The Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, GA.) 1906-1907, December 18, 1906, Image 8
Retail business is a peculiar business. Prob
ably that’s why so few who engage in it realize
a really great success. And when use the word
“success,” we do not limit its application in any
narrow or restricted sense. The tlieme-words
of our advertising must always be considered in
their deepest, broadest and highest significance.
For example:
We Do Not Measure Our Merchandising
Success Merely By The Amount Of
' Money We make.
The accumulation of wealth requires no spe
cial spark of genius, calls into action no lofty
artistic motif, demands no finely-wrought dis
criminating ability “btjngs into play no distinct
ive creative capacity.
Anybody may make money—by hook or crook.
Money-making of itself is the lowest, basest and
most sordid of nil inspirations to human eu-
i >
dcavor.
In New York a bootblack lias amassed a great
fortune.
A head waiter has saved his “tips" and with them
returned to Ireland and bought a castle.
A jockey has ridden himself into the ownership
of vast wealth.
A former rag-picker now plies his own line of
steamers between the ports of Italy ami
America.
It isn’t even necessary to possess character,
or the qualities of common honesty, in order to
grow rich.
We are in business to make money, of course.
But if our efforts were bounded solely by the
money they brought ns we would quit business
at once.
Now, read the following sentence—and re
member it:
The bare love of profit alone could never
have created the bond that unites the
people of this community and vicinage to
Chamberlin-Johnson-DuBose Company.
Reward, in the form of worldly prosperity, is
simply one of the results of our industry and
enterprise. Our real recompense can’t be inter
preted in cold type.
It is that trust you instinctively have in us
that ties us to your sincerest, truest service. It’s
the charm of the store’s deserved character work
ing in subtle hut strong ways, that keeps the
cockles of our heart in a fine, sweet glow.
We desire to excel; we love to give generous
values; we dote on a big, bulging buying crowd;
we hang on your words of appreciation with grat
itude, none the less deep because frequently un
uttered.
These are the test-days of all stores. •
Throngs are impetuous. Salespeople work
under high pressure.
Stocks prove failure or foresight.
How do von find things here the week before
Christmas?
You need not answer.
Good nature is in the very air. Sunshine ra
diates from your faces and is caromed back, in
glad rays, from the alert eyes of all our people.
Everybody beneath the roof is absorbed in that
form of activity which yields him or her satis
faction and happiness. In many ways all of us
are wrestling with the great Gift Question. There
is real pleasure and exhilaration in the mental
and physical exertion involved in solving the
problem. A new and undreamed-of value attaches
to the simplest thing with every obstacle over
come in the effort to secure it.
Read on.
Whether you arc rich or poor, we advise
you to buy moderately, rationally and intelli
gently.
Don’t dissipate your money by indulging in
extravagances and excesses. Make selections
conservatively—he controlled by sense and good
taste. And by all means, buy methodically. Make
out a list of the persons who are to be remem
bered. Then determine what* is the practical or
decorative thing that, in your opinion, each
would prefer. Then adjust the price in strict
conformity with your means—and come here for
the next and final step in the development of
your Christmas-giving plans.
We have costly artistic things—and we want
to sell them. But we can better afford to miss
a sale than to encourage any customer to over
spend. We had rather sell you what you actually
want than to demonstrate our genius in sales
manship.
If you are not in affluent circumstances, it
is evidence of temperamental infirmity for you to
be influenced in your decisions by what your
more prosperous friends may choose.
The store is full of appropriate and tasteful
things at 50e, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, $3.00 and $5.00
that no one need hesitate to bestow upon friend
or relative. The great bulk of our Christmas busi
ness is concentrated in these lines.
Little boys and girls who have only 10c or 25c
to spend are cordially welcomed as customers.
If we have a salesperson in the store who turns up
his nose at a ten-cent transaction, he’s here be
cause we haven’t yet discovered his scorn for
little things. No, we are not impatient with chil
dren—and they needn’t be richly dressed nor
have fat purses in order to receive our painstak
ing care.