“IT’S ALL HERE!”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 938, 7 December 1933, Page 12

“IT’S ALL HERE!”

Retailers Have Fine Stocks ! for Christmas. ARTISTIC AND ATTRACTIVE. The Christmas shopping period is definitely under way. Since the last late night on Friday last gift buying and the purchase of seasonaj supplies has been steady, and of a comparative volume that has smoothed the worry lines from the brows of the retailers—those barometers of human credit and confidence. They estimate that the turnover will be much greater than that of the corresponding weeks last year, and regard the omen as a good one for trade in the immediate future. A tour round the shops and the big department stores of the city is ample evidence that the retailers themselves are leaving no stone unturned to provide for the wants of everyone. And this year they have had ample oppertunitv. The depression years (which, one would gather by looking at the shops and the people in them to-day, have passed into history), have keyed up manufacturers in New Zealand, Britain and elsewhere to a high point cf competition. The result is that greater efficiency of production has turned out finer articles at more reasonable prices: and in every line the range is such that the most exacting idiosyncrasies can be catered for. Father Christmas will visit many of the larger establishments in person, but even now his cheery features look down from the walls of many of the city shops, and the decorations leave no doubt that the festive and generous Yuletide season is imminent. The wonderful prices realised at the wool sales, coming on top of a general tone of increased confidence and the return of prosperity, ensured the old gentleman a good reception. Big Crowds of Buyers. In the big stores the staffs are already warming up to the work of dealing with the huge demand occasioned by the advent of the Christmas shopping crowds. Even in those lines where the seasonal demand is not so acute, business is steady; and in stationery, fancy goods, toys, toilet requisites, art craft, bric-a-brac, books, sporting equipment, linen, gloves, hosiery, and allied departments, there is a steady stream of customers, buying wisely and well, -which delights the heart of the businessman and makes him prophesy good things for the future. Together with prices which economic conditions have forced to a level that brings them within the scope of almost everyone, there arc a quality and a range of goods that show an advance on previous years that is rather amazing. There is an improved finish to most articles, and manufacturers have vied with each other in. packings and wrappings, doing all that originality and an artistic sense can do to make their products attractive to the oublic. The present-day toilet requisites department, to take an instance, is very different from that of a few years ago. Gone are the plain boxes and bottles, or the rather garish and unattractive essays at decoration. The purchase of a box of soap is rather a pleasant business. You may buy soap in any colour, and with or without bath salts to match! Attractive little porcelain figures, a pleasure to have about the place, turn out to contain scent, bath salts, powder, what you will. So with the playing cards, the handbags (with scarves to match), the art linen, the table mats and centres, —even my lady’s silk stockings are enhanced in packing that delights the eye. Brushes, mirrors, bags, attache cases are all so attractively displayed that they hardly need the salesman’s blandishments to attract the favourable attention of the shopper. Wide Purchasing Field. Those who rely on the old familiar presents, which are always welcome, and have the great virtue of usefulness if not originality, will find an excellent field for their purchasing. Already the trade increase in handkerchiefs, scarves, books, pipes, cigarettes, tennis balls, bags, and all the other standbys ” has been most marked. There has always been keen competition to keep children’s toys original and plentiful, and now the intensification of conditions, as well as the advance of manufacturing, has produced an amazing range, which will give the proud parent any amount of opportunity. The old favourites, dolls, dogs, teddy-bears, trains, balls, racquets, are there in even more interesting shapes and sizes, and the range of mechanical toys, which exercise so great a fascination on the mind of the present day infant, needs to be seen to be believed. There is the train that runs round a restricted cir-' cular track, and there is the train, which has its own station, passenger ancS goods carriages, weigh bridges, tunnels, and even a reverse gear for shunting. There are miniature aeroplanes of all sorts and sizes, speed cars, private cars, open cars, sedans and limousines, building toys, puzzles, blocks. And after many of Christmas shopping on the last two or three days, the public are realising that to buy early is to buy at leisure, with plenty of time to look over the manifold attractions. Already a visit finds bashful but earnest young men in the millinery and hosiery departments, and businesslike women, on whom the blandishments of the salesmen are entirely wasted, comparing quality and prices in the men’s end of the building. Mothers and fathers are having toys wrapped after hotirs of consultation and inspection, to be taken home and kept from view till the most welcome visitor of the year comes down the chimney* to put them in the stockings of the rising generation. Buying is steady and promises well. The purchasers are well content with the goods that are offering, and the increased trade finds the retailers bearing up wonderfully well.