OCR Text |
Show HOW WOEKINGMEN MAY i START SMALL STORES. 0. rtVoyca in' Chicago Tribune.) "There nrs each year over S00 work-eis work-eis in the city , of Chicago who start into business- for" 'themselves by buying buy-ing a small stock of goods and starting start-ing a small general store." This is what the head of one of the largest larg-est establishments in the city that make a specialty of selling small stocks of merchandise to prospe-etive storekeepers says. He adds further: "Thre hundred of this number do not sfay in this city when they start their scores, but go out to the small country coun-try towns in the adjoining states, where competition is not so strenuous and there in the course of a few years, aided by the experience they have had in business in the city, soon build up businesses that any one may envy." The small store which can be started start-ed with, a minimum of capital and be conducted with only small expense i3 becoming extremely popular with that class of city men who have worked and saved something out of their wages until they have enough to begin business on a small scale for themselves. them-selves. Many city men have firmly rooted in their minds the intention to some day go out In the country and try farming as a business, but there is a greater number of those who wish to, when they have saved a little money, go into business for themselves. Farming in its best and most simple phases is hardly a business that is adaptable to the city man without agricultural ag-ricultural training, and the chances for success that the city farmer has will necessarily be smaller than those of the experienced toiler of the earth. But a business, a store, is. the kind of a thing the city man h9s had training train-ing in and which he is fitted to pursue with the intelligence and skill necessary neces-sary to success. - Stocks Bought for $50 Up. In regard to the amount of capital necessary for. either of these ventures the advantage is all with the small store and the returns are much quicker. A stork for a store of general merchandise, which is the line which the investors of small capital usually enter, can be -purchased for any amount ranging from $50 up to several thousands. Of course the stock that can be bought for $50 must necessarily be of limited nature;, but the fact there is a stock on the lists of the companies who do this kind of a business which can be bought for this amount, provea that there is a call for a store or goods at this small price. In fact, it was only last week that such a -stock was sold to a rrten in this city. He rented a half store on West Madison street, fitted It up with a shelf of goods on one wall, and was ready for business. The entire amount expended by him for his establishment, including his s'tock,1 fixtures, and first payment of honae rent, was only $100. His business for the first week was such as to justify bis venture on such limited capital. His receipts wrere enough to warrant him instantly increasing in-creasing his stock, and he has now no fears of the ultimate success of his experiment. ex-periment. ' Of course, it is not to be presumed that $50 pays for a stock the size of which would be acceptable to the average man, but the success of this man' shows, fully what can be done on even "the most limited capital. $800 the Average. Investment. However, from $200 to $800 buys a fair stock of general goods. The consensus of opinion among the men who sell these stocks is that $800 is the average amount invested by the Chicagoan who goes into merchandising for himself for the first time. . For $800 can be had what is considered a model store for the man of small or medium capital. In this stock there is nothing that may be called for in a general store, from a bottle of scented vaseline to a wash-tub, wash-tub, that is not included. The variety is so great that there is only a little of each item carried in stock, but this is the secret of success with the small storekeeper. To begin business on the $800 scale in this city, however, makes it necessary that the beginner have additional cap-ital cap-ital besides this. He must rent a large store in order to display, or even get such a stock under roof, he must engage en-gage help, and to get the business necessary nec-essary to support and leave a profit in such a business he must advertise and go to much additional expense that the man who begins in a small way is not subjected to. Still, if he hasvthe capital to keep "things humming and running" until trade comes his way, this is probably prob-ably the best way to begin, as there are business men in the city who own businesses that are rated worth fortunes for-tunes who began their careers in this manner. Wide Range in Choice. But there are many men, leaving aside those who buy their stocks here and go into business in some other town, who invest' much less than this, and who make a satisfactory competence com-petence out of their businesses. In the amounts between $200 and $800 of good United States money there is a range for a great diversity of investment?. It matters not how much, or, apparently, how little money a man may have to invest, he will find something suited to him in the variety of stocks that are to be had. His field of investment is not restricted to any one kind of store, cither, but he can have his choice of any kind that he favors. Some ..firms sell only one kind of stocks, but there are places in the city where can be bought every , kind jt a store complete. com-plete. Most Are Money Makers. That this class of storekeepers make money is shown by the promptness with which they pay their bills. They are considered among the best ' customers cus-tomers of the large general merchandise merchan-dise houses, as they buy frequently and pay well. It seldom happens that an account is lost, through the failure of such a store. Apparently every class of workers in the city has Its repre-pentatlve repre-pentatlve among the men who start small stores in the city, but the great majority undoubtedly come - from the ranks of the clerks. A prominent merchant mer-chant in the city has said that every clerk in Chicago is a prospective mcr-I mcr-I chant, and the number of them who try to enter the ranks of the successful mall storekeeper would seem to substantiate sub-stantiate this statement. |