The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-06-18
.ST.LOUIS TRAINS
.EMPLOYE FOR
RETAIL STORES
BY EMILE BASEL
United Press staff Correspondent

UnlJe0 PreSS stan correspondent
st. Louis CUP)-Salesgirls and
Shopkeepers, butchers and depart
ment store executives are f1ocking
back to the retailers version of the
little red schoolhouse to learn the
wartime economies of the jobs they
now hold. The subjects they study
range from how to fit and sell
shoes to how a junior executive
should hold a sales meeting.
Sponsored by the st. Louis Board
of Education, the classes are taught
by leaders in the industries with
practically and common sense as
the keynotes. The courses are free,
operated as part of the citys dis
tributive education project. Funds
for training are supplied under the
George-Dean act by the state and
federal governments.
A 10-Week course on meat and
nutrition merchandising for butch
erS was completed recently with
such shining success that Meat Cut
tiers Local No. 88, sponsors of the
course, talked of making the train
ing "muSt" for union membership
During the classes, butchers cooked
and served little known ration point
meats with appropriate vegetables
learning that those cuts could be
sold far more easily if the butcher
could tell his customers how to
cook and serve them.
Stores Haven't Facilities
Nutrition and vitamin values we're
stressed, so that the learned butcher
could tell his feminine public not
only how to cook the meats and
what vegetables to use, but the food
values of the dish as well. The
classes, held in the kitchens of a
local utility company, were planned
to run from p. m. until IL D. m,
but the enthusiastic butchers stayed
at their stoves until the lights were
turned out
Retail stores have suffered in
creaSing losses Of trained employees
to the armed forces and war plants,
with neither the time nor the facil-
tiles to train new clerks to take
their places. Swiftly and efficiently,
distributive education is stepping
into the picture, training hundreds
of new and prospective sales clerks.
buyers and display workers and
Offering classes in almost anything
connected with retailing A mini
mum Of IS people can get together,
decide what phase of retailing
they'd like to study and the Board
of Education swings into action.
The subject is investigated, and, If
found adequate, teachers are hired
and classrooms arranged.
Pre- Employment Training
Acting on the theory that many
unemployed women wouldn't apply
for Jobs in the stores either be-
cause they hadn't worked before
and were afraid of their lack of
experience or because they hadn't
worked for many years and felt
they had lost the ability, the board
set up a pre-employment training
school. The free, 12-hour course for
women was held during the day
at three branches of the YWCA
last November. Out of the six
classes formed, 1876 women between
the ages of Is and SIS were induced
to work either full or part time in
the local stores.
Customer complaints In the re-
tail stores have kept pace with the
rising losses of trained sales clerks.
Francis Wright, supervisor of Dis
tributive Education in ST. Louis,
proved to store executives that the
real fault lay with themselves, not
the clerks, because the excuptivs
didn't know how to train new help.
AS a result, one large department
store and several speciality shops
have started training classes for
their buyers and department heads,
and two other ! arge department
stores are planning to follow suit
Executives are beginning to feel
the paramount Importance of en-
ploye training with an increasing
number of high school students
working part-time after school, on
Saturdays and nights when the
stores stay open,
Equally new and important In
retailing are the boards Wartime
Clinics" teaching business men and
women how to make the most Of
their stores during wartime restric-
tionus. During the 194243 season,
16,49O people registered for these
study groups alone, with nearly g.
900 more participating in the other
adult programs.