Sam Lambert and the New Way Store | Page 5

you will get will help buy New Way sectional shelving that will give you about three times the capacity your furnishing department has now; so it will not be necessary to climb to the ceiling for your active stock or dig under the tables for your out of season goods.
"Before we discuss detail, Mr. Lambert," continued the salesman, "I have something to say about the practical arrangement of the inside of the store.
"The business of a store is to sell goods. A customer may come in for one item. You want him to buy two or three or a half a dozen. The easier you make it for him, the less he has to cross and recross the store to complete his purchases--the more goods you will sell him.
"What you want--what every merchant wants--and what few have--is a practical, natural selling arrangement of the goods.
"The invention of a practical wardrobe merely made the right plan possible.
"Our business is to suggest the plan and fit the wardrobe arrangement to the needs of a store.
"Every clothing store has its own individuality. Each problem must be worked out on the ground with a full knowledge of the stock and the business, the history of the store, the nature of its trade and the personality of its proprietor."
Sam's interest was excited. This point of view was new to him, but he could see the truth of it and he was impatient to get at the heart of the matter as far as his own store was concerned.
"You're right," he said, "about the personality and individuality of a store; and for that reason don't tell me to put the furnishing goods shelving down the middle of the store. This is a clothing store and not a haberdashery."
"Mr. Lambert," said the salesman, "you have hit the nail squarely on the head. This is a double room, a very different problem from that of a single store. I looked over the place of one of your competitors this morning. He also has a double store with much the same arrangement as yours and I find that he is making a mistake--adopting a plan that is about five years behind the times.
"You see, in the earlier days of the wardrobe, there was no such thing as a center wardrobe. Therefore the clothing had to be hung against the wall in pull-out cabinets. When the clothing went to the side walls the furnishings had to move to the center floor space.
"Such an arrangement is not practical for a double store and the effect is bad. It kills the first impression of a big store. The shelving will look bare if it is not trimmed, and if it is trimmed your big double room looks like two small stores divided by a wall.
"The center shelving will always have stock boxes piled on top and that will throw one side of the store always in shadow. Besides, this arrangement divides the trade and screens half of it from view.
"The stock is cut in two and looks small.
"One salesman can not wait on the furnishing goods trade without neglecting half of it all the time. If you have two clerks, a customer must be taken from one side to the other for his ties or underwear, and there you are again, both on one side at the same time.
"If another customer came along they'd have to stop in the middle of a sale and refer him to a clerk around in the other aisle.
"A furnishing goods department should be continuous. The sale of a shirt will lead to the purchase of a tie or a collar or hosiery. The goods should be in sight so that they automatically suggest themselves.
"You enter this store and the first impression you get is a big clothing store. That is what you want. Clothing dominates the store. Furnishing goods and hats are important and necessary side lines. No one would mistake it for a haberdasher's. You have been known from the beginning as the leading clothier. That's the reputation you want to keep.
"Mr. Lambert, one of the important problems of this store is to house your stock in new fixtures and at the same time widen your aisles.
"You can not see how that is possible. It is really the only problem I have to solve for you, and it is easy."
The little man with the big spectacles had things moving. He was not much of a salesman but he knew all about merchandising in a retail store.
And he certainly was familiar with every store fixture and selling device that had ever been invented, its good and bad points, where it was practical and where it was not.
"Before a merchant puts money into store equipment," said the wardrobe man, "he ought to be sure that he is