CHAIN STORES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23431, 22 August 1939, Page 5

CHAIN STORES

NEW SOUTH WALES : INQUIRY BY JUDGE VARIETY TYPE PRAISED [FROM OUR OWN correspondent] SYDNEY, Au?. IS A recommendation tliat restrictions should bo placed on the establishment of more branches of grocery chain stores, and praise for the manner in which variety ehain stores conducted their businesses, were features of a report by Mr. Justice Browne, of tlm industrial Commission of the Nov/ South Wales Government. Mr. Justice Browne's inquiry into chain store trading lasted more than two years. - Mr. Justice Browne recommended the regulation of chain grocery stores by means of a licensing system, in order to protect the small grocer-Troni this particular kind of competition. "The small independent grocer," he said, "is often hard put to it, especially in the suburbs and country, where grocery chains have small shops, sometimes two or three in the same suburb or town. "if chain stores were required to obtain a licence for each new ' branch opened ,thc appropriate department, or an officer specially appointed, could recommend the refusal of a licence where the needs of the public were already adequately met." Dismissals of Junior Employees The report directed attention to the dismissals from grocery stores of junior employees before they became entitled to a senior's wage. "I must confess," His Honor stated, "that I can see no effective remedy for this evil, but it certainly is an evil and a very serious one. The evil is not by any means limited to grocery chain stores, nor does it exist at all in some of them." In concluding his comments on variety chain stores and the service they render to the public, Mr. Justice lirowne said: "They succeed because they deserve success." •'The trading methods of these stores, their treatment of their employees, a,nd their business practices generally are honest and fair, and are of at least as high a standard as those of retailers conducting general department or other stores," lie stated./"The success of those of the variety chains in New South Wales which have been a success is due not to any improper practices, nor to scurvy treatment of employees, but to brains, organisation, competence and fair dealing, all of which have won the confidence of a very large section of the purchasing public. No Detriment to the Public "In my opinion, neither the operations, management, purchasing practices, nor methods of any of the variety chain stores are detrimental to the interests of the State, storekeepers, .shopkeepers, manufacturers, producers, consumers, employees in chain stores or any other trade, business, Or industry, in producing (and I am satisfied that they do not produce) either undue restraint of trade; unfair methods of trade competition; a diminution of trade, business, or employment; or a lowering of the standard of living. "The variety chain stores dispense almost entirely with the services of wholesalers, whom they apparently regard in existing circumstances Jig quite unnecessary 'middlemen.' In this they are adopting no different policy from that followed by many of the large general and department stores. "In a sense, this cutting out or the wholesaler, and the making of direct business contact with manufacturers and other suppliers, has had , a serious effect on many wholesalers. But it seems to mo that the purchasing public has suffered 110 detriment —rather the reverse. Less Need for Wholesale Firms "Manufacturers, in the main, welcome the change: and since the davs of huge foreign imports have largely disappeared, and our own secondary industries have developed, there seems to be less and less need for the wholesaler in lines handled by the variety chain stores." , . . It was claimed during the inquiry that the stocking by the chain stores of clothing of poor quality and limited would bring about an undesirable standardisation of clothing, particularly undesirable by reason of the standard being a low one. "I help feeling." Mr. Justice Browne commented report, "that this claim is really highlv fanciful, and is probably tho result of much reading rather than of observation of Australian conditions. "If standardisation is threatened at all, Hollywood is far more likely to bo its source than the variety chain stores." .