THE BIG SHOPS OF PARIS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5256, 11 May 1895, Page 1

THE BIG SHOPS OF PARIS.

' In Paris tha big shops ate eating np the little ones. The Socialists say thai; they are preparing the way for the great revolution, when the State shall handle all capital and rnn every business. For in these great shops the countless employes, who otherwise would be selling on their own account, are directed by a central organisation, and receive their share of the profits at the end of the year. Until then the great shops certainly represent the nse of capital pushed to its extreme. French politicians bave worried their heads about tha matter, and the Parliament haa quarrelled about the special taxes to be imposed on these big shops which eat up the little ones.

The great objection to these grands magasins according to Cucheval-Clarigny", a member of the Institute of France, is that " they embrace at one and the same time so many branches of commerce that they extend their business operations beyond all bounds, and make life impoFsibte to tho little shops, whioh sr* unable to hold out in so unequal a struggle."

It is admitted that the great shops are victorious in fcho straggle only because th<>y ara profitable to the general public, whoae interest they serve, and whose taste they satisfy more eomnletely

The powor of purchasing many different thing - undor ono roof, without running here and there across the city, ia also a va«t economy of time and money.

Whatever may be said of all thie, it ia certain that tho big ahope haye revolntiohined all the habits of buying and selling in France. Up to 1830 everything went by barter, and there was no fix. d price. Traces of thie practice are still found in the small shops around Paris, where the price first asked has very little' to do with what will bo accepted.

If you are evidently a foreigner, and especially if you are accompanied by a man who looks like a commissionaire or a guide or a lady bf the land of France, whose sharp aad hungry look proclaims her to be ou the mike while showing you about, the prices charged will be higher than if you were alone. -

This is the Paris shop-keeper's way of recovering the commtasion •ywhich he expects your companion" to comeback and collect when yOu are safely out of the way; It is a regular method of the small Paris ahftp- toMaafk'up the^pri«ie of articles which remain long on their hands, as it were to recover interesi on the capital invested. Thi3 is called "guelting." It ia claimed that even in the big shops each department haa ita damaged or imperfect or worn goods, on whose adroit sale the clerk is allowed an extra commission. But in general the big shops have brought into France the "one price ayatem."

This was begun a little before 1830 by La Belle Jardiniere, which ia still one of the Beven biggest shops, and owns three of the others. It ia still in the handa of the family that made thia great change in Frenoh commerce. "Belle Jardiniere" means the Beautiful Garden Girl ; it iB a sample of the names which the French have always been fond of giving to their shops. "Au Bonheur dea Eufanta" (It the Happiness of Children) i3 the name of a great toy shop. "Au Bonheur dea Dames" (At the Happiness of Ladies) was the fancy name given by Zola for his great book on the big oh ops. So houses which make a speciality of mourning goods have mournful, resigned, hopeful or symbolical name**, such as " Le Cypres " (The Cypress), "La Scabieuso" (a little flower which the people strew on graves), " Lea Deux Saules " (The Two Weeping Willows), and "Le Sablier" (The Hour Glass). Five of the seven great shops have fanciful names— the "Grands Magasina de Louvre " (named from its location opposite the palace), ttfe "Bon Marche" (Cheap Market), the " Printemps" (Spring), " La Samaritaine" (named from the first public bath built in the Biver Seine in the time of Henry IV., which in turn was named from the Samaritan woman at the well), and the Belle Jardiniere already spoken of. The two remaining great shops hare plain names, " A la Place Clichy," which refers to its location in the city, and " La Meuagere " (The Housekeeper), which simply indicates ita line of trade. With the abolition of barter and the continuation of fancy names, these great shops have created a new career for those who might otherwise have each been at the head of his own little property. In the new Bystem each clerk is not without interest to sell the articles of his aheif. For the customers the price ia fixed, but the clerk geta hia commission on eaoh sale.

This vatiea according to the kind of goods and the demand that exista for them, bo aa to put all the clerks on an equal footing. Thus the one who sella silk haa 2 por cent, while 5 per cent ia given to the seller of linen.

It may sometimea happen that the one who give3 out four ahilling alippera for an hour together receives but three half-pence, while, in the same time he can see the one who presidea over marriage trousseaux elated with his 20s commission from a single sale. But thia does not happen every day, and in. the long run things are supposed to equalise themselves. Nob alone at the Bon Marche, but also at the Louvre, and some of the other big shops, clerks who remain long enough in their employ are affiliated to the houae, and share in the profits of the company at the end of the year, beaidea receiving their commissions, salaries, and meals. All clerks who remain regularly employed year in and year out by a houee receive their two meals a day, including wine. The salaries of the great majoriif are extremely small. So what is gained m one way is lost in another. Prom commissions on Balea an ordinary clerk, if he ia zealous, may make £150 ; if he is lazy the sum will not pass £&0 a year. In each case hia salary would be little" more than 8s or 15s, a week. Of course, aa he mounts up into places of trust all these sums are increased many times over. The chef Cte rayon or head of a department, is a much more important man (or woman) than the head of a considerable shop would be on the old plam At the beginning of each month the director of the whole establishment giveß to each of these chefs the credit of which they can dispose during the next four weeks. It ia determined by recent saleß and corresponding salea of tho aamo month m the previous year. With this credit the chefhta to stock his department. Thia may require frequent journeys to Lyono for silks, to Belgium for iacea, to Grenoble for gloves, and so on. Sometimes these employees are able to turn tho acale in favour of some national manufacture. Thus one of the chefs at the ! Louvre haa been the means of establishing a velvet factory in France, where goodß are j

purchased which formerly came from Germany.

One of the chefs de rayon in each of the great shops is in a very curious poiition. It is he of the glove establishment. The establishment expects to lose in all hia sales (though hia commission la none the Iobb) j and at the end of each month he ia bound to show a deficit.

The mission of the glove oonnfcer ib everywhere in Paris chiefly for advertising. The price of the gloves iB marked up on an average at only fonr per cent net above the cost. Now, as the running expenses of these establishments are from sixteen to seventeen per cent of the total busineßS, the glove counter ia constantly losing at the rate of from twelve to thirteen per cent.

Exchanges, accidents, and bad bargains further increase the lons. Thia may explain the dozens of gloves ordered by every English lady passing through Paris. At the Bon Marche" thero are sixty clerks employed in selling cloves. Their average sale each year is 1,500,000 pairs, for which 5,400,000 franca are received. The glove counter ia a constant joke in Paris.

In the advertising way there are other things than gloves. The Louvre gives away each year JB2OOO worth of toy balloons to children whose parents have brought them to the shop on their search for v&ritable occasions^ i.e., alarming sacrifices. Another item of expense consists in the undetected tlufts. Theße amount in both the Bon Marche" and the Louvre to £4000 a year.

At the Bon Marchllaet year 662 persona were arrested for kleptomania, and 467 at the Louvre.

Some of the figures given by these shops are imposing. The Bon March6 gives employment to 15,750 working people. One thousand one hundred of these are occupied outside the house in the making up of ladies'* attire, The custom in Pari* is for ladies to buy a great deal of readymade clothing, while men buy very little.

Eighty - seven thousand and eight packages of all kinds of merchandise were received during the year from the provinces or foreign countries. Their total weight on the scales was over 13,000,0001bf1.

But all these fignrea represent work Which ia divided and subdivided among many employe's, each knowing hie whole business, and having tho direotion of it onoe he has proved himself competent. Socialists say that in the eame way all business could be run by the State ; but they do not explain how State officials could be inspired with the ambition which haa led the proprietors of these shops, competing with each other, and by dint of their own hard brain work, to organise and secure the success of these establishments.

When tho founder of the Bon Marche" took possession of the miscellaneous buaineeß, which he bought in 1852, the aum total of tbe year's busineas did nob pass .£IB,OOO. Seventeen years later, when he built the present sale-rooms, it had increased* to far beyond £800,000. The revenues of Government do not usually increase in thia way.