Part 17 (1/2)
Look them over--Buy while you can!
REGULAR PRICE 50 Regular price Thursday, Aug. 26 45 A nickel saved Friday, Aug. 27 40 A dime in your pocket Sat.u.r.day, Aug. 28 35 Saves the price of three sodas Monday, Aug. 30 30 Saves four trolley fares Tuesday, Aug. 31 25 Half price--any left?
Wednesday, Sept. 1 20 Makes your saving look like 30 Thursday, Sept. 2 15 And 35 to the good--IF Friday, Sept. 3 10 Saves 40 Sat.u.r.day, Sept. 4 5 Ten for the price of one--but you missed your chance Tuesday, Sept. 7 FREE Help yourself to what is left
Jock had said: ”Mon, they'll all wait till the last day and then come and steal the goods awa' frae ye!”
”No,” Betty had replied, ”many will buy, before the goods are reduced much, for fear somebody else will buy them first.”
La.r.s.en suggested having a big sign in the window headed:
”WATCH THIS LIST. ARTICLES SOLD OUT WILL BE POSTED ON IT.”
”You see, Boss,” he had said, ”the folks'll see a number of things put on the list. They'll figure they'd better not wait else what they want will be sold.”
Fellows chimed in with, ”Tell you what to do, Black. Put in just two or three of some articles, so that by the end of the first day you'll be able to post up some goods that are sold out.”
Jock had a further suggestion, ”Ye've got an unusual plan there, laddie; why don't ye tell the newspapers aboot it. Maybe they'll give ye a stor-ry in reference to it.”
”That's a good idea,” I had replied, ”I'll try it.”
”Don't ye think,” he continued, ”that it would pay ye tae put a list in the papers each day o' the goods that are sold, and call it 'Too late to buy the following at Dawson Black's Automatic Sales--Some one else got ahead o' ye',' or-r something like that?”
I decided to adopt that plan and that I would call on the newspaper people to see if I could not get a write-up on the sale from them.
I really was getting anxious for the sale to start so that I could see how it would come off. I felt that I was taking a big risk, since, if it failed, I would lose a few hundred dollars. But, even then, I would turn some dead stock into cash, and I remembered that, at the trade convention, one fellow had said a dollar in the till was worth two dollars of unsalable goods on the shelves, ”for,” said he, ”if you turn that two dollars' worth of goods into a dollar cash and you turn that dollar over three and a half times in a year, you are going to earn a profit on three and a half dollars' worth of live stuff instead of the questionable profit on two dollars' worth of dead stuff!”
I guess we are all gamblers at heart, for every one, even the Mater, had become interested and excited over my first attempt at a big sale.
I hadn't quite decided whether to send the circulars by mail, or to have them delivered to every home in town by messenger; but was inclined to adopt the latter plan.
Fellows suggested, ”Why don't you get some pretty girls to go around and deliver them? They would make a hit!”
”Do you think so?” flashed back Betty. ”That's just where you're mistaken, Mr. Smarty--if you think a woman is going to be tickled to have a pretty girl come up to the door: send a homely one and it might work!”
Aren't women queer?
CHAPTER XVIII
THE GREAT SALE
I would like to be able to say that there were big sales on the first day of the automatic sale. All the goods on those four sales' counters had been reduced one cent in ten--ten-cent articles to nine cents, and so on--but, on the first day, we took in only $36.00 from those counters!
I found that the invoice cost of all the goods which I had put on in the sale was $1,364.00. If I could only get that amount in cash out of them, I would be more than satisfied, for I would have turned into money a lot of stock which was old, damaged or such slow sellers as not to be worth keeping. With the money I could buy goods that would sell quickly and thus increase my rate of turn-over.
But only $36.00 worth sold the first day! And the sale of other goods had been unusually slow, also. In fact, it was the worst day I had had since I bought the store.
Not very promising for the beginning of a sale, was it? But Betty, bless her heart, said, ”Wait until Monday or Tuesday and you'll find things will go along all right. The prices are not yet reduced enough to make people eager to buy.”
Although the goods on the bargain counters had been reduced 20 per cent., only $47.00 worth went the next day!