That All Important Sales Clerk

Most books on department stores focus on the importance of the sales clerk. Sales clerks have a lot of power–they know the merchandise, know the customer, and are the link between the consumer and the manager. Especially in small town department stores and other independent businesses, they are key to the success of the store. Growing up in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in the 50s and 60s, there were sales clerks at Rudin’s that most everybody remembers because of their personalities, customer service, knowledge, and many other things.

What do you remember about a special sales clerk? Take this short poll to add to our community story.
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Woolson’s Too

Photo from http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/2a86aa/ by Deecat

Service with a Smile

Post-war and mid-twentieth century America was a time of prosperity and rising affluence in Mount Vernon, yet there was a flexibility in the management of small town stores like Rudin’s that supported the feeling of goodwill. One day in Woolson’s General Store, in the next block up from Rudin’s, my mother held my seven-year-old hand as we looked at the shiny kitchen utensils organized in crocks on the oak wooden counters. Picking up a hand mixer with a handle trimmed in aqua blue Lucite, she casually mentioned that she really liked that egg beater. I loved the way the blades whirred when she turned the crank. The price was $5, worth five long weeks of my allowance. To a little girl who worshipped her mother, this was a revelation worth remembering. After we were home and my mother was out of hearing, I asked my father for the money so I could buy my mother a Christmas present. I admit that I had a certain privilege and did not want for much, although I had, through frowns and raised eyebrows, seen the limits to that privilege.
In 1955 a seven-year old could wander the stores alone, and that’s what I did the next time my mother and I went shopping. I “ditched” my mother, headed straