OCR Text |
Show ll'unij)itin's as Good as Gold BARTER SYSTEM OF BUSINESS REiI0 BY TWO MATRONS Two dark-eyed girls, a wooden Indian and an idea that bartering is as old as history . . . and you have one of the most novel business operations in Utah. The girls are Claudia Atkinson and Eleanore Bridger . . . and the Indian must have come as a fugitive curio from an ancient cigar store. Located in a new building at 965 East 33rd South, the Mesdames Atkinson and Bridger have one o the most unusual second hand stores in Utah, the Barter Mart. They'li buy practically anything you have . . . especially if it has antique or curio value . . . or trade you out of it, if you'll subscribe to their idea of peddling with wampum. And they do a quite a brisk business, thank you, as they swap this and that for these and those. - Bartering went out of practice among the civilized nations, the girls will tell you, when the Phoenicians invented money. Since then this valuable, yet almost valueless item has taken the place of trading or bartering usable goods for other desired and usable goods of your neighbors. With the slogan "Swap 'em for Wampum," Mrs. Bridger and Mrs Atkinson have established a nice little trade among folks who search through their own attics and cellars for things they no longer have use for. White elephants, the Barter Mart ma.ds will call them. A quick, generous appraisal and a fistful of wampum are yours for your cast-offs. Then with that and little or no cash you can begin to barter for their wares. And these wares range from valuable first edition volumes to milady's most chic summer frocks; from chips of ancient jade and stones to modernistic costume jewelry; from old trivests to modern electric cooking utensils, and so on. And so a deal js made and everyone is happy. The operation of this novel shop is a far cry from the pressure sales put on in modern merchandising but it must be fun for the owners, for the sellers and for the buyers, for someone is always, in the shop, many of them two and three times a week repeaters. |