The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1919-09-17
By C. A. MACDONALD, in Country Gentleman
Published at the Request of a Denison
Live-Wire Merchant

me to get two percent profit ten times
a year than for him to get ten per
cent profit once a year, because that
enables me to buy in greater quaint
tiles and therefore for less; and it en-
ables me to sell for less, and to have
fresh stocks all the time. See?'
"'Oh, I never thought of that said
he. And l don't believe the average
out either wi
A travelling representative of a gro
Gerry house tried to get johnson to put
in, a line Of groceries. No." he
answered, that would hurt the other
grocers who are established here and
they're all friends OF this store. They
have to live" For the same reason
he won't sell furniture, nor heavy
hardware, nor automobile parts; ot.-s.
er stores in town do that. ~.
When he found that the local paper
hadn't the kind Of type he wanted for
his Store News, he bought it and gave
it to the printer to use; and he buys
or has made to order thousands Of
newspaper cuts a year. $50
'Why don't you put in printing
plant of your own?' ne was asked.
What. and run the other fellow
out? No, sir"
He gives credit, and he has $500
accounts on his books, but each Gus.
toner has to pay the first of each
month. He sends statement then
and if the money does not come the
customers hears about it. In five
years he has not lost a dollar on &C.
count of farmer, and his total losses
, from credit accounts will not average
one-half of one per cent Of the total
business. &-i .7J,, s.
Selling What Farmers Want ~
Johnson's Bargain Basement" is
celebrated throughout southwest Ne.
braska. There are seven thousand
different articles in it, each kind
labeled with it's name and its price.
In holiday times forty.one salespeople
are busy in this basement. Last year
fifty thousand dollars worth Of goods
was sold in the basement. This de-
partment alone has thousands Of news
paper cuts, and gets out a separate
advertising sheet once a month which
goes folded inside the Store News.
Johnson expects to sell half a mill
ion dollars worth OF goods this year.
If he does that it probably will be the
greatest business done by any gener-
al merchandising store in a town of
that size in this country If other
stores exceed those sales they will be
selling groceries, hardware, furniture,
lime, cement and the like, none of
which is sold by Johnson.
Johnson has cellar ideas about the
reasons for his success. There is no
ecret about it, he says. 1--WE work.
and my son are always on the job.
We know merchandise and how to
buy it and sell it. l was brought up
in the old time school OF merchandis.
ing. but I realized long ago that a
great change has come into the farm
life of this western country. Farm
ers are prosperous. They have mon
ley. They read the big eastern maya
zines. they know what the people in
the cities are wearing and they want
to wear just as good clothes. They
know what sort of goods are being
used in the homes of the best people,
and they want all of that for them.
selves. Why shouldn't they have the
best?
"They want to buy it in big store
too; and the more that store and it's
stocks are like the big city stores and
their merchandise, the better they
like it. The people here know we are
good merchants; they have known US
personally a good many years and
they know they can depend on my
word. Spoken or printed, dts all the
same stand back of it, And they
come to us in full confidence, know
ing | will treat them right.
| Il think too many country store
keepers spend their time scheming to
see how much they can get out OF the
farmer and how little they will have
Ito give back"