Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

"No, can't say I have," replied her friend. "It certainly is a nice piece of display work, all right."

This is the sort of conversation you are apt to hear any day of the week if you pass by the Mart, New Canaan's favorite little tots shop, which is owned and operated by Monica Leslie. The Mart windows are not decorated by the waving of any magic wand. They are the result of years of careful observation by Miss Leslie, patiently made notes of her ideas, and an inborn flair for knowing exactly what to show, where, and when. Miss Leslie's natural spirit of helpfulness led her years ago into helping neighbors out when they wanted something special in the way of a holiday window display for their shops. So what began as a thoroughly enjoyable hobby for Monica Leslie has, now that she has become a shop owner, turned into one of her best sources of publicity!

"There's hardly a woman alive," Miss Leslie will tell you, "who doesn't occasionally go off into a daydream world where she is proprietor of her own little shop and making money."

From just such a dream the Mart was born! For as long as she can remember, Monica Leslie wanted a shop of her own. But she wanted a shop that wasn't "average." Her dream store was built from plans formulated as she rode on buses, stood in line in restaurants, sat with her head under a hair dryer. It wasn't until World War II ended and the OPA closed its many offices (Miss Leslie was a member of New Canaan's local OPA) that Monica Leslie decided it was time she was her own boss. Now, with five years of experience behind her, she happily admits that operating a children's shop is not only lots of fun, but profitable, too. For those who might like to follow. along in her footsteps she passes on these constructive suggestions.

MISS LESLIE'S first bit of advice to anyone planning on opening a shop in her home town is this: Don't expect to leap from Main Street to national fame! There is money to be made in a little business of your own. Comfortable money—not big money. A privately owned business proceeds necessarily on the trial-and-error method and you are not standing squarely on your own two feet for a few years. So know ahead of time that a business of your own means plenty of trials and tribulations mixed with the fun and the profits.

Requirements to start, of course, include suitable store space. It need not be large; but it should be in a good location on the town's principal shopping street. It should be airy and have at least one good sized window for display purposes—two windows are better.

What is done with the interior of the shop is limited only by the initiative, imagination, and resourcefulness of the owner of the business. Miss Leslie was fortunate in having a retired brother-in-law who was eager to play carpenter for her. At her direction, he built wall shelves, panel screens, cabinets. Together they rummaged around the storeroom atop the family barn and came up with such useful items as an old kitchen chest—the lower half has drawer space, the upper half open shelves—which has proved to be extremely helpful for stocking infant's wear. All this saved her a lot of money; but equally important: she had what she needed and wanted. You don't need a lot of equipment, but a long utility table is essential according to Miss Leslie's experience. For on this table can be kept a big roll of wrapping paper, cord, etc.—all the requirements for wrapping up purchases. A desk is of great help in keeping account books. A telephone saves you time and keeps your customers happy. A typewriter is not really necessary—but it's a handy thing to have for letters, bills, etc.; and it can provide an added source of income as will be explained later. In many localities it is necessary to register your shop. Be sure to check with your town clerk about this.

WHAT WILL you sell? The wise move is to decide on a line you know something about and enjoy working with.

"Everyone knows a few children," says Miss Leslie, "and most people want to buy something for little tots either in the way of clothing or toys; that is what convinced me a children's shop ought to make good." Wearing apparel for children happens to be an enterprise for which Miss Leslie has a great natural aptitude. She is a good judge of what will suit Joe, Betty, and Tommy's unique personalities. She instinctively knows what to shy from when it comes to dressing the too thin or too plump child. Although the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to a woman's heart is through her offspring! Monica Leslie knows the full value of this adage and plays it to its hilt.

But remember, too, Miss Leslie cautions, that success in selling depends not only on interest in the merchandise, but on demand for the items you have up for sale. The choice of your shop's contents should be made in relation to the needs of the people it will serve. Whether a flourishing business will be built on hot casserole dishes or infants wear depends on the type customer you will serve. Your shop will grow and grow, if you have patience, perseverance, and farsightedness. Monica Leslie watches customers as they browse about her shop, for she has learned that a customer's inability to make a desired purchase is one of her best sources of promotional ideas. She chats with her customers as they buy, for she is always looking for an idea for selling. She uses no high pressure sales talk. Usually her sales talk consists of answering questions and assuring the parent that a particular dress is cut to allow for play activity and will not burst at the sleeve seams! On this point Miss Leslie gives an unconditional guarantee. For the policy of the Mart is: the customer must be satisfied.

ONCE YOU have decided on the type merchandise you intend to sell—your next need is to get that merchandise! Outright buying is expensive and hazardous when you are a novice in the business field. But you must invest in a reasonable amount of stock for your shop. To fill out her shelves—and assure herself of some word-of-mouth publicity—Miss Leslie thought up this idea:

Several weeks before opening her shop she put a blind advertisement in the local newspaper reading something like this: "We would like to hear from anyone who has a special talent for making handmade things for infants, handknits for children, unusual handmade toys. Write us of your ambitions and perhaps we can help you turn them into cash."

