The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1922-08-04
The Community Merchants

Did you ever really give the sub
ject of the local merchant and you
any serious thought?
Perhaps you are loyal citizen and
patronize local shops and stores as a
matter of loyalty, but as this is not
a lecture it will do no harm to read
If you are one of the misguided
this, anyhow,
folks who imagine you can do better
elsewhere by all means read this
Your local merchant is first citi-
zen, a resident of your community
the same as you are.
He lives in your community, pays
taxes along with you for the upkeep
and Improvement of your community;
he raises his family and sends his
children tC school-schools which he
helps, with you, to maintain.
If he is a butcher. he buys clothes
and shoes for his family from a fell
No matter what his
line of business, he spends money
with other business men OF the COM
munity
He banks in local banks; he takes
his family of an evening to the local
shows.
Summed up. the money he makes
in the community is spent in it.
Were it not for your local mer-
chant, there would be no schools, no
paved streets, no public buildings,
no progress nor prosperity. He is
here day in and day out, rain or
shine, giving his time and energy and
money to whatever will benefit the
district, taking part in the admins
tration of the community or aiding to
regulate the administration for the
best interests of the community by
his vote.
HE IS A CITIZEN
Is he not entitled, then, to consid-
Grafton?
But there is something more than
a call for your loyalty to him as citi-
zen to citizen--neighbor to neighbor.
Living here as he does, he comes to
know his customers. They are to
him not Tjust customers" but Eel
low citizens" good neighbors. -
AS he will be here tomorrow and the
next day and next year, meeting his
customers face to face, day after day
his business gets his personal atten-
tion-every transaction is a personal
dealing between him and the patron
He is not your huge store where
thousands flock in daily, many for the
one time only. He is not your ny
by-night get OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
good fakir.
He is your neighbor-your fellow
citizen, building for tomorrow and
next year, and fully cognizant that
the only way to build is to sell good
goods at right prices.
Your local merchant is in himself
a guarantee of his goods and prices
and services because he is always at
the same stand meeting largely the
same customers.
lie cannot exist upon the patron
age of transients-h / s livelihood
comes from permanent residents; his
aim is to cake permanent residents
regular customers. He must do this
hence his wares, his prices and his
service are all and always arranged
n nd hold IN thiS pnd
You never heard your liye-wire,
yideawake home merchant say. ION,
well, one customer more or less
makes no difference" Every custo-
mer, to him, is important; a new
customer is eargerly sought, and
customer less-well. your local mer-
chant will not let it happen if any
thing Just and reasonable under the
sun will prevent such thing hap
pening.
So not alone out OF sense of 10y
atty to your community, but for your
own sake-or the sake of your purse
and the satisfaction OF being given
personal attention and service-buy
of your home NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Record