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Show laUMM, Friday, July The Tooele Transcript in Ulali Early Merchandising Bulletin Continued irom PART THREE Tuesday dry goods department. a clothing department, hardware department, crockery department, machine ahedf. granary, and a bach yard filled with huge pile of lumber. The company operated a tannery, shue shop, grist mill, and on the mountain a sawmill, Two lady cleric and myaelf a chief clerk sold the product! of all these enterprise at the atore. in my fr!y day. I got these department mixed Sometime end asked wnh embarrassing result. On day a lady cam to aee tome theetmg. f led her out Into the back yard and she deep among the ttacka of dimension lumber. Out ther grew alarmed and atopping thort asked with evident concern. 'What have you brought me out here for?" "You asked to see aheetmg didn't you? What dimension! do you want?" I replied. hid also 1IIF. OLD 10-0-1 shoe department, hat department, "We aell lumber She said, "I want five and a half yari dumbby the foot, not by the yard." I explained. "Lumber, you bell." ahe taid. "Who laid anything about lumber, lt'a cloth I want to make aheeta. Apologetically I led her back to the atore and to the dry good department, f and. "f don't know this kind of aheetlng. You find the cloth, and I will cut off what you want." She found the good, and I filled her order That day I learned that there ia sheeting and there la sheeting, and the lady learned that too. Today the lumber kind li called aheating but not then. Ol'R HVT DEPARTMENT wai a field of diitlnctive It wai housed upstairs with the men's suits and unfedoras for the old men derwear. We stocked only two style and "Cedar" hats for the young men. The atore bought a dozen or o atraw hat every apring. but these were not permitted to depreciate the dignity of the hat department. Straw hats, on the dry goods with the kids hats were sold downstair counter and by the girl clerks. There was something sissy anyway about atraw hats, and our manly fellows like Tex, Jonah, Squawfoot. and "Yiah," would not deign to look at them, We bought hat once a year from a hat manufacturer in Salt Lake City. The hat man made one trip a year through the state. I was supposed to buy a year's supply and no more. One year I had five hats left over, and my good boss took me sternly to task about It. He said, Why don't you learn to buy Just what hats you need and not have this capital tied up in surplus nock?' I said, "Albert Nelson and Will Hunter died and that accounts for two hat sales missed. I had no way of knowing they would die. did 1?" But my boss said I should anticipate some adverse conditions. "You must learn to buy When I get so I only what stock you can sell." I answered. can do that. I won't be working for you at SJ5 00 a month." WHEN WE LEARNED that the hat man was coming. I began to mentally check ever our prospective customers. Going up one side of the street and down the other I counted every man In town. I said, "fice Higbee didn't buy last year, he will want a sire seven black Cedar hat; Lome bought, he won't want one; 'Yiah' Leigh, yea, six and aeven eighth black; Frank, no; Dock Adamt. yes. six and aeven eighths light; QQueets McConnell, yes, seven light: Toe, no; Snyder, yes. seven hat within the year, black: I could remember who had bought and those who had not were good prospects for next year. I also knew every mans hat sire. We never wrapped hat up when we sold them. The customer put it on top of his old hat an dwore it home. Some dashing young dandies wore the two hats around town for a week or more so people would see they had a new one. Having only five hat left over seemed pretty good buying to me, but my good old boss would rather lose three or four sales than carry a couple of hats over. Yet Cedar hats and fedoras were as staple as sugar in the bin. THEN ONE YEAR two new styles Intruded Into our market. One was a soft brown with a rolled rim and a rounded crown, and the other was the sombrero. Our manager refused to purchase the round "bullet head hats," as he called them, as It would only complicate our stocking problems, and he did not trust my judgment anyway. We had no Idea who would buy them. We did buy three sombreros. Now with four styles on the market I could no longer count noses against styles and buy by that rule. The Sheep Association further complicated our problem by putting a line of hats in their store, and among them were the "bullet heads. Soon the bullet heads we saw on the streets told us how much hat business we were losing, and we expected that we would have many more than five hats on hand at the next stock taking. The hats, however, proved to be only stylish town hats and were no good for field and range wear. Some of the men who had bought bullet heads at the sheep store came back to us and bought their regular Cedar style which lifted our spirits. This year the manager was not angered by the sight of five hats, but was actually happy to find that we had only eleven on hand. THE