Within a few days the Leslie letter box was bulging with replies. From these letters Miss Leslie sorted out the people she felt might be helpful (many of them she knew at least casually, for New Canaan is a small community). She then wrote to these people telling them that in connection with a shop she was opening she intended to run a department similar to a woman's exchange and would be willing to accept handmade things on consignment (which means you get paid for the item when it sells). It wasn't very long before Monica Leslie had 122 consignees; and she had a wide variety of beautifully made, distinctive items too show customers the day her shop opened!

Neighborhood women very often drop into the Mart to talk to Miss Leslie about running a small business. Most of these women want to start shops themselves, but say they know absolutely nothing about buying goods at wholesale, what the customary discount from the retail price is, etc. Will Miss Leslie help them? Indeed she will—and she does. For Monica Leslie knows well the trials of setting up a shop!

Her answer to "How do you go about buying merchandise wholesale?" is this: subscribe to a few good trade journals and study them. These magazines furnish advance reports on what's new on the market, they carry page after page of interesting illustrated advertisements featuring the best products of top manufacturers, they give personal experience stories of the big and little people in business. When you have selected a few manufacturers that appeal to you—go visit their nearest showroom. Or write to them.

If you are going to operate a business of your own, you will need to buy without being compelled to pay in cash. A good credit rating is a big asset for any business, so have Dun and Bradstreet make out a report on your financial health. This firm has investigated more than two and a half million businesses in the United States, irrespective of size. The service they render you costs you nothing and does you inestimable good when you go out to buy merchandise without paying cash for it. Practically every manufacturer makes inquiry of Dun and Bradstreet before filling your order.

The Haire Publications are among Miss Leslie's favorite trade journals. This company offers a number of magazines of merchandising helps for the alert shopkeeper. They also offer a Reader Service department which is genuinely interested in hearing from people who are new in the merchandising field; and they will answer any and all questions on where to buy, how to figure operating costs, and other subjects of retail interest. All you have to do is write a letter to them at 1170 Broadway, New York 1, New York. Another excellent publication which Miss Leslie recommends for anyone interested in children's clothing, is Guide For Buyers, published twice a year by Earnshaw's at 71 East 35th Street, New York, New York. This is a directory of the juvenile wear industry. The Better Merchandising Institute, 1270 Broadway, New York, New York, offers a very instructive booklet, Fundamentals of Retailing, which covers such subjects as retailing distribution, the consumers' dollar, careers in retailing and a blueprint for an effective organization.

As for the discount off retail prices: this is usually 33¹/3 per cent.

Miss Leslie has another suggestion for anyone contemplating going into business. She says: visit one of the Field Service offices of your State Department of Commerce. They will be able to help you in many ways. If you live in New York state or near-by Connecticut and New Jersey you certainly ought to avail yourself of the services of the New York Woman's Council—this program is unique in the country. The Woman's Council is made up of thirty-four women from the field of business, labor, industry, and education who have been appointed by Governor Dewey to work with the Department of Commerce and assist women on starting or expanding a business. All services of the Council are available free of charge and the bulletins they issue are well worth reading. From this group you will get practical step-by-step advice on everything from how to launch a homemade item to how to set up a small business. The address of the Albany office is 112 State Street: The New York City address is 342 Madison Avenue.

THE MART does not aim at making a fortune on each item sold. Small town shop owners find that greater success will be attained in establishing a desirable type of regular patronage if prices are slightly below those charged at big department stores. This is justified by the fact that overhead is usually not as great in proportion as with customary retail methods. A family interest is important in operating little shops because relatives are willing to be called upon (and can be of great help) during busy seasons or occasional hours when business is brisk.

Asked what is the principal reason for the continued existence of the local shop in the face of the growing number of suburban branches of big department stores, Miss Leslie's answer is: A more personal service! Nothing ought to be too much trouble for the little shop owner. Friendliness and courtesy ought to be the watchwords. The only way one can meet the competition of other shops is by means of service—so Miss Leslie suggests you spend time and thought on the human side of your business if you want to prosper.

It is a known fact that the best salespeople are those who give their customers the feeling of having bought exactly what they want, at the price they would like to pay, from the most efficient and pleasant person they have met. All this sounds easy; but it takes a lot of practice. No matter how often a customer gets your goat, your relations with him cannot on the whole be anything but harmonious! But, thank goodness, the large majority of customers are pleasant people, Miss Leslie has discovered in her five years of experience in dealing with customers. Cheerful service is what people want—and unless you are ready to give it, you will not stay in business long.

