Evening star., 1934-04-01
Low Stocks and Expectation
of Higher Prices Bring
Huge Sales Squirt.
MORE PEOPLE SEEKING
APPAREL THAN IN 1929
Retail Trade Shows Gains as High
as 20 Per Cent Ahead of
Level Last Year.
BY JOHN A. CRONE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 31.-The
promise Of fair and warmer weather
for Easter Sunday over most sections
Of the country, despite colder temper
atures, sent thousands of shoppers in
search of wearing apparel and ac-
cessories the last few days.
More wardrobes have been re-
plenished this Spring than was the
case even back in the halcyon days of
1929. The almost complete depletion
Of stocks Of clothing did as much to
stimulate buying as the general belief
that current values may not again be
obtained for many months.
While mems and women's ready-to-
wear garments, millinery, hosiery,
mems furnishings. dress accessories
and dry goods easily were the center
Of shopping attractions, a long list of
varied goods moved briskly of counters
and shelves of the Nations stores this
week.
Retail trade, as result of seasonal
purchases, showed gains ranging as
high as 70 per cent over last March,
20 per cent above the same 1882
week and only slightly less than the
1881 figures
Sales Total Climbs.
Total sales for the week" esti-
mates the national weekly survey of
business by Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.
averaged 10 to Is per cent higher
than for the preceding seven-day
period, bringing the total 40 to 70
per cent above the corresponding week
Of 1893.
When compared with the show
ing Of the week preceding Easter last
year, the gain ranges from 25 to 35
per cent. In addition, sales checks,
that is, the individual sales unit, are
higher this year.
Buying budgets of retailers dur
ing the next few months, as they af-
feet quantity sales in the lower price
brackets, are being revised downward
,, in many instances. present plans IA
voring the handling of fewer types
of goods at higher prices, which will
permit a better profit. Due to the
steadiness of quotations on nearly all
merchandise, few inventory losses are
being recorded.
Sales of jewelry are expanding and
the call for better grades of mer-
chandise in all lines continues un-
abated. Spring hardware, paints, gar
den tools and small farm implements
are moving out in nearly double the
quantity of year ago. During the
final week Of March, groceries at
tained the widest movement Of the
month, while the increased call for
| meats continues"
The passing Of March, however,
brings to an end the period of phen-
omenal percentages of gains over the
comparative totals Of a year ago
When business figures for April are
compared with the same month year
ago, they will show much smaller
| spreads, because it was in April, 1888,
that the sharp rise in production and
| distribution started.
Peak Likely in June.
National surveys assert that the
Spring upturn gives no indications of
! reaching its peak until the end of
| May and might even be extended to
mid-June, but the authorities are not
SO sure that Summer trade will be
sufficient to maintain a buoyant tone
throughout the hot months.
The Easter holidays reduced out
of-town buyers to the lowest level for
any week this year. A few seekers OF
rugs and furniture visited principal
buying markets, but virtually every
buyer of seasonal Easter goods spent
the week on the selling end Of his
| business.
Industrial purchasing was resumed
on slight scale Monday as soon as
the business world heard the automo-
tive labor problem was settled, but
long-term business planning continues
to be held back by uncertainties. In
dustrialists stress two factors-the ad-
ministration's attitude toward union
labor and the uncertainty about profit
margins. Shorter hours, higher
wages, increased taxes-these, along
with limitations on price advances,
mean narrowing profit margins.
The sentiment of the market place
also colorS business views. With Wall
Street gloomy about the future, largely
because of the proposed Stock Ex-
change control bill, business has been
affected. While the financial district
sees uncontrolled imitation facing the
Nation before the end Of the year
| this idea has not percolated through
| to the business world. If an imitation
scare again grips industrialists, there
will be heavy forward buying Of raw
materials and capital goods.
Failures Are Down.
Failures in business this week were
at the lowest level Of the year. Bank
clearingS were 17.7 per cent above
those in the same 1888 week.
The continued weakness in food
stuffs was the outstanding feature OF
wholesale markets.
Both cash and speculative demand
for foods dropped to new low levels
when it was emphasized that Wash
ington plans to control such marts as
well as security exchanges.
Copyright. 1934.)
crECI nDInEc AnlIAMnFn