The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-03-13
William T. Grant
Built Sound Idea
Into Store Chain

William T. Grant seemed t.
be born with ore conviction:
retailing must be the most thrill.
ing business in the world. His
fabulous success proved his be
lief. in almost Horatio Alger
fashion.
w. T. Grant was born in Stew
enSville. Pa, on June n, 1876,
the son Of a modest flour miller
and descendant of a family
which immigrated to Massachu-
sets in the early 1905. At an
early age. he set about supple
menting the family budget. He
had the usual paper route, then
q door-to-door venture selling
packets Of blueing and eventu-
ally, midway through high
school. quit school to take up
regular employment. While
never a brilliant scho lar in
school. young w. T. Grant be-
came a keenly observant stu
dent of retailing. adding to his
convictions about the path to
success with each succeeding
job.
1t was while working as the
manager of a department store
shoe section, in Salem, Mass,
that Grant found the answer to
his quest for different and
Surefire idea for a store. He
noticed that IS cent items, sdis-
played on bargain counters at
the front of the store drew
crowds into the store and sold
out fast. Here" he unused, lis
the business for me: fast sales
turnover. no fitting problems
and a kind of shopping which
customers seem to really en-
JOY
With his $1,000 savings, he
persuaded his three employers
to back him in the new enter
prise, which saw the light of day
4 on December 6, 1906 on the
ground floor Of the new YMCA
building in Lynn. Mass. Adver-
tiSed as the w. T. Grant "25
Cents Department Store" it set
out to fill family needs in the
pricing gap between and 10
cent stores already in operation
and the department stores.
Coupling his flair for Snowman
ship with his conviction that
people would respond to his eff
forts to give them dramatically
more for their money. young w.
T. Grant proceeded to prove the
wisdom of his theories.
He had a unique cuSto-
mer's point of view because
of his theory that he was a
buyer for the public rather
than merely a seller to it.
His first store was basi-
cauy a self-selection store
which invited customers to
serve themselves. Today,
this retailing cept is
thought by many to be a
modern innovation!
He had a keen knack Of
winning the complete COOP
Grafton of his people He re-
garded his sales people as
managers of the section in
which they worked and en-
couraged them to take re-
SponSibility for its opera
ton. and rewarded them &C
cording to their preform-
ance. Without this ability to
multiply his hands, as it
were. the early growth Of
the c mpany into other
cities and states would
never have been possible.
K. He was convinced that
heart and humanity we're
just as important to his bust
ness as its charts and meet
ings. He thus developed an
able and loyal roster Of eX-
ecutives to manage the fast
growing Company. They en-
abled him. in 1924. to relin-
quish the presidency after
IS gruelling years and to
Supervis its continued
growth as Chairman of the
Board Of Directors.
But his new found leisure was
not long lived. He was soon
working with his customary fer
vor in other fields of endcavor.
In 1886 he established The Grant
Foundation. Inc. which is en-
gagged in activities which assist
the healthy emotional develop
ment Of children and youth. The
approach has been through adj
vancing the psychological under
standing and knowledge Of the
public and especially the profess
sionS and institutions affecting
the growing child. Grants eX-
ceeding million dollars annu-
ally are being made 1. training
programs. research and demon
STATIONS. public education and
youth services related to the
field OF mental health.
In recognition Of ius rllllan