Dawson Black: Retail Merchant Part 16

I was still handling the Star Brand, but had never bothered about the sign! I had the sign taken down right away, and determined there and then to see the landlord, and get him to paint the outside of the store.

Barlow was certainly no fool!

CHAPTER XVII

PLANNING TO REDUCE STOCK

Soon after my talk with Barlow, I planned a big sale to reduce my stock.

I was most anxious to reduce it $2,000.00 worth, and at the same time I wanted to see if I could not hit back at Stigler. He was keeping up his price-cutting campaign, although he had evidently realized the fact that I took my cut prices off the goods as soon as he cut his, so that he had begun to put the same kind of goods in his window that I did, but cut them about 10 or 15 per cent. from the regular prices.

I had spoken to Jock McTavish about this, and had suggested that perhaps I ought to cut all goods down to cost for a little while, for apparently Stigler could sell at a 15 per cent. reduction and still make a profit.

"No," said Jock. "Dinna ye ken that he loses money when he cuts his goods that much?"

"Why, how can that be?" I asked. "Suppose he buys something for $1.00, and the regular price is $1.50. He cuts that 15 per cent.--he would be selling it at--at $1.27. He would make 27 profit!"

"Ye're wrong," replied Jock. "The cost o' the goods is no the bare invoice price, but the cost plus the cost o' selling. Noo, as ye ken, it will cost ye round aboot 30 per cent. on cost to sell your goods, so that those goods would cost $1.00 plus 30, the cost o' selling; and when he sells them for $1.27 he'll be losing 3 on every sale."

"But he could care for his overhead on his regular stock," I replied.

"Verra foolish reasoning," snapped Jock, "for a mon to mak' a part of his sales carry the freight for aw o' 'em!"

I had thought about this afterward, and finally had been able to see how, if he cut his goods 15 per cent., he couldn't make anything on the deal.

However, several people had been saying that Stigler had got me "on the run," so I decided it was up to me to have a whack at him. Therefore, I planned what I called an "Automatic Sale." I picked out a whole lot of stock, goods a little bit damaged, lines that I had no sale for at all--I found a lot of things which the two previous owners of the store bought and stored away and apparently never did anything with. I found about a gross of painted rubber b.a.l.l.s; I found a lot of juvenile printing outfits; and padlocks--I dug up about three gross of padlocks, of the strangest patterns you could think of! I found eleven different makes of safety razors, and there were only two of them I had ever sold any quant.i.ty of. I planned to reduce the number of lines as much as I could and just push the real sellers--put my money into goods that would sell quickly and so increase my turn-over.

All the five-cent articles that I wanted to dispose of in this sale I tied in pairs--two for ten cents.

I intended to run four narrow tables down the center of the store. The first one was to contain ten-cent goods, the next twenty-five cent, the next fifty-cent, and the last one all the odds and ends at various prices.

My idea was to run the sale on the plan of automatic reduction of price.

I had got the idea from a magazine which had said that, if you could offer anything to people which appealed to the sporting instinct that is in every one of us, you would attract attention. So I decided to try to appeal to this sporting instinct by automatically reducing the goods one cent in every ten cents every day, until the goods were reduced to nothing,--and then give away what was left.

I had talked this over with the boys at our Monday's weekly meeting--which, by the way, had been a most interesting one and continued for over an hour instead of the three-quarters of an hour we had planned--and they had been very enthusiastic over it. I had also talked it over with Betty and Jock and Fellows. While Jock shook his head and said, "Ye're takkin' a big risk, mon," Betty had said, "Go ahead and do it, boy!" Fellows just said, "Bully, you're going to be a real man before you're through!"

La.r.s.en seemed to be getting younger every day. When I came out of the store the day after I had announced my plans, he was talking over the idea with the other boys in a very excited and enthusiastic manner.

The sale was planned to start in two weeks hence, and, during those two weeks, car signs were displayed in all our trolleys, worded like this:

"A penny in ten a day, Till the goods are given away."

DAWSON BLACK'S AUTOMATIC SALE Begins Thursday, Aug. 26.

Get Particulars.

In addition to this, La.r.s.en and Wilkes tacked these signs on all the trees and blank s.p.a.ces they could about the town.

Just one week before the sale started, I put the following "ad." in both our local papers for three days, without any change of copy:

AUTOMATIC--THAT'S THE WORD that describes the big sale DAWSON BLACK

is running from Thursday, Aug. 26 to ----? _You_ decide when the sale ceases.

_Heavy stocks must be reduced_

I have decided to sell all surplus stock _automatically_.

Every article to be offered in this sale is plainly marked at regular price, and is now on display on the AUTOMATIC SALES COUNTERS.

On the opening day, all prices will be reduced one cent in every ten cents, and a further reduction of one cent in ten will automatically take place every day until the prices of the goods are reduced to nothing.

_They will then be given away_

See the special circulars, or call at

DAWSON BLACK'S HARDWARE STORE 32 Hill Street.

I ordered from the printer four circulars which were clipped together with wire. One sheet talked about the ten-cent goods, another about the twenty-five-cent, another about the fifty, and the fourth about the mixed table. The sheet explanatory of the twenty-five cent goods was as follows:--

DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALE 32 Hill St.

Two thousand dollars' worth of goods to be sold at _your own price_. All you have to do is wait until the goods are reduced to your price, and then--buy them--if there are any left.

A PENNY IN EVERY DIME TAKEN OFF EVERY DAY

Every article on each counter is plainly marked at regular prices and can be seen now.

Sale begins Thursday, Aug. 26, and the first reduction will be made that day--and a further similar reduction will be made every day thereafter until the goods are sold or until the prices are reduced to nothing, when they will be given away.

The following is an ill.u.s.tration of how the articles listed on the reverse side of this sheet will be reduced, as well as scores of other 25-cent articles not listed here:

REGULAR PRICE 25 Regular price Thursday, Aug. 26 22 2 saved Friday, Aug. 27 20 Put a nickel in your pocket Sat.u.r.day, Aug. 28 17 Saves you 7 Monday, Aug. 30 15 And two trolley rides free Tuesday, Aug. 31 12 _Half price_--if any left Wednesday, Sept. 1 10 But why talk of saving if there are none left Thursday, Sept. 2 7 Saves 17--but too late Friday, Sept. 3 5 Would save 20 if others had not cleaned them out Sat.u.r.day, Sept. 4 2 But why talk about saving Tuesday, Sept. 7 FREE Help yourself to what is left

(See other side)

On the reverse side was the following list:--

DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALE SOME OFFERINGS ON THE 25 TABLE

Large size whisk brooms Handy household saws Steel garden hand forks and trowels Heavy enameled saucepans Bristle-tight paint brushes Warranted pocketknives Reliable padlocks Double-well dust-proof ink stands Bronze watch fobs A large a.s.sortment of window shades Juvenile sets of knife, fork and spoon Fine quality scissors--all sizes Enameled sink baskets Steel frying pans "Scour-clean" soap for cleaning greasy pans Pocket manicure sets Wire clothes lines Boys' printing outfits--rubber type Screw-drivers--hatchets--hammers--plyers "Clix" patent shoe s.h.i.+ning sets Many styles in window fasteners Enamel--varnish paint Insect powder Bicycle pumps--bells--tools Corkscrews--razor strops

AND HOSTS OF OTHER GOODS.

Over each table I had a big card, of which the following is a sample:--

EVERYTHING ON THIS COUNTER IS A REGULAR 50 ARTICLE