Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
July,  1 9 1 9" 
Advertising. 
443 
therefore  merely  call  your  attention  to  this  phase  of  inexpensive 
advertising  and  leave  it  with  you  as  a  thought  to  take  home  as  a 
"  convention  souvenir." 
Store  Arrangement. — The  primary  object  of  shelves,  I  suppose, 
was  for  the  purpose  of  storing  or  keeping  goods.  The  modern 
merchant,  that  is  the  successful  one,  however,  is  not  so  much  con- 
cerned with  keeping,  as  he  is  with  selling  the  goods.  Therefore  the 
arrangement  in  the  store  should  have  that  object  in  view  and  should 
be  carefully  planned  and  executed.  You  sell  stamps,  have  a  tele- 
phone booth  or  two,  keep  a  directory  more  or  less  new,  and  offer 
other  inducements  to  the  passerby  or  to  your  neighbor  to  come  into 
your  store.  But  lest  perchance  he  be  tempted  to  purchase  some- 
thing that  he  did  not  intend  to  buy  but  merely  because  he  sees  it  in 
the  store,  you  place  all  your  accommodation  as  near  the  door  as 
possible,  so  as  to  keep  him  from  seeing  these  goods  and  so  to  avoid 
leading  him  or  her  into  temptation. 
Should  the  potential  customer  penetrate  your  first  line  of  de- 
fense and  actually  get  a  glimpse  at  your  shelves  or  show  cases,  he  is 
still  protected  against  a  possible  impulse  to  buy.  You  have  seen  to  it 
that  the  goods  are  in  an  "  artistic  "  state  of  arrangement  so  that  the 
wandering  eye  may  not  be  caught  by  an  alluring  article  of  luxury. 
Nor  have  you  been  careless  enough  to  mark  the  prices  plainly  on 
those  articles  which  in  spite  of  all  care  insist  in  protruding  them- 
selves on  the  unwary  customer.  The  price  on  the  article  may  show 
to  the  observer,  that  he  could  afford  to  buy  it  and,  horror  of  horrors, 
may  even  lead  him  to  do  so — and  that  of  course  would  be  against 
all  rules  of  altruism  and  philanthropy. 
Personal,  or  Direct  Advertising. — Some  time  ago,  my  boy  re- 
ceived a  postal  card  on  the  morning  of  his  birthday  anniversary.  It 
was  a  picture  postal  card  and  had  the  greetings  and  the  good  wishes 
of  a  well-known  clothing  firm.  It  specifically  mentioned  the  date 
and  also  age  of  the  boy.  Of  course  the  boy  was  happy  and  mother 
was  very  much  pleased  with  this  attention.  Do  you  think  you  could 
get  either  of  them  to  go  to  any  other  store  for  the  boy's  furnishings  ? 
Xow  supposing  we  find  that  Mrs.  Jones  or  Smith  or  Brown  is 
purchasing  castile  soap  and  germicides  and  cotton  and  gauze,  and 
has  a  prescription  for  ergot,  etc.,  it  would  not  require  the  sagacity  of 
Sherlock  Holmes  to  figure  out  what  is  about  to  happen.  And  sup- 
posing furthermore  that  by  a  little  judicious  inquiry,  or  by  having 
