The Coconino sun., 1921-10-28
CHAIN STORE GAINS
 25P. C.; MAIL ORDER
 HOUSES LOSE 37P. (.

J. c. Penney company, the operat- ors of countrywide system of chain stores, did 25 per cent more business during the first seven months of this year than during the corresponding months of 1920, while Sears, Roebuck & Co.,, and Montgomery Ward & Co.,, the two leading mail order houses of the country, suffered loss of 37 per cent, in the same period, according to figures obtained by the Daily Garment News.
 E. c. Sans, president of the J. C.. Penney company, when asked why it was that in that period of depres- sion the. Penney stores had increased their sales so tremendously while the business of the catalog houses had so greatly fallen off, ascribed the fact in part to the poor business condi- tions.
 "When business is .flush," he said, people are not so particular where they buy and do little shopping around. When business is bad they are anxious to find out where they can obtain whats they want at the lowest price. Because we have pur- sued policies which permit us to sell at rockbottom prices J. c. Penney company has prospered through the depression"
 The chief point in the policies of the Penney stores that brought this about he said were:
 That the Penney stores on January 1st took a S3,000,000 loss on their inventory to make it possible to base selling prices on replacement values.
 That the Penney stores have de- voted an increasing amount of money to arouse interest by the public in the values offered them.
 That the executives of each of the Penney stores are interested in the business and for that reason have the same personal interest in their stores which the man who owns a single store possesses. This, Mir. Sans points out, is an element which is entirely lacking in the big mail order con- cerns.
 The Penney stores sell for cash only.
 The Penney stores do not deliver any merchandise to their customers.
 The Penney stores derive all the benefits that are obtained through large scale buying.
 MT. Sans declared that the man owning single store should be able to benefit the same way, whenever he is able to put the same principles into practice. He doubted very much whether this was entirely possible but in any case that is possible such prin- ciples should have the same results.
 For the small man to put his bus mess on cash-and-carry basis might often be difficult, he said, but if that were done the benefits derived through the resultant reductions in prices should be great.
 The element of personal interest is not an exclusive feature but is one that is shared by any man who oper- ates his own store.
 MT. Sans doubted whether the small merchant has been able to write off his losses on his inventory with the same ease that a large concern like his has been able to do, but where it can be done, he said, sales simply must be increased.
 Advertising is medium which the one store man can use as well as the largest chain store operator in the country.
 And although MT. Sans did not comment on this particular point, it has been said time and again by ex- perts in the retail field that the one store man can share in many of the benefits of collective buying with the chain stores through being represent ed in the New York market by a competent resident buyer.-Daily Garment News.