Educational Value of a Great Shop 
By TME editor 
O NE of the most interesting developments in the 
commercial life of the large cities of this coun¬ 
try, which the past twenty-five years have 
seen, is the great shop where many and various lines 
of goods are sold under the generic term of Depart¬ 
ment Store. What this means to the public is 
evinced by the appreciation which has made possible 
the truly marvelous growth of many of them. It 
is the boast of some of these department stores that 
they have assembled in one building, or a connected 
succession of buildings, articles of every kind, quality 
and price from a shoe-string to a plowshare. The 
educational possibilities of these as general gathering 
places of the people are incalculable, and in this day 
of supremacy of house decoration, when the woman 
with the tiniest cot¬ 
tage and the flat- 
dweller as well 
talk of color schemes 
and harmony of color, 
much of good or ill 
may be accomplished 
through this medium 
by the suggestions 
put out by the goods 
offered and by the 
salesman displaying 
them. The past few 
years has shown in 
many of the better 
class of these stores a 
remarkable improve¬ 
ment in the design 
and quality of goods 
and suggestions 
offered in the house 
furnishing and deco¬ 
rating departments. 
In the leading city 
of the Middle West is 
located a business of 
this character of such 
magnitude and of 
such diversified inter¬ 
est that it is recog¬ 
nized as one of the 
most tremendous 
enterprises of the civ¬ 
ilized world. While 
in many respects this 
is on lines similar 
to the ordinary De¬ 
partment Store,fit 
differs in important essentials. It is easier, however, 
to enumerate the lines of goods which are Jiot offered, 
for kitchen-ware, stoves and plowshares find no place 
here. The perfection of detail shown in every depart¬ 
ment of these magnificent buildings can be realized 
by the layman only after much study and research. 
As a shopping center this store is, of course, known 
and recognized everywhere, hut the specializing that 
furnishes only the best of material and workmanship 
in each department cannot be entirely comprehended 
at once. To the years of beneficent planning of a 
master mind (and yet how comparatively few these 
years), these structures stand as a monument unsur¬ 
passed. The health, the comfort, the real welfare 
of the army of employes, numbering something over 
seven thousand, are 
as closely considered 
to-day by the men to 
whom this charge has 
passed, as when under 
the philanthropic rule 
of him whose honored 
name the business 
bears. 
The hospital, the 
rest-room, lunch- 
room, the reading and 
assembly-rooms are 
carefully planned and 
fully equipped to fill 
all requirements. 
The assembly-room 
may be utilized for 
entertainments of all 
kinds. A fine choral 
society has recently 
been inaugurated and 
musicals of no small 
worth haveheengiven 
here, all talent being 
supplied by the em¬ 
ployes of the com¬ 
pany. 
For the shopper the 
same thoughtfulness 
has provided attrac¬ 
tive and beautiful 
cafes with service and 
cuisine unsurpassed. 
There are also rest 
a n d reading - rooms 
and these are fitted 
with well selected 
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