Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1903 — LOST $1,000,000 BY WEATHER. [ARTICLE]

LOST $1,000,000 BY WEATHER.

Chisago Merchants Hit by Unseasoned ble Conditions of the Summon The unseasonable summer which hae about drawn to a close has cost the shopping district of Ohicago an enormous sum. A principal man in one of the leading stores c it State, street stays the loss amounts to an even $1,000,600. The retail business of the dry goods booses In Chieago long ago learned to recognize the desirability of the normal season, and •while it often has been said of Chicago that it had only two seasons, summer and winter, the trade of State street hae always looked far and to a great extent anticipated the four seasons ' covered l»Jf the almanacs. “There is nothing in the economy of business which enables the dealer in dry goods to anticipate an abnormal season,” said the authority already quoted. “II he buys for a spring trade, and the spring is too warm or too cold, or too wet or too dry, all that the business man hae anticipated for that season is awry and nothing can save him from los*. “There.are times when through some unfoMji^H-circumstance a bit of abnormal weather will lend itself to tlhe mak- < ing of money for a, house, or even for several houses, but in the long run it i« recognized that the nearer the weather keeps 4$ the normal which the public has learned to expect, the better will be trade in general. “In a general way an abnormally cool spring and summer will show quickest in the underwear oectiona and in the dress goods departments of a big house, but at the same time it may be counted upon that every unseasonable day of any kind leaves its marks upon the season’s profits in State street. The unseasonable day, of whatever character it be, means simply that fewer shoppem come downtown by reason of it On top of this condition is the further Influence that the unreasonableness may have on the prospective needs of the customer; usually the unseasonableness means that the customer will be lees inclined to anticipate a normal need, and in not coming downtown because of this possible want the merchant downtown loses the sales of a hundred other things which are sold because they are seen—handkerchiefs, laces, perfumes, collars, gloves, buttons, and the like. “If women coming downtown to make definite purchases only should in all cases make only these definite purchases, it would be hard lines for State street. But thousands of dollars every day are spent in the street just because the shopper chances to see something on display which catches her fancy and seizes upon it because of itself oar its price or the advantage bo which it is displayed to her view.” '