Evening star., 1939-07-30
BY L. SETH SCHNITMAN

unequalled by other cities of COM
parable size, while a glance at the
future indicates that trade for the
full year 1889 will exceed by a
liberal margin the startling records
of the boom year 1929.
Among ten cities in the Nation
washington, Cleveland, Boston, ST.
Louis, Baltimore, San Francisco,
Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Buffalo and
New Orleans) having populations
between SOC, 900 and / 1000 900 inhabi-
tants, only Boston, with a much
larger population than Washing
tons, is able to show retail purchases
in excess of those here.
Reduced to a per capita basis,
Washington retail trade stands un-
parallel, even among the 1000 900
and-over centers of population. With
less than l per cent of the total
population of the Nation, Washing
ton accounts now for bit more than
l per cent of the total volume of re-
tail purchases. Compare this with
New Orleans, where the retail ratio
is hardly even with the population
ratio.
Food Store Sales Unique.
In local trade, food store sales ac-
count for almost % per cent Of the
total retail volume. This Is some
what lower ratio than that shown
for virtually all other large cities;
yet on per capita basis, food store
sales here are much higher than in
any other large center.
BY far the larger proportion Of
local food store trade is transacted
in stores retailing both groceries and
meats. They account for 10 per cent
of the sales. Only in st. Louis is
the ratio higher. In other cities
such sales account for less than half
the total food store sales. On a
per capita basis, the volume of sales
by delicatessen stores and the busi-
ness of Washington restaurants,
lunchrooms and cafeterias is higher
than elsewhere in the Nation.
Local retail buying of packaged
beers and liquors not only exceeds
that for any other of the 10 large
cities here considered but totals more
than either the trade of all local
mems furnishings and clothing
stores or the sale of all shoe stores
or the sales of local five-and-ten
cent stores. Against this fact may
be set the statement that drinking
places in Washington. being rigidly
restricted by law, show the lowest
sales volume of any of the cities
under review.
d. C. Retail Trade Analysed.
We now come to consideration Of
general merchandising lines. In this
sphere department store sales hold
dominant place, accounting for al
most 80 per cent of the, total for
this general trade classification and
almost 16 per cent of total local re-
tail trade. Only Boston has a larger
per capita sales total in department
stores than Washington, the trade
area populatio being about double
that of the Capital.
Variety stores in Washington,
chiefly units of national popularity
termed five-and-ten cent chains, do
volume of business about one
eighth as large as local department
stores. In six of the nine other cities
under examination-in Cleveland,
st. Louis, San Francisco, Milwaukee,
Buffalo, and New Orleans-the ratio
of variety-store sales to department
store volumes is higher than locally;
in New Orleans it exceeds 25 per
cent, largely indicative of consumer
appeal for relatively low-priced
merchandise, if not indeed the low
purchasing power of its over all pop
ulation.
Sales by local apparel stores, not
counting apparel departments in de-
partment stores, represent about II
per cent of total retail trade. and If
allowance were made for the far
flung trading area that is Boston,
the per capita local apparel trade ex-
ceeds that for any other large Ameri-
can city. The story is much the same
whether one views the overall pic
ture of apparel sales or its principal
components, mems furnishings and
clothing stores, women's ready-to-
wear shops, or shoe stores.
Even sales of furs by furriers and
fur shops locally exceed, on per
female basis, the sales performance
for any other comparable city, ex-
cepting only Boston and San Fran
cisco, where weather variables and
trading area factors have much to
do with this phenomenon.
Jewelry In Heavy Demand.
Besides raiment, personal adorn-
ment, too, rides high locally, for
sales by jewelry stores further evil
dence the singular position of Wash
ington, besting, on per capita
basis, the performance in each OF
the nine other large centers, ex-
cepting only Boston and San Fran
cisco. In actual dollar volume local
iewelry store sales are about twice
as large as in Milwaukee where the
present population just about equals
that of Washington. For radios,
household appliances, oil burners
even drug stores and now, air-con-
ditioning equipment, Washington
likewise outranks all other cities OF
fairly comparable size.
There is an diverse side to the
picture which offers still another in
dex OF the singularly different local
conditions. Not only is the total
volume of trade in second-hand
goods, excluding automobiles and
related items, greater than in any
OF the nine other cities, but, in dol
lars, exceeds the jewelry-store
volume. situation quite unlike that
prevailing elsewhere. Only in New
Orleans does trade in secondhand
merchandise begin to approximate
the local situation.
Washington is no Goliath in the
field OF wholesale trade. Though in
dollar volume somewhat more than
quarter of billion dollars moves
through local wholesalinp establish