RETAIL MARKETING OF MEATS 51 
Combination stores are more prevalent in the Northeast and South- 
east, being almost universal in New England, whereas straight meat 
markets are of greater importance in the West. In the cities can- 
vassed, the number of combination stores was approximately twice as 
great as the straight meat markets, but owing to the larger average 
volume of sales per store, the total volume of sales by all meat mar- 
kets was approximately equal to the volume of sales by all com- 
bination stores. However, the combination stores did not keep com- 
plete separate records of meats and groceries, so reliance must be had 
upon the records of straight meat markets for operating expenses 
?nd profits. Data were obtained from a number of combination 
stores as supplementing the more significant information obtained 
from straight meat markets. Meat markets that carry small quanti- 
ties of canned goods and dairy products were included, but none 
were included whose sales of other merchandise were as large as 20 
per cent of total sales. Very few had sales of other merchandise 
larger than 5 or 10 per cent. 
Because of variations in expenses and profits between the different 
sections of the country, a system of weighting has been used for com- 
bining the results as to individual meat markets by sections. Accord- 
ing to the census of 1920 the population of the northeastern section 
was 38,994,985, of the central section 36,993,957, of the southeastern 
section 22,860,356, and of the Pacific coast section 6,859,443. The 
results were first tabulated for each of the four sections by classes 
of service rendered and by size of stores. These results were then 
combined for the entire country, giving to the results by sections 
weights of 39, 37, 23, and 7, corresponding to the population of the 
sections. 
In the analysis of data which follows but little use is made of com- 
bined figures for individually-owned markets and chain stores. 
However, weighted averages for expenses and profits of markets of 
all kinds combined are desirable, and such averages can be made with 
approximate accuracy on the basis of information collected in the 
canvass of the trade. In general, chain stores are found in much 
larger comparative numbers in the largest cities and are found in 
smaller comparative numbers as the cities diminish in size (Table 1). 
Of the cities canvassed chain stores comprised 11 per cent of the total 
number of stores selling fresh meats in cities over 500,000 in popula- 
tion and 6 per cent of the total in all cities over 25,000 in population. 
In the cities under 25,000 only one chain store was found. In the 
cities canvassed the average volume of sales in chain stores was re- 
ported as between 50 and 60 per cent greater than the average in all 
other types combined (Table 6). Accordingly, sales of fresh meats 
in chain stores in the cities over 25,000 in population were approxi- 
mately 10 per cent of the total sales in those cities. Since cities of 
that size include 36 per cent of the total populatoin of the country 
and sales of meats are larger in cities than in rural districts, it may 
be roughly estimated that nearly 50 per cent of the total sales of 
fresh meat occur in such cities and that 5 per cent of such total sales 
are made by chain stores. Upon the basis of these estimates, the 
weights of 5 and 95 are used for chain stores and individually-owned 
markets in making up the general average for all types of stores with 
family trade. 
