Show gloomy future forecast for chain store system decline in in sales shown by trade commission hashim washington ton D C A gloomy future for the vast chain store industry in this country is foreseen by the federal trade commission in its annual report for the fiscal year 1932 1033 summarizing in the report the results of its elii exhaustive austave investigation of all phases of the chain store system the commission found that the outlook for the industry contrary to outward indications Is definitely glum notwithstanding the general growth of chain store business as a whole and the increase in size and great success of many individual chains the corn com mission reported the tendency of most of the kinds of chains clearly appears to be 1 declining average sales per store 2 decreasing business income per store 3 decreasing turnover of business investment and 4 declining rates of return on investment over the period of time covered by this portion of the inquiry wide variation in profits the commission found a wide variation in the net operating profits of the twenty six sis types of chain stores in eluded deluded in its investigation the lowest rate of profit on sales was in the hat and cap chains which showed an operating loss of per cent the highest rate was a profit of 1140 1146 per cent in the furniture chains the study of ch chain nin store oper operations aaion S disclosed that a fairly substantial number of companies reported losses instead ste ad of profits from operations the commission stated this condition existed in some measure in all of the 20 kinds of chains and involved aggregate sales of over the losses totaling these losses average more than per company year or slightly more than 2000 per store year for the chains sustain ins t the 1 losses e s anth hoo the e commissions s s 1 ons report summarized also its detailed report to congress in results of an investigation into special discounts and allowances in certain types of chain these studies it was said were undertaken to determine the truth or falsity of assertions frequently made that chain store organizations hold an important advantage over independent dealers der lers because of the large discounts obtained by them on many items which independent competitors were not able to obtain in the case of tobacco according to the report the total amount of the sales of manufacturers of tobacco and related miscella miscellaneous neou S C commodities to these tobacco distributors aggregated just under million in 1929 and over million in 1030 1930 the total allowances in the former year were and in the latter year 0 6 show grocery figures in the grocery chains the commas commission found that the total amount of the sales of all the reporting manufacturers of grocery and miscellany related products to these grocery distributors amounted to million dollars in 1929 and for the reporting manufacturers to million dollars in 1930 the total allowances in the former year were and in the latter year the total amount of the sales of all of the gsg reporting manufacturers aers of drug and miscellaneous related lat ed products to these drug distributors the report continued amounted to 1403 million dollars in 1929 and for the reporting manufacturers to 1384 million dollars in 1930 1030 the total allowances in the former year were and in the latter year in the eight years included in the commissions study the report disclosed average business investment per company for all of the 20 26 kinds of chains was the range being from a low of for mena furnishings chains to a high aberago of per company for do de apartment part ment store chains the average per store for all kinds of chains was wag the lowest average being 5 per store for the millinery chaine chabina and the highest per store foi department store chains |