64 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



stimulate the desire of th^ cousiimer for fruit, aud theu to give him an 

 attractive, fresh, wholesome supply at a price which pays a reasonable 

 profit to every factor involved, and yet be Avithin the consumer's reach. 

 As nearly as we can calculate the grocer's gross profit averages 20 

 per cent. His expenses are about as follows: 



Sales. (Adv. Salaries) 0. 07% 



Delivery 3.07% 



Managerial 1 . 57%' 



Kent 1.57% 



Interest 1 . 07% 



Credit and credit losses 1 . 07% 



Waste and stealing 1 . 07% 



Miscellaneous (light, heat, tax. telephone, etc.). 2.00% 



Total to do business 17.0 % 



He therefore makes approximately 3% net profit. How many groc- 

 ers in your community have made a fortune on groceries? 



Methods of Purchase. In dry goods' there are two distinct lines of 

 goods carried by the average store, namely, convenience lines and shop- 

 ping lines. Convenience lines are bought both by men and women for 

 one of three reasons. They are attracted by the display, they go to an 

 accustomed place, or they look up a certain brand. Men are almost en- 

 tirely purchasers of convenience lines and seldom compare values. 

 Shopping lines are purchased mostly by women. The women in mak- 

 ing a purchase usually compare three values. Why it is three we do 

 not know, but there seems to be the most common number, and undoubt- 

 edly gives a fair comparison of values. AVe therefore see that a mon- 

 nopoly by one store of shopping lines is impossible. 



There are two kinds of cities from a merchandise viewpoint; namely, 

 shopping centers and suburban cities. A shopping center attracts more 

 trade than it loses, which gives a tendency for purchasing to concen- 

 irate. Suburban cities lose more trade than they gain from outside 

 sources and do not concentrate. All over this country there is a con- 

 tinuous wave motion from the small cities to the large ones. White 

 Pigeon to Kalamazoo, to Detroit, to New York. Tliere is always that 

 tendency to concentrate from all cities in that metropolis — New York. 



We mav class groceries as a convenience line. There are three kinds 

 of groceries — staple, fancies and specialties. Staples are such commod- 

 ities as sugar, which are common purchases by ordinary people. Fan- 

 cies are exceptional purchases made on special occasions) by ordinary 

 people or by a high class of trade. They include such commodities as 

 high class preserves, and so forth. Specialties are bought usually by all 

 classes at various times. Postum Cereal and other breakfast foods are 

 good illustrations of this class. They may at any time become staples. 

 As groceries are a convenience line, values are not compared in the 

 bulk of the purchases. The housewife has comparatively few grocers 

 with whom she does business at any one time. She prefers the nearest 

 good store for these convenience lines. Like the dry goods, groceries 