MONICA LESLIE meets competitive selling by these essential traits and principles.

1. A warm, friendly manner.
2. A willingness to listen.
3. A sincere interest in helping people.
4. A full knowledge of the shop's stock at all times.
5. A promise made is a promise kept.

Also important is the fact that she renders many kinds of services having nothing to do with children's clothes! These services include a typing bureau for businessmen and writers who sometimes need work typed in a hurry. Miss Leslie does much of this herself; but she also "farms out" some of the typing to secretaries who want to make some extra money at night. She has on file a list of people available as sitters either to look after children or read aloud to elderly people. She invites people to open a charge account—Miss Leslie feels that "charge accounts" appreciably increase your volume of business and they also give the shop a certain prestige in the community; for people like the idea of being able to charge their purchases. And she is always happy to make deliveries. She'll tell you, "As I make the delivery calls myself, I not only know all my customers' children by name, I know their cats and dogs by name also! And I remember to inquire after them or pet them as the case may be. The Mart makes no charge for the delivery service. As a result customers feel subconsciously that the shop is doing them a favor and are nice accordingly.

Another example of the personal touch is the parties that have helped to make the Mart known. "The quickest and best way to get folks into your shop is to offer them a cup of tea!" says Miss Leslie, who does just this several times throughout the year. There are, however, two really big parties, annually: Santa Claus Day, which is held the second Saturday in December; and the birthday party, which is held the fourth Saturday in October and marks the anniversary of the opening of the shop. On these days the passer-by will always see a tremendous cake in one of the windows; and if you peek farther inside you find four or five others (all cakes are made by Miss Leslie's sister). From 1 o'clock in the afternoon until closing time anyone who comes into the shop is given a cup of tea and a piece of cake (there is, of course, ice cream for the small fry). The expense of such a party is nominal—and the volume of business done on days when there is a party is breath-taking! As for Santa Claus—it does cost a few dollars to rent a suit; but it is very easy to find a relative or friend willing to don the suit just for the pleasure of holding wide-eyed youngsters on his knee. You probably don't need to be told that Miss Leslie's retired brother-in-law is the Mart's Santa Claus—and he is beloved by every child who climbs up on his knee to whisper a cherished desire into a heeding ear!

DURING THE first year Miss Leslie was in business, she ran a newspaper advertisement each week in her local paper. Now that she is well established she runs advertising copy only when she has some special event to publicize—such as a sale, a party, the arrival of some very new item, etc. Close tabs are still kept on newspaper birth notices, new home owners, and the like; and these names are filed away to add to her mailing list. Occasionally she does some radio advertising—but this is expensive. Her local station gets about $5 per minute. Such advertising, though, does bring in a surprising amount of business.

Miss Leslie has done a good job of arranging her shop, which is long and not very wide. The walls are papered with a soft, pale green wallpaper with a white motif. The three-panel screens are covered with the same wallpaper. The woodwork trim and the wall shelves and the dress racks are painted in the same light green. Near one display window is a nook arranged for customers' comfort. A big chintz sofa flanks a built-in fireplace and before it stands a coffee table (on which merchandise can be displayed). Here a customer may relax while she is being shown merchandise. This arrangement also gives the customer a convenient place to seat her youngster. Miss Leslie sees to it that there is always a doll nestled in the corner of the sofa! At the rear of the shop is Miss Leslie's desk, the utility table, etc.

When the Mart first opened, Miss Leslie carried apparel in sizes from infants through 6 years old, for both boys and girls. As business expanded, she not only added to her stock but augmented the size range through to 12 years. However, she soon discovered that older boys don't like to buy at a store that sells girls' clothes, too—so Miss Leslie has now settled down to catering to little girls of all ages; and boys up to 6.

PERHAPS ONE of the chief reasons for Miss Leslie's success is the adroit method she employs to handle her stock. She has no showcases. She strives for an informal atmosphere in the shop. She stocks her items on open wall shelves—thumbtacks little dresses, sweaters, caps, etc., on the tall panel screens that are scattered throughout the store. She casually arranges a jacket or dress on the arm of the sofa in order that the customer who must wait a few minutes may have something to attract her attention. An effective touch is the way Miss Leslie pads out the little dresses on her racks with tissue paper. Instead of hanging limply, they look sprightly and lively, and have much more eye appeal.

Inventiveness, persistence, and enthusiasm may be the prime requisites for a little business all your own. But you must also be a bookkeeper! Be sure to keep records. You may operate on a small scale but you are still going to be concerned with tax problems. Anyway, you ought to know how much your customers buy. So get some small sales books at your dime store, or stationery store; date every purchase, mark down whether it has been paid for or charged. Note any essential information ... such as whether the purchase was a gift to be sent to another name and address.