DRY GOODS was the awesome department for me. In time I came to know all the goods for I had to unpack, check the invoices, and price everything. But I stayed away from the dry goods counter as much as I could. Women were much more modest than they are now, and a clerk would never hold a ladys stocking up full length. The clerk laid them folded on the counter, and if the lady wanted to inspect them, she turned them over one fold at a time. Corsets and bustles were strictly "mustent mention urns, still we had to stock them. A lady was either desperate or wanton if she asked a man clerk for either of them. But once in a while it happened. Then I modestly asked the size wanted and led the lady to the obscure corner where these goods were kept. I took down the proper size boxes, laid them on the counter, and then walked away leaving her alone to open the boxes and make her selection. She then wrapped a paper around it and brought it to me to properly wrap and collect for. BUT EVEN MORE TICKLISH than corsets and bustles was the sale of chambers. Men would never come to buy them, so the women had to. And the girl clerks would never sell them, so I had to. They were kept upstairs in the china department. The lady customer would say to me. I want to see the china ware. And when we reached the crockery department she would for what she wanted. Then she would turn never ask point modestly away and go on examining the rest of the dishes while I wrapped her purchase up. This I did with lots of paper and twine to conceal its identity, but the package was about as revealing in its shape and proportions as a wrapped, frying pan. Once in a while some cheerful grandma, who could still speak English, would come and with a broad smile tell me what she wanted, and that was a refreshing experience in my humdrum business day. But time here has wrought a wonderful transformation. The lowly chamber has been hauled out from its humble station in the home and sits now proudly enthroned as the bearer of orchids and roses on the elegant marble mantlepieces of societys rich. Its antique value today is not the six bits I used to charge, but six to sixteen dollars according to which society duchess or queen it once served. Selling shoes to ladies was also a delicate and exciting procedure. Our good manager insisted that ladies should never be embarrassed by foot touching when they bought a pair of shoes. He gave me some strict instructions and a realistic demonstration on how to proceed. We were never supposed to touch a ladys stockinged foot. The lady unbuttoned her shoe, then we took hold of the heel and toe and gently drew it off. The male clerk then held the new shoe open while the lady forced her foot in. If this gallant and romantic way, she tried on shoes until she found the pair she wanted. Then the clerk held the old shoe open for her foot and handed her the button hook so she could button it up while he wrapped her purchase. All the while her long skirts were drawn snugly over her shins so that not an inch of leg was exposed above the shoe tops. THEN SKIRTS STARTED an upward climb, and the ift was protested every inch of the way. When they reached the point where the wind sometimes exposed a knee, an old English lady in disgust said, Hi was brought up in my country to hunderstand that knees are honly far usbins to see. Yet despite all the demands of modesty, women preferred to have men sell them shoes. They thought men knew more about shoes and could pull tighter ones on their dainty feet. ,The girls no such modesty scruple THE MEN HAD one of the girls could sell them shoes as well as I could. Once two right shoes. mixed the shoes in the boxes and sold a man that he was discovered wife his before week He wore them a same foot. She saw also that they the for shoes two wearing them were not the same style. The man, in anger brought him that sold and lefts two had that back. I found the box effected peace between us. which half at price pair made p shop, Brother Adams, the shoemaker, In the worn interchangecould be a style he called Straights. They left to right, right ably. and he advised that they be changed with reasoned logic that in that He other day. to left every last longer. They and out wear evenly way the shoes would when were a sort of Wonderful one horse shay shoes which, dust at the to both would drop wear came, of last hour - - - long-handl- co-o- the 26, 1963 had monopoly on these, but same time. Ami "Ye Old Co-omore did mt push them because advertising with all its ih present superlat.vrs had not been developed. What an opportunity they missed, and how much the dear public lost. DFAI.IVG ALL THE TIME with people, the clerk came to know their vagaries. Aunt Manie was one who always the clerk "to throw something in." She came early one I waited on her. On yrsr to do her Christmai shopping, and her list was a pound of peanut. I opened the drawer and there a as a bg mouse in the bin. I acopped it with the nuta into her satk. She said. Now what are you going to throw in for a thrown something in, CVistmas gift-- ' I said. "I hve oull f.nd it oon." I expected to have her In my hair any day, but time went on to the end of January before I saw her again. She was back to trade, and at the end aa usual, she asked me to throw something in. I said, "Aunt Manie, I threw something in the last time we traded, and you have never thanked me for it. It was when you bought some peanuts.' 