Evening star., 1954-12-24
Christmas Buying
Breaks All Records
In Area Stores
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iii AIRED lIOTeS
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OF course. but there were some
surprises. Executives still are
talking about q model radio
tFausmitter that really vowed"
them. Supplies vanished sud-
denly. and there were vigorous
but futile attempts to get more.
Fur neck pieces, mink If you
3 please, were In good demand.
Fur coats were slow. but the
stoles. capes and scarfs really
moved.
One store purchased twice as
much quality mems sports wear
as last year and sold out COM
pletely. It could have sold more.
With fashion on their side.
women's sweaters also were pop
: tllar.
After q dull period. there was
q boom in televisicn and radio
departments.
Records also were in demand
and high-fidelity recording re-
ceived the credit for a revived
interest in classical music.
Silver hatware sold as usual,
but demand for silver hollow
ware kept that department
buster.
an Book Sales Up.
Al leading book retailer re-
ported record sales. with emp1a-
sis on the more serious type Of
reading, almost entirely nom
fiction. With both downtown
and suburban stores. its peak
sales were Monday, December 20.
Shoe stores reported sales
slightly ahead Of last year in doll
lar volume, despite a slight lag
in unit sales. Peak days were
Saturday, December Is. and
Monday. December 20.
: Woodward g. Lothrop sales
were the highest for any day
on record on Saturday. December
higher record on. Thursday. De-
E cember 16, store officials said.
q However, Monday, December
20. also was better than the COM
parable day of the 1858 Christ
mas season. In contrast, sales
on Tuesday. the following day,
fell behind those of year ago.
The Hecht Co. reported aggre-
gate sales for its area stores also
were the highest on December
16. Peak days for the downtown
store were on December 4, 13, Is
and 20.
The busiest day for Julius Gar
finckel & Co. was on Saturday.
December II. but there were
other good ones. including the
following Thursday.
Lansburgh's equaled its all
time daily record on December
i6 and Monday, December 20,
was second best. Sales on Tues
day were barely even with those
Of q year earlier.
The best days for s.. Kann
Sons Co. were Thursday, Decem-
ber 16. and Monday, December
90. After a busy Monday, it also
had falling on on Tuesday.
shoppers Feel Better.
Harry Dayidow, executive
president of the Hecht Co., said
increases in his company's sub
urban stores would more than
Offset any lag in downtown sales.
He credited a more stabls Gov
ernment employment situation
with the better feeling among
shoppers.
Ralph Goldsmith. president of
Lansburgh's. predicted that De-
cember sales of his organization
will be the highest for any
month on record, with gains over
both 1853 and 1852 totals.
President Sol Kann of 8. Kann
Sons Co. also said his company's
Virginia store will help boost
December volume to a new peak.
Hugh K. Dufield. general
manager here for Sears, Roebuck
g. Co.. said Sears stores, both in
this area and for the entire
country. will set new December
records.
Specially Stores Gain.
Charles Kotzin, proprietor Of
the KotZin women's apparel store
and this years chairman Of the
women's wear division of the
Merchants and Manufacturers
! Association, said speciality store
! sales here in November and De-
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