LIPTON'S SUCCESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIPTON'S SUCCESS.

EARLY DAYS RECALLED.

Sir Thomas Liptbn is salcE to bo engaged on hia "Reminiscences," and when they appear' they are sure of a cordial welcome. Sir Thomas has a gonitis for friendship, and his geniality and generosity make him popular wherever he goes. Here are some particulars of bis life in the days when he was building up his gigantic business.

The desire to succeed sent him across the Atlantic at tTie age "or 14, and after six years' residence in America he returned to GlasgowTrlia native cily. With very little mctrJßy oriiis own, and with the small savings of his mother, the young man, brimful oi ideas and energy, opened a provision shop in the High Street. "Yes," said Sir Thomas to an interviewer, "the concern was _»_ success from Ihe beginning. Policemen had to be engaged to regulate the crowd of purchasers that came from early morning till late at night. The reason for that unusual faivonr I attribute to the fact that people, though hungry, like to be amused. Consequently I employed an artist to draw big effective comic cartoons from my own suggestions dealing with local events.

''Then my price tickets had legends such as 'Fall in prices' and 'Down again' illustrated with someone tumbling into a basket of eggs or into a keg of butter. I also exhibited, among other dovices, fat policemen made of butter, looking over butter walls at'butter dairymaids.

"Another attraction that added to the popularity of my business was the band, dressed in Ceylon costume, which played in front of the procession of drays that brought my tea from the wharfs to my stores in Lancefield Street.

"The great cheeses" I made were also a bi£> 'draw.* One of these, weighing about four tons, was sent to the North Bridge branch, Edinburgh, and caused quite a sensation, chiefly owing to the fact that a number of students pulled the wire that cut the cheese in pieces." Young Lipton was a master of the art of novel advertising. But there waß something more potent in the building up oi the business than picturesque advertising. There were the personality, the rare talent, and charm of the proprietor. Lipton had the kind word, the warm handshake for everyone, and on busy nights women s.nd children would wait for a long time so that they should 1m Berved by the "maister himself." After the shop was closed and the assistants had left, he, tired though he was, often stayed on putting thmgs right for the morrow, and on many occasions the young man slept in ope of'his branch shops. Such industry, intelligence, and suave manners were bound to make for success*