“You can do the same thing, Mr. Stucker, with your stock under the tables, and the check 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.