Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1917-12-29
Big Money Total Spent.

Big Money Total Spent
The nunher of sMs made thsy year. entirely aside from the amount OF money Olives
in the sales. and Indicative of the activity of the buying exceeds tht of last year whent the en-
tire month is considered In the jewehp, noat, md small goods stores the selling was marx
ed by more activity in some of the Try goods stores the nunon Of customers m wa wa Sm WHO"
smaller but the individual sales wee higher In a number of Eases the selling force was quite
unable to cope successfully with the trade on the big ays-Satur@y Of last week ma "mF
day, the day before Christmas
Without a singh exception the enquiry disclosed the fact that the amount Of money! Ia
ken in every line of business was greater hahinm any previous year. considered to panca
ever seer so much money abroad in Natinburg This condition was known to exist from
the fact that the working people have been working overtime and have ben getting nigh wa
os bm il was recognized as not necessarily condition following that the people would
the stores to buy ,boughtg generously and we're willing to pay the prices The question was
asked snpifcauv whether the high prices prevailing generally elected any objection from the
accustomed to the scale of prices existing in every state of the mercantile business had ha
din4ed 10 nrmsh above what thew have beer paving for the sans goods; the townre people, how
has been that the country people did not raise my protests One merchant, who handles ecrr
stiles as well as novelties while reporting that the country trade as well as the dty-te"hd
prices 70 rcounty grown products enabled them to pay good prices for things in te stores
- y Selling On smaller Margin
While the amount of money taken was greater, the merchants are all Shg, 0" d
closer margin and the profits 50 it seems will not be greater thanh a year whn prices are
lower The apparent ince@e in business in other words is accounted for mainly by the nt
hiatt e prices are higher; the merchants at the same lime 1t is admitted are ape !" hsup'
oven With a smaller percentage on a bggnv volume which will. tend to run the profits up In
one case the sales are expected to run at least $4,000 ahead of last December
The big day generally was last Saturday whenb both dypa and country trade anne TO the
stores; some of the merchant report, however, that Monday ame very Close to the Saur
daslc crush of buying. One firm reports that the Monday business exceeded the business OF
saturday of last year which vast el stb buying day efneC Christmas The me man one OF
the tahonnrss says his sales of novelties showed no decrease TINS year. NNu"A' ""W '"" nv
such things sold normally. He does report, however, ato boxed PAPER ana c"S showed :" III
crease in sales
One effect of the presence of money in the community was to remove some OF the
part payment of cash, md put the remainder on the books, either paid cash entirely for 1t ms
pr or left only a very small amount to be charged Thsc condition was found to be true
tbrrmhnth the section as whole, and moth confined tt hehirms which do only a cash business
even in cases where credit would haveb@ extended .
1t was impossible toeaabish any definite decrease in the denand for novelties IN
some cases the merchants fond a decrease; in oher@ the merchants rF~eo erher nor
NAL sale Or an Increase of"ftng the reported decrease -
V merchants Pleased With Trade
In every case the merchants interviewed said the season hadg gone "y@dt hr eFF@
lions. although Ill were prepared for the trade Some few had anticipated strong demands III
certain rnesm and had drought fha an nea OF meeting tht demand; some few had been e !"
buy Stoke enough early in the year to run tem through tdss season. and had because Of the
low nns prevailing earier in the year. BEEN able to sell at this time onawh under tner
conrettors But regardless of whethert the merchants and customers plans conceded, the
merchants express enaavesa very much pleased with tea attitude Of the buying public
throughout the season. the liberal purchasing and the senTahy, satisfactory results