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Show WEEK i SHOPPING CILESJS LIVELY Merchants Do Big "Clean-Up" "Clean-Up" Business Preparatory to Spring Trade. Retail trade was better during thei nart week than for any like period since the Christmas shopping week, due to a large extent, to the unusual weatb er and the fart that manv large depart-1 ment stores made big showings in sum I mer goods at heavy price reductions. Feminine shoppers throsjrpd the dry i eoods and depart ment stores seeking to take advartaee of the exceptional bar gains offered iu summer dress materials ma-terials and in muslin and underwear lines. Lack of inclement weather brought out more choppers than would naturallv attend these sales in the winter time, and the result was a swelling of sale receipts to an encouraging encour-aging total, though, of course, profits were sacrificed somewhat in the effort to stimulate trading The hardware dealers found a sur prisinglv earlv demand from country customers, who, for some unaccountable reason, probsblv the mild weather, flocked jnto town to do the trading that usually is put off until along towards to-wards summer time. Still further reductions in the prices on men's wearing apparel sprved to beep up interest, in the regular January Janu-ary sales. These will close within the next few flays, and for the next month j the merchants will Vie bus-s planning their spring trade Manv of the buyers buy-ers are now in the east purchasing spring stocks and several of them have, already returned nfter placing excep-1 tionallv heavy orders. The lumber trade picked up during! the week in response to the demand of contractors and builders, which is in creasing steadily with the approach of; spring. |