A WONDERFUL BUSINESS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1910, Page 4

A WONDERFUL BUSINESS.

FORTY YEARS OF SELLING JEWELLERY. TUST opposite the busy Bank corner, ** behind windows that glitter and twinldo with every changing light, the Wellington Treasure Houso of Messrs. Stewart Dawson. and) Co. is a place of cabn. It doesn't matter how busy tho timo may be — at Christmas as at Lent, there is no turmoil' here, and no fret. The skilful salesmen go quietly and composedly about their business with an instinctive sense of what the Finn's clients want. It is a place in which shopping is never afctsnded with tho least discomfort. SELLING THE GOODS. But the comfortable decorum, of the Treasure Houee must not bo taken to indicate any slackening of custom or smallness of trade. Every .Stewart Dawson shop serves its own territory, and that territory i 9i 9 exploited constantly with fastidious thoroughness. Catalogues aro continually being issued, end the Manager sees to it that these Catalogues go everywhere. Thia Firm has developed its mail-order business scrupulously and to the fullest extent justified by the oircumstanees. Stewart Dawson and Co. havo proved again in New Zealand, as Tiffany long ago proved in America, that it pays to treat country folk ™ •/' So that under Stewart Dawson's Mail-order system, through tho Catalogues, people in the country are offered exactly the same selection of goods as people in tne oity, at exactly the came prices. Tho Firm pays ail costs of carriage andi postage. _ That is apparently a slight matter, but it mean 3 a lot. Your country customer hates to bo charged carriage on the goode he buys in town, and Stewart Dawson and Co. know better than to chargo it. In short, thi3 Finn, which had such small beginnings so few years ago, has had an almost phenomenal expansion. To-day the famous Treasure- House in, Hatton Garden, London, is ono of the finest and richest Jewellery Establishments iv the world. The big new branch recently opened in Regent-street has mado an enormous fashionable 6ucc«?s. There aro branches all over Australasia. And it is remarked by men who know, that, drought or no drought, good times or ill, business never eeems to bo bad with Stewart Dawson. HOW THEY SUCCEED. Why? Weil, the Wellington Manager puts it in a very few words. "You sco," ho says, "we get the very cream of tho gooda turned out by all the leading manufacturers in Britain. We are not confined' in regard to any line, to any ons maker. Wo take the utmost possible advantage of our exceptional opportunities as big buyers, and co we have the pick of tho latest goods from a-H the big manufacturers. Add to thia that we manufacture largely ourselves. Whenever w-e cannot get exactly what we want, wo set to work to make it. As buyers, we are fastidious, and not at all easy to please : merely because wo make it a business rule always to satisfy our customers. To that ond, wo stint neither time nor trouble, and we carry the same system into all our dealings with country clients. We give scrupulously hoirest values ; but that is not enough. In & business like ours wo have also to take care that people get just tho design thoy like. Our goods aro not ueed for a day or a week. We have to see to it that we sell thingß that will not stalo or lose their charm." PRECIOUS STONED. So, one supposes, it is with precious stones. This Eirni^s extremely largo purchases permit it to buy diamonds direct from tho largest cutters in the world, in original lots, thereby saving tho wholesalers' and jobbers' profits. Stewart Dawson and Co. aro Diamond Specialists, and the diamonds they buy are graded, by their own Experts, each to its natural and actual value. Diamonds, one learns, aro more popular than ever. Critics have called them cold and hard, and all the rest of it ; but tbe women love them, and the women have what they want. We aro shown an amazing litter of diamond rings — running up to £125 in. prioe — each with the character, tho individuality, tho almost personal stylo that mark the' goods sold by this Firm or made to its order. Of course, for peoplo who can-not afford diamonds cf price, there are beautiful rings set with other stones. You can get such for three or four guineas each; and, if you have money, and prefer rings of this claps, you can go to almost any price ill following your fancy. Diamonds are first in popularity just now, then, emeralds, then rubies, then sapphires; but no one can say when the taste will change. According- to tho London papers the sapphire is going to havo another run this season. In any case, it matters little which of tho precious stones pleases you best: Stewart Dawson and Co. have thorn all. In Wellington just now th«y aro showing a superb assortment of loose opals of the very finest quality. Next in popularity to the ring comes the bracelet. There is a great assortment of bracelets at the Treasure House, ranging in price from two or three pounds up 1o a hundred pounds in ordinary slock. Some bracelets are eet with dainty little watches, others with precious stones : if you want to spend money on a bracelet, you can give your order and go to any prico you like. GOLD AND SILVER. There is an amazing assortment of things made in pure gold. Among these must be mentioned things suitable as gifts for men — gold cigarette cases, gold match-boxes, gold sovereign ca^ss— all the trifles modern men liko to have about them Tho Firm is showing a particularly delightful range of pretty cigarette-casos just now, all of the newest London style and fashion, exquisitely dainty designs. But as one looks round, one is capecially struck by the wonderful display of solid silver articles suited for presentation. Wellington folk are good buyers in this kind, and nowhere else in tho whole of Australasia is there such a display of handsome solid silver articles as Stewart Da-wson and Co., Wellington are now showing. Hore again, 3-011 can go to any price, solid silver running easily into a lot of money But hero again also provision is made for lighter purees; tho Firm have long made a specialty of the highest class of plated ware. They furnish all 6orts of trophies, suitable for Tennis, Shooting, Golf, or any other sporting prizes. These are made to the Firm's order in London and Shefneld. Stewart Dawson and Co. have a staff of Expert Silversmiths and Designers in London, who specialise in this class of work. WATCHES. Watches have always been a big htewart Dawson line. It wae on watches that Mr. Stewart Dawson laid tho foundation of his fortune and his wida repute. The salo 61 watches from this U elhnston shop alono runs into many hundreds every year. Tho stock carried includes almost overy make of trustworthy watch— English, Swiss, American Kocently there has been an extiaordinp ry run on a gun-metal watch, known as tho Empire Lever; a cheap-eased watch with a beautiful movement. Tho Firm has had to recognise that men to-day do not use gold watches as they used to, but gold watches for women aro as popular as ever, and they are shown in a thousand dainty designs and styles. One hears with a certain satisfaction that English Lever watches are still most in favour. With the ladies, bracelet watches aro becoming increasingly popuCountry folk make Stev.-art Dawson's a place of call. City folk arc alwajs and equally welcome. This is a firm that gats custom by winning it — holding its customers by guiding their in=to, nnd giving thorn w hat they «ant. Mr. Stewart Daw son was always an honest t.r&ditr, end h» personal principles hnvG become the tradition of hit firm.