FEILDING AS A SHOPPING CENTRE

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 300, 20 December 1935, Page 2

FEILDING AS A SHOPPING CENTRE

The influence of the Festive Season is remarkable, among other things, for the fact that it causes a very welcome expansion of the purchasing power of the people. It is remarkable for many other reasons and as we have before remarked, it is to be regretted that we are unable to hold that desirable influence throughout the other ten or eleven months of the year, Just about everything else is harnessed to serve man and perhaps in this age of economic science which claims virtues for the application of a greater measure of mancontrol in many matters affecting our livelihood, there may be discovered the secret that will enable us to live on in the everlasting joy the Festive Season spirit appears to promise. There are those who would say that such a condition of affairs would be too good to be true, just as there were those who at one time refused to believe that a ship built of iron could possibly float. .It was too good to be true. But it floated to the confusion of critics.

It is the influence of the season that conjures up an expansion of purchasing, or as modem economists have it, consuming power among the people, Whatever it is that has kept in hand the existing purchasing power, suddenly relaxes with the advent of the Christmas season and like the flood waters of a river whose hanks are no longer visible, this unleashed power finds a multitude of new expressions and knows no harrier. Willy nilly we find ourselves drawn into the maelstrom of Christmas shopping and experience a real thrill at being willing to participate.

Yesterday’s closed hand is wide open; its customary firm control of the emblem of exchange weakens under the spell oT the Christmastide influences. Shop fronts change and window displays become veritable fairylands of loveliness and in the hectic rush of this care-free atmosphere gladness is brought to thousands of hearts. There arises a seemingly new joy in giving and it is an experience delighted in.

With all this pleasure and delight we somehow are'unable to escape the problem of what to give. The wish to express the thought of goodwill in some tangible way is uppermost and the worry come 3 with thinking how best to interpret the desire. To paye the way towards a satisfactory settlement of the problem and to emphasise the shopping potentialities of Feilding advertisers this morning combine to offer a host of serviceable gift suggestions which are confidently commended to the Festive Season shoppers of Feilding and district. >