The Ely miner., 1942-12-24
Christmas Rush
Raises Problem
For Big Stores
Preparations for Handling
Shoppers Begun in
January.

Christmas is a headache for man.
ayers of big department stores. Not
only must the demand for presents
be anticipated months in advance,
but more help must be hired, and
the entire store reorganized.
| A big store faces a monumental
task when it prepares for Christ
mas. 1t is task that begins right
after New Years and ends on
Christmas eve the following year.
Every department store has SIM
liar problems to meet, but the larg-
er stores have to make plans on a
scale that will accommodate an
enormous expansion of business.
One large New York department
store, for example, has as much
floor space as a fair sized farm
As acres. During the Christmas
rush it has sold almost a million
dollars worth of goods.
Actual planning gets under way
Immediately after Christmas when
executives study errors that were
made and draw up plans to avoid
the same mistakes next year. Sales
volumes of various departments are
examined, and "bottlenecks" are re-
moved as far as possible by enlarg-
ing some departments and rearrang-
ing others.
Spring finds the store placing or
ders for the following year. Christ
mas cards are bought in April. Con-
tracts for 100000 Christmas boxes
which are let in July are followed
shortly by orders for many tons of
holiday wrappings.
Extremely important is the job of
forecasting sales of goods. Certain
staple lines can be predicted with
considerable efficiency, but novelty
goods have to wait almost until the
following December.
August finds employment begin
ming its upward trend. The store
is normally stated with IL 900 peo-
pie, but 10000 more are needed to
handle the holiday rush. Thou
sands of applicants must be inter-
viewed for these jobs that range
from the man who cleans gum off
the floor to red-cheeked Santa
Clauses. Each employee must first
pass a rigid physical examination
before he is finally accepted and
given instruction in his special
tasks.
The greatest problem of all is
presented by the toy department,
which expands from a staff of about
so people to more than 1,50O work
ers. Display cases and tables hold
ing $4,000 different toys must be
arranged and organized, to permit
customers to buy their gifts with a
minimum of confusion and effort.
The 10000 additional workers not
only have to be trained, but they
also have to be fed. Cafeteria sched-
ules are rearranged and set with
clockwork precision to provide for
the heavy seasonal load.
Ordinarily IA doctors, 18 nurses
and four dentists are sufficient to
take care of any accidents occur
ring In the store. This staff is as
sisted by eight additional doctors
during the holiday rush. Wheel
chairs strategically placed through
out the store are ready to give in
slant service for any customer or
clerk who is overcome by tie
work or crush of the crowd.
No detail can be overlooked to
make the entire store function
smoothly as a unit. For every clerk
there are two other workers handling
stock, wrapping presents, taking or
ders and doing some Of the multi
tudinous tasks that are needed to
run big store.
For example, can you speak only
French, or Spanish, or Italian? The
store has 700 interpreters capable
of speaking at least one foreign Ian
guage who stand ready to accom-
modate you.
OF course the planning is not per-
feet. Problems will arise and in
convenient situations will exist. But
you can be sure that every effort
will be made to straighten them
out before a single showcase is
moved into position for next years
Christmas shopping season.