
which is often indicated in an individual
by his dress and must he indicated in a
business by the habitat thereof
M One of the progressive institutions Of
the city is the Walnut Street Business
< Association. There are a number of other
own way doing meritorious work. Some
are more alive than others, but each has
its particular problems and goes at them
in the best wav it can. The specific prob
lsm of the Walnut street association is to
put Walnut street back on. the map.
y No woman ever went to London and
sH.--t-a
Z wealth of the world drives along Fifth
4 avenue and now stops to shop where it
Tonce stopped to dine. Downtown Walnut
atreet could rival Bond street and Fifth
avenue and nothing this side of eternity
could prevent it If property owners and
tenants had the vision of New York or the
rkick" of Detroit There are some modern
buildings on Walnut street, and every now
and then a new one arrives. But it is
usually sandwiched in between a converted
barn and some ancient landmark that is
propped to the perpendicular.
First impressions are business.getters.
A man pays a big rent for a cheap.lookng
store II he gets it for nothing. Invariably
the FIRST impression of cheapness cllngs
and. uke leprosy, cannot be eradicated. The
pul never stops to analyze. Instinctively
n6ople so where the mental impression is
attractive. Consider Walnut street there
fore, in relation to Philadelphia as a whole
Wouldn't it help the trade of the whole
city II such attractive shop fronts as those
Fof Chestnut street also lined Walnut street?
And would not sites on Chestnut street be
additional attractivencss OF the whole
nsighborhood?
q Women say they go to Fifth avenue be-
cause Of the shops. Possibly, but the en-
viFonment has more to do with it than the
.Eoods inside the shops. Competing with
New York for the trade of America is
natural functioning on our part. All that
X a needed is business vision, combined with
r. granite determination IN the part of
Iok0pkeepers to be rear competitors. Find
- fenant who demands a modern building
and there will be an owner to put 1t up
fer him. Rent, after all, is the least i'm
portant item in building up trade What's
ths use Of low rent when the resultant
1o6iiness drives customers away? Custom
~ with the crowd. and the crowd always
~ where the mental impression attracts.
hiIadelphia and surrounding districts
Erowing SO fast that the census-taker
Anot keep UP with the procession. In.
1nerable new buyers are here and more
~ to come. We've got to be metropolitan
okhsr we want to or not. We have got
lave speciality shops and an expanded
pcing district. Moreover, we must re.
rlItate Walnut street from Eighth. say.
rad Why not make it a retail shop
W tistrict that the whole nation would
70 know. with a reputation and a
ec1e as great as our huge department
already possess?
y put front" on Walnut street.
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