'Oh'!" ahe cried, "I never got one of those nuts. I put them In my trunk to keep for Christmas, and when I opened It to get them on Christmas In and ate them all. It also morning a pesky mouse had got ale holes in some of my clothes." I lacked the courage to confess my sina, but I made the up in full to Aunt Manie and gave her a sample package of a new tea to pay for her darning. After that Aunt Manie would trade with no other clerk, and I made to her the only "all eyes open corset aa!e I ever made. She had me spread them out on the counter and hold them down securely while the solved the intricacies of the ladigo strap or string system. FINANCING MANY of the little stores for their opening stuck was a d.fficult task, for money was scarce in the little out of the way town. The hamlet of Hebron down In Washing ton County, solved their problem In a iw'el way. The cot of the world town was so poor that they had a hard time to find school teacher. The bishop's daughter, Sis Terry, was press ed Into service, and she was to take her pay m milk of which the town had plenty, 0 N Friday morning every chikl brought a bucket of fresh milk which Sit took home and made into cheese. In the apring the bishop loaded Sis and her cheese into hi wagon and went to Salt Lake City. She traded her cheese to ZCMI for good which were taken back to Hebron to start the coop atore. In conclusion I have tried to bring an intimate picture of store Ours was not essentially d.fferent from all the old the others. Market day m the old country borne, from which must of the people had come, had remained through the years of want a fondly cherished memory. If only they could go again to the shop and buy a package of tea or a "penneth worth of lollipops. It would be like a peek Into heaven Now, by putting their $J 00 and 15 00 and S10 00 together, they had won emanciatore Bad good pation from merchandising want. The co-o- p cm us shelves, and the people could look at them even if they had no money to buy. To the Saint, Zion waa beginning to put on the "Glory of the Lord." NO OTHER THING d.d ao much to lift the apirit and br.ghten the hope of the impoverished pioneer aa the foundstores. Now mother could aend a dozen egg to ing of the siore and buy a new hair ribbon for Mary' birthday or a of grain to exchange for sugar. Soon touchea of color began to relieve the drabnet of homemade cknhing, and style consciousness, so long in eclipse, begaln to revive and change the decor of the town. atore brought not only goods but also market for They became, in effect, produce many surplus commodities. banks where a sack of grain, a cheese, or a ham could be deposited and drawn against in goods. The store became an co-o- p goods-atarve- co-o- pk d assembling pool for little dribble of eggs. gram, cheese, butter, hams, baron, and many other things. Her the California emigrant trams that passed through found, ready assembled, the supplies they needed ui see them through their Journey across the deserts. Co-ostore also filled the peddlers wagon wirh produce to sell In the Nevada mining camp. Thus, these stores changed the whole rural outlook in Utah, and there was one in every Mormon community. WE IIWE BECOME FAMILIAR with chain store for king strmgs of them dominate our merchandise field today. Each cha n is owned and directed by some private interest which collects end pocket the profit. The co-oatore were as truly a cha-n- , but they had no connecting links other than a common purpose to tie them together. Each store wa a totally independent unit domg business for itself and in it own way. Yet the objective were the same. The key word in every naira, 11 store, were ihe tame; they opened and closed lht?r meetings wuh prayer; the aame goods were stocked in every atore; and the same blended smell of dry goods, groceries, bacon, cheese, patent medicine, coal oil and mice exuded from all abke Yet. unl.ke the chain we know, profit were not the primary purpose of the existence of Utah's atore. The coming of the radroad awakened desire in every heart for better standard of living, which only accesa to goods could fulf.ll. Our religious business chain was organized to bring this hope to realization. Co-oatore form unique and distinctive chspter In Utah history, and th historian will seek In vain for a parallel in all America. p p co-o- Co-o- Reprinted by permission from the Utah Historical Quarterly, Society, Ml East official publication of the Utah Historical South Temple, Salt Lake City. h- - Newest Store SPR0USE-REIT- Z idsjfil&Mut-- . ulU- - Be Ifj Odp- - tjev Sjvpero MStr S -- W ojrTH ri 26-27-W- 63 T-fLEf- uittf SAIT Jd.ya7V v |