The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-25
DEPARTMENT STORE SCHOOL
TIRE ToPEKA STATE J0CRNAL
INFORMATION BCREAC
BY Frederic }. Haskin. Director.
Washington. ID. C.


1t has proved its value. A few years
ago, a store that sent its saleswomen
to school was unique; today, the GUS
tom is general. Even small stores that
cannot afford schools maintain night
classes in craftsmanship, while the Iarg-
er establishments have even added
foreign languages to their school cur
ricula. Salesmanship has become a
profession
While such education is purely a
| business measure, for the good of the
firms offering it. it has accomplished
great deal for the individual. 1t has
given a large number of persons OPP
portunity for education. For this rea-
son the United States bureau of edu-
cation, anxious to encourage the move
ment has made a study of the Boston
! school of salesmanship which they
consider an excellent model for other
stores DESTROYS of introducing courses
in craftsmanship
The Boston school was the first of
its kind in existence and encountered
all of the prejudices always aroused
by an innovation. In 1905, the wo
mems educational and industrial un-
ion of Boston started an investigation
! of the problems of saleswomen. On
the executive committee of the union
/ was Mrs. Lucinda Wyman Prince, a
| Wellesley graduate and a social work
| er. who became so Interested in the re-
SUITS OF lnNeSllSdIlOn IIldl Sne Qe-
cided to espouse the -saleswoman's
cause.
At that time she was the leader of
club of fifty working girls who met
at the union two evenings a month.
Among them were many girls who
worked in department stores. Already
| the majority of them, past thirty, We're
derelicts They hated their work, they
grumbled at their small wages, and
they lived small starved and discon-
tented lives. Mrs. Prince realized that
| they were probably not worth any
more to their employers than the
small wages they were paid, and yet,
many of them had bright and recep-
tive minds.
If only they might go to school
thought Mrs. Prince, and thereupon
| laid plans to start one. The women's
union contributed the room, the neces-
| Sary equipment and the services of a
| few other members, and the Boston
| School of craftsmanship began. But
there were no pupils. The local mer-
| chants remained unconvinced. They
certainly would not let their employees
| off for two or three hours a day to go
| to school, they told Mrs Prince, and
| denied that education had anything to
do with craftsmanship. One merchant
| reminded Mrs. Prince that she had
never sold goods herself. and therefore
knew nothing about it. AT which lady
| undertook to show him.
| She volunteered as a saleswoman
| during a bargain sale, and sold so
much goods that the merchant cheer
! fully threw up his hands by way of
surrender when she showed him her
sales slips He agreed to let a few of
| his SaleSgirls go to her school Other
Boston merchants soon followed his
example. AT first the girls were paid
| only half salary while they were 60
| ing to school, but as the value of the
| education began 10 demonstrate itself
| in increased sales, they were put on
| full salary.
At the beginning of the course, each
! pupil is asked to fill out an application
| blank which contains various cues
lions designed to give an idea of her
| habits aud tastes and to furnish need
ed statistics. In dealing with class
| of this kind individual work is essen
tai some girls, for instance. are
more artistic than others Where one
| might become an expert saleswo-nan
in an art goods department, she might
fail miserably in selling kitchen uten-
sils because she was not interested in
| them, and vice versa
The idea is to discover the girls
| best talent and develop it If the
school finds, as sometimes it does.
that the girl has no talent whatever
for selling goods it tries to direct her
abilities into other lines OF work which
she can do. The subjects taught in
| the course are given in the report as
follows:
Salesmanship-To teach the tech
nique of selling and to develop a pro-
1essional attitude toward the work
| Text1les-To give information about
the stock and to develop an apprecia-
ton of it's qualities.
General Merchandise-The same.
Hygiene and Physical Education
To promote good health and develop
an attractive personality
Ar1thmetic-TO deVel0D acc,,roo,,
+ Store System-To give Familiarity
with the rules and forms of the store
English = To develop forceful
Color and Design-To train color
sense, to set standards of good taste
and to develop a sense of beauty.
me flrst lesson deals entirely with
the topography of the store A mar
OF the store. showing its relation tc
the nearby streets, its entrances. exits
elevators, stairways, fire-escapes AND
the general distribution of merchan,
disc by departments and floors Thi,
is because the first and most import
ant duty of the saleswoman is to di-
rect customers.
Next the girls are instructed in tn,
care of stock. Department stores ma,
lose thousands of dollars thru tn,
carelessnes of their employees in thi
J respect-a fact which usually does mo-
trouble the unframed salesgirl. But
when it is understood that damaged
shopworn, old merchandise leads t.
, the inevitable mark-dOwn sale: that ;
department which must resort ire
quently to such sales to secure none,
and room for new stock is not in ;
prosperous condition: that a depart
ment which is not yielding a good pro
fit can not increase wages; the simpl
but necessary work of stock keepin,
becomes invested with new interest.
The study of craftsmanship itself
divided into four parts: First, lesson
on the technique of selling; second
informal discussions of pupils dali
experience: third, store system, an
fourth, demonstration sales. Tn
trained saleswoman, for instance, 500
learns to drop her weary method O
approaching a customer and inquirfn
ii she is waited on She is there t.