Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1927. SHOP EARLY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 20 December 1927, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1927. SHOP EARLY.

The advantages of shopping early in Masterton at this season of the year are so real and.so manifold that it seems almost incredible that retailers should, with the approach of each Christmas, have to plead with the public to complete purchases as soon as possible. Each Christinas finds a hot and dissatisfied crowd of shoppers invading the shops, vociferously complaining against their own lack of perspicacity and vowing to shop early on the succeeding year, but the crush, instead of diminishing, appears to swell apace. It is undisputed that the earlier shoppers obtain the best and most attractive articles. When the huge shipments of Christmas novelties and the assortments of new fabrics and goods are opened up and displayed, it is always the first customers who see the whole of the goods, and are able to select with greater care and satisfaction. Succeeding customers often find that the shops have completely sold out of popular lines, or, on the other hand, have only a remnant of their consignment left. So there is no opportunity for choice, and the late-comers find themselves in the predicament of having to take what is left. But there is even a more important factor: it is whether shopping is to be a pleasure—and most people _ find Christmas shopping in the big establishments interesting—or whether it is to be an annoyance and an inconvenience, a tiring and a trying experience. Jostled in the midst of a huge crowd of perspiring and short-tempered shoppers, overlooked time and again by scurrying lines of tired shop assistants, who find it utterly impossible to fill the demands of everybody expeditiously and with courtesy, is both annoying and tiresome. The best period of the day to shop is early in the morning, before the crowds commence to congregate in the shops. The atmosphere of this season should be one of cheerfulness and goodfellowship. But the harassed shop assistant, striving feverishly to supply the wants of a horde of insistent customers; the mail-sorter, overwhelmedjto desperation by the mass of "postal matter; the postman, staggering under a burden that seems never to diminish —how do they regard Christmas? To them it must be a nightmare. Therefore let us, for the benefit of all concerned, make up our minds to shop and post betimes.