20 
CLASSIFICATION OF STORE TYPES 
The first classification divides all retail stores into two groups,, 
based on the kind of management: (1) Unit stores under independent 
operation by individual proprietors, and (2) chain stores operated as 
parts of centrally organized systems. The other classification dis- 
tinguishes stores on the basis of special services extended. The 
service distinctions, which apply to unit stores only, divide these into 
three general groups. In the first service group are unit stores whose 
regular policy is to extend credit and to deliver orders to a majority 
of their customers. The second group includes stores which operate 
prevailingly on a cash basis, but grant a limited amount of delivery 
service. The third group comprises unit stores which do a strict 
cash-and-carry business, extending neither credit nor delivery. No 
stores of a credit-and-carry type were represented in the data. Sub- 
divisions of chain-store data were not attempted on the basis of 
service, since the price averages in all reporting chain stores were 
nearly identical with those of the prevailing cash-and-carry type. 
Distinctions between retail stores as to class of trade or clientele 
coincide generally with distinctions on the basis of service rendered. 
The more discriminating high-class trade of well-to-do neighbor- 
hoods is generally served by stores which operate on a full credit- 
and-delivery basis. Many independent retailers in thrifty middle 
class neighborhoods conduct their business on a cash basis, but render 
a hmited amount of delivery service to regular customers. The 
poorer and middle-class neighborhoods, where low prices are the main 
consideration, are served mainly by cash-and-carry stores, which 
dispense entirely with credit and delivery services. Chain stores do 
an extensive business in the low-price sections also. 
Although the original data for unit stores were carefully tabulated 
in two additional groups on the basis of specialization, as grocery 
stores and fruit-vegetable stores, the slight contrasts in their dis- 
tribution expense indicated that, in comparison with management 
and service factors, the factor of specialization is of minor signifi- 
cance. Further study of the influence attributable to specialization 
was therefore discontinued, in order that attention might be concen- 
trated upon the factors of major significance. 
The present analysis thus takes into consideration distinctions 
between five types of retailing agencies, classified as to form of man- 
agement and extent of service in the following manner: 
Management: Unit stores, 7 chain stores. 
Service 'policy {unit stores only) : Credit-delivery, cash-delivery, 
cash-carry. 
EXTENT OF DATA 
Only 7 of the 14 commodities previously considered were used for 
these store-type analyses. The insufficient number of quotations 
for the other articles in some store groups did not permit representa- 
tive comparisons. Approximately three-fourths of the original num- 
ber of quotations are included here, however. The 7 commodities 
retained comprise 68 per cent of the total annual volume of the larger 
series, and 70 per cent of their total annual retail value. Moreover 
7 In the subsequent comparisons, the all-unit or typical-unit-store figures are regarded as representing 
the degree of service generally prevailing in metropolitan unit stores. The typical unit store is thus to be 
considered as a composite, rather than an actual type, since the figures are based upon averages of original 
quotations, which were obtained from stores with all three types of service policy. 
