It was a woman’s plan that made this a success.
PLAN No. 11. STARTING A GINGHAM SHOP
From a position as a small-salaried clerk in a Missouri wholesale dry-goods store to the ownership of a good-paying store of their own, is told by a wife, who first conceived the idea of the enterprise.
Needing some ginghams for her little girls’ school dresses, she learned that gingham stocks in all the retail stores were extremely limited, the clerks telling her that the firms purchased cheap wash goods only once a year, and they were practically out.
On her way home, she passed an attractive storeroom in a good location, and suddenly she formulated a plan by which she and her husband would start something new—A GINGHAM STORE!
She talked the matter over with her husband that night, and he was very favorably impressed with the idea. The firm by which he was employed also thought it would be a splendid thing and offered him very liberal terms on whatever purchases of stock he might desire from them. What money they had they invested in stocks, improvements, rent, advertising, etc., the wife selecting every piece of gingham that went into the store, putting herself in the place of the woman who would want to buy ginghams for any purpose.
A handsome electric sign announced “The Gingham Shop”; as did the lettering on the windows, the bill-boards and in the street cars, and ads. in all the papers told the story of “The Gingham Shop.” They advertised a dolly’s gingham apron free to every little girl who came to their opening accompanied by her mother. That brought the mothers, and they kept coming, more and more of them every day, for they managed to keep the gingham idea before all the people all the time, in a thousand different ways, until every one who thought of ginghams at all thought of “The Gingham Shop.” Their store became the fad, so that they had practically all the gingham trade of the town and for many miles around. They sold strictly for cash, and thereby eliminated bookkeeping, collecting and bad debts.
PLAN No. 12. CROCHETING DOLL CLOTHES
Noticing a very pretty doll’s crocheted sack in a store, and hearing the proprietor say he feared he could get no more like it, as the lady who made those things for him had not been in the store for some time, a young lady who had ideas of her own decided to take up the work herself.
She bought some worsted, went home and proceeded to make a number of dolls’ sacks, hoods, capes, booties, caps, slippers, muffs, etc., put some baby ribbon on most of them, and, after figuring up the cost, put a price on each article and returned to the store. The proprietor was so well pleased that he gave her a large order, as did also several others in that and nearby towns. Then she learned where she could buy the worsted and ribbon at wholesale prices, and until after the holidays her spare time was all spent in crocheting dainty things for dolly, when she found she had made a profit of nearly $100 in odd moments. Later she began taking orders for crocheted scarfs, shawls, fascinators, etc., and made it a regular business for it continued to pay well. And it required very little time, capital or labor to make it a success.