NEW DRAPERY SHOP

Evening Star, Issue 21090, 30 April 1932, Page 10

NEW DRAPERY SHOP

PROGRESSIVE MOVE IN CITY A. SMITH AND CO.'S INITIATIVE The acid test has been applied in the past two years to the commercial and retail business worlds, and traders who have succeeded in maintaining the stability of their concerns can ascribe the success of their competition with depression to sound commercial ability, integrity, foresight, and initiative. The trader who can report, moreover, a substantial increase in business is rare. The qualities making for such success, remarkable in this trying period, must naturally be considered as exceptional. Tangible evidence of not only the progress made by one retailer, but of courage and confidence in the future, is obtainable in George street, between St. Andrew and Hanover streets, where a big building is now being remodelled to make wliat will probably be among the most modern drapery stores in the dominion. After eight years of trading in George street, during which the business community has experienced a boom, a reaction, a steady recovery, and then a depression, the firm of A. Smith and Co. is preparing to shift to its new premises. The progressive move of the firm has resulted in considerable work being provided for tradesmen, and the activity consequent on the carrying out of the contracts could not have had other than a stimulating effect, tending towards confidence and optimism, on tho passers by in one of the main business blocks of the city. Tho new shop is undoubtedly an acquisition to the retail houses of tho city, not only on its frontage, but in the interior. Attractiveness of frontage and of entrance to any building is always striven for by the architects, and the entrance to Messrs A. Smith and Co.’s premises has been splendidly designed. Clever arrangements give 80ft of window frontage. An Bft-wide entrance leads back for 28ft, but halfway through it broadens out into an octagon. By this entrance design the architect has been enabled to arrange the windows most interestingly by making provision for window viewers without interfering with tho traffic to and from the shop. The entrance is tiled under tho windows, while between the glass and the ceiling an unusual leadlight design has been carried out. The ceiling of the entrance is finished in fibrous plaster, and over the octagonal centre a central lighting dome is being fitted. In the dome, concealed lighting will be installed. The floor of the entrance is being covered with heavy inlaid linoleum. The first impression of shoppers cannot be other than pleasing. The window arrangements permit of a comprehensive and attractive display being made. The windows arc deepset and arranged inside with a circular effect, interspersed with niches in which model goods may be placed on show to the best advantage. All the lighting will be concealed. By means of the shell-ray reflector system, the light will be thrown on to the goods and not into the eyes of the inspecting and prospective shoppers. As one enters the two big swinging doors into the emporium proper, the first impressions are of thought and expense unspared in the lay-out and of the airiness and brightness of the shop. With a building running back to a distance of 130 ft and having a width of 30ft, the architect (Mr D. G. Movrat) has, in collaboration with the managing director (Mr A. N. Smith), utilised evefy inch of space without leaving any suggestion of squeeze. The shop has height to the ceiling and the roominess and airiness are accentuated by the complete absence of superstructure in fittings. The age-old ideas of cramming a shop to the ceiling with thousands of boxes of goods and rolls upon rolls of materials have been discarded in arranging the new shop. Only goods likely to be in an,immediate demand are to be on display. For three quarters of tho length of the shop, display shelves are fitted on both sides. They are no higher than within the reach of all assistants. Into the shelves will be fitted trays in which the goods will be held. All articles will be within full view of the shoppers. No longer will the assistants in this firm be asked to climb steps to lift down boxes or rolls of dress material. If supplies in the shelves should run out or some goods not on display be wanted, a message through to the capacious storerooms on the upper story in the George street frontage or to the basement, which runs the full length of the building, will bring replenishments or new stock.

In the centre of the shop are two shopping islands, each 24ft in length, where a new departure in the drapery business will be carried out. Goods will be sold at these islands on the “ self help ” principle. While the main office is situated on the left hand side of the shop, purchasers at the “ self help ” islands will have their purchases recorded by cash registers, an arrangement which will minimise shopping time for patrons. High-powered electric lights will pro-

vide the artificial illumination in the shop, but there will be no need for the use of electricity during the day shopping hours, even throughout the winter months. The shop is exceptionally well arranged for natural light, and the panel decoration scheme has been carried out to enhance the_ light arrangements. Four big skylights provide the natural light, and a test has shown that even at shopping time on week days at present there is no need to switch over to electricity. The showroom is at the rear of tho shop, and there, too, the light is perfect, additional illumination coming through the Icndlightcd windows at tire rear. The fullest use has been made of natural light, always to be strongly desired in a drapery shop, where the matching of materials in their proper element is necessary. In tho showroom two fitting rooms are being installed, giving privacy and comfort to patrons. The simp is being heated with gas, but in the fitting room electric heaters are being fitted. While there is a natural brightness about ‘the whole shop, the attractiveness is made greater by tho neatness of the fittings, which are finished in rosewood polish. A huge carpet is being laid down in the showroom, and linoleum of a pretty design covers tlvo shop floor. The idea of an unusually bright shop has been carried to tho fullest scope, and the whole staff will be Locked in uniforms of a dark wine shade. This' is another radical change from tire long accepted uniform of sombre black, and will certainly enhance the attractiveness of the shop, in which the trading is to ho < continued on tho old lines of cash trading only, a business method which has meant success for this progressive firm. Mr D. G. Mowat has every reason to be pleased with the carrying out of his plans by the builders, O’Driscoll Brothers, with whom were associated the following sub-constructors:— l Painting, P. Findlay; plastering, Ashton and Sons; fibrous plastering, Wardrops; electricity, J. Martin; internal fittings, Sanders and Morrison; glazing, A burn and Son; leadlights, R. Fraser and Son; brick work, H. Smith. The new premises of A. Smith and Co. will be generally recognised as being among the best drapery shops in the dominion.