Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-11

NEW YORK CITY, March 81
New Workers will buy almost any
thing, be it ever so worthless, If they
are only made to believe that they
are getting a bargain. This we'll
known human weakness accounts
for the large number of prosperous
secondhand shops throughout the
city, for the existence of a wide
spread, unique business which &C.
tually sells new goods under the
misleading representation that they
are worn or damaged.
On the West Side there are nu-
merous private dwellings whose first
floors r given over to the display
of furniture, yet from the outside
you would lever guess that the resi-
dents were furniture dealers. There
is no sign, printed or otherwise, in
dicating that such is the case. The
business Is carried on privately with
customers who are reached through
| small and inconspicuous advertise
ments in the newspapers.
The advertisements usually read
| something like this: "Going South;
must sacrifice lovely walnut bedroom
SET" Or, Am giving up my town
| house; will sell furniture at lowest
| reasonable prices" Again 1t is a
Lady going to California will sell
mahogany furniture cheap" Some
| times, it is not furniture that Is Of
fered for sale, but clothes, in which
case the advertisements announce
the offer Of an actresses wardrobe
| for sale, or the frocks and furs Of a
! presumably wealthy woman who for
reasons given is willing to sacrifice
her personal belongings. There is
lumbia University moreover, who
has been on the v Of departure
and hence under the necessity Of
disposing Of his library of rare
books for the past year and a half.
AS a matter of fact, however, none
of these gentlemen and ladies has
any intention of leaving town. They
are making entirely too much money
precisely where they are. They
have the public rushing to their
doors and buying goods as fast as
lived in an apartment above n of
these private furniture establish
ments for several months, says that
the dealer, who was a woman, often
sold fifteen hundred dollars worth
of furniture in a day.
Drifted Into the Business
This woman. according to his &C
count, was a widow who, at the age
of thirty-fve, had been left with
! SCkSIdI - W aRPoAS ~" 49,
small proceeds of an insurance pol
icy. She had never been retained for
any kind Of work, and she had not
the slightest idea how she and her
family were going to survive. For
tunately for her, however, a bust
ness friend Of her late husband had
some ideas on the subject He was
an antique dealer, and he told her
that often in attending auction sales
Of large estates he had an oppor-
tunity to secure a lot OF good but
hopelessly modern furniture at a
very low price. He could not use
such stuff himself. he said, but he
believed that it could be handled at
a handsome profit by a private in
dividual. At any rate, he suggested
that she buy a few pieces at a sale
that was to take place soon; adver-
tise them as a private householder
and see how the public responded.
The widow followed his advice
and was amazed at the results. She
not only sold the furniture she
bough at the sale but some of her
own furniture as well. On this first
transaction she made $500. After
that, she attended sales regularly
and also started visiting the large
wholesale houses and buying up odd
lots of portieres and tapestries at
low prices. She disposed of these at
such a large profit that a new idea
occurred to her. "Why not" she
thought, "buy directly from the big
furniture factories?" Her business
was growing so rapidly that she
could no longer take the time to at
tend auction sales in distant parts OF
the city, and furthermore, h had
observed that the new, unblemished
portieres, described as slightly
used" had sold to much better adj
vantage than the really damaged
furniture that came from the auc-
ton rooms.
New Second Hand Furniture
"You see, the whole thing is very
simple" she explained to her ten
ant. 1.-THE people who come to buy
these factory goods expect to find
them considerably damaged. Any
furniture which has been used at
all generally is. When they find
the things in perfect condition, they
are taken by surprise and are easily
convinced that they are getting a
great bargain. In one week l sold
three Queen Anne desks-each desk
for ten dollars than 1t would
have cost in a certain large depart
ment store"
Taking advantage of the public In
this way is, indeed, SO YER easy and
profitable that there are o con-
ceHns who are willing to supply
merchandise. on a credit basis, to
private individuals who will agree