Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-10-21
Chain Store Gains rs Per
Cent; Mail Order Houses
Lose 81 Per Cent

j. C. Penney Company. the op.
orators of countrywide system Of
chain stores, did rs per cent more
business during the first sever
months of this year than during
the. corresponding months of 1920
while Sears. Roebuck & Co. anG
Montgomery Ward & Co.. the two
leading mail order houses of the
country, suffered a loss Of 81 pei
cent in the same period, accordil
| to figures obtained by the Daily
1 Garment News.
r. c. Sans. president OF the ]
C. Penney Company, when asked
/ why 1t was that in tina. period OF
depression the Penney stores had
| increased their sales so tremen-
dously while the busnC S of the
catalog house had so greatly fallen
/ Off ascribed the fact in part to the
| poor business conditions.
When business is flush" he
said, people are not so particular
where they buy and do little shop
ping around. When business is bad
they are anxious to find out where
they can obtain what they want at
the lowest prices. Because we
have pursued policies which per-
NIT us to sell a. roc:iOottom prices
j. C. Penney Company has pros
pered through the depression"
The cLief point in the policies of
the Penney stores that brought this
about, he said, We're;
]. That the Penney stores on
January 1st took a 100000 loss
on their inventory to make it pos
sible to base selling prices on re-
placement values.
2. That the Penney stores have
devoted an increasing amount of
money to arouse interest by the
public in the values offered them.
8. That the executives of each
of the Penney stores Is interested
in the business and for that reason
have the same personal interest in
their stores which the man who
owns single store possesses. This,
Mr.. Sans points out, is an element
which is entirely lacking in the big
mail order concerns.
4. The Penney stores sell for
cash only.
5. The Penney stores do not de-
liver any merchandise to their GUS
toners.
6. The Penney stores derive all
the benefits that are obtained
through large scale buying.
Mr.. Sans declared that the man
owning a single store should be
able to benefit in the same way,
whenever he is able to put the
same principles into practice. He
doubted very much whotl ar this
was entirely possible but in any
case that is possible such princi-
pies should have the same results.
For the small man to put his
business on 81 cash-and-carry basis
might often be difficult. he said,
but II that were done the benefits
to be derived through the result
ant reductions in prizes should be
great
The element OF personal interest
is not an exclusive feature but is
one that is shared by any man who
operates his own store.
Mr.. Sans doubted whether the
small merchant has been able to
write Off his losses on MS inventory
with the same ease that large
concern like his has been able to
do, but where it can be done, he
said, sales simply must be in
creased.
Advertising is a medium which
the one-man store can use as, well
as the largest chain store operator
in the country.
And although Mr.. Sans did not
comment on this particular point,
it has been said time and again by
experts in the retail field that the
one-man store can share in many
of the benefits of collective buying
with the chain stores through be-
ing represented in the New York
market by a competent resident
buyer.--Adv.