The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-10-04
NOT "WHAT ELsE?-
BUT LOOK AT THESE!"

thing else today" or "Will that be
al ?"-particularly when his clerks in
sisted upon putting these questions
to customers during the holiday sea-
son. So he determined to find a specific
remedy
Now, the first thing in the morning.
every clerk in the Richards store gath
ers at little meeting which decides
what article is to be pushed during
the following day. AS a general rule
it is some accessory of dress. not very
expensive, but likely to be in consid-
cradle demand. Mems cravats. special
lys boxed for Christmas, will be the
item decided upon one day, for ex-
ample, while handkerchiefs will be
featured the next, and so on. The
article agreed upon is then advertised
In comparatively small space, but with
a distinctive type and border arrange
ment, and the entire store stands
ready to give the maximum service.
because they feel a personal pride in
making the specials move fast.
A careful record is kept of the diff
ferent articles pushed during the
month and of the total number of
sales made by each clerk. The one
oiic s2Cho Liz bt1sAiCot iihiAibt1 W
specials receives a cash prize and
Mr. Richards is authority for the
statement that this plan has resulted
in an extremely large percentage of
suggestion sales" for the combina-
ton of the advertising with the con-.
ference of the day before puts every
part of the organization on its mettle.
THREE BOYS BUILD UP
$275,oco BUSINESS.
One day st. Louis shoe salesman
walked by a bright-faced youth who
stood near the entrance to The Leader.
a Mt. Vernon, Ill, department store.
Il would like to see Mr.. Carp, the
proprietor" said the salesman as he
approached a girl in the notions stock
The girl suppressed a smile with
difficulty and the salesman wondered
whether or not he had forgotten his
necktie. There he is said the girl
as she pointed to the young man at
the entrance. That's Mr.. Carp, Mr..
Bernard Carp. He's the man you wish
to see." The salesman walked over
to the young man and apologized.
oh, that's all right" said Bernard
who is but a couple years beyond his
majority. I'm used to that"
With him Bernard has his two
brothers as partners. When they
opened The Leader about four years
ago Bernard was nineteen, his younger
brother was but thirteen years old and
the other brother fourteen years old.
Their father a merchant in another
Illinois town. had sent them to Mt
Vernon with about $1,000 worth of
bankrupt stock. Their business was
to clean it out. After a look over the
town Bernard decided that there was
room for another store, and then and
there he decided that his store, which
he named The Leader, was going to be
one of the towns institutions. Mr..
Carp. Sr., advanced them about $500
in money. and that was what the boys
operated on for the first year. That
year they did a business of $4,000.
The next year the store did $4,000,
the third year, s165, O00 and last year,
$4,000. The current year will run
beyond the s275,000 mark.
Handle Many Lines.
And as the volume of sales in
creased the boys moved into one larger
building after another, until today
they occupy two floors, the lower be-
ing "a by rs feet and the upper rs
by 125 feet. Their stocks include
mems clothing, women's ready to-
wear, dry goods, rugs and groceries.
1t was almost enough to get our
goat said Bernard, Ito have people
walk out of the store. They did that
often in the first years. One reason
was that we insisted on cash. Every
cents worth we have sold has been
20 oh Jo1,f Ir;l n
be bluffed. but we stuck to it. Some
times they walked out when we re-
fused to cut price, They thought
that we We're fly-by- night store run
by boys and could be worked. But We
explained that we We're in the game
for good and had already priced our
merchandise at the best possible fig
ure. Gradually they got to appreciate
u.s.
Many of the prominent people of the
town felt hurt to be- refused credit.
But from time to time the boys issued
circulars explaining the no-credit plan.
One of these contained the paragraph:
Bear in mind thai there is no such
thing as something for nothing and
that. every merchant who gives stamps.
silverware, dishes, talking machines or
pianos must figure his cost of doing
business, and naturally the customer
must bear part of this cost.
Learned in Fathers Store.
Much of the success of the youthful
firm is credited to the father of the
boys. According to Bernard he early
trained them in merchandising, had
them handling trade In his store when
they had to use boxes behind the
counters in order to see the customers.
they We're so short. His first lessons
were in the treatment of the trade.
Never let customer leave the store
feeling that he has not been treated
fairly was one of his rules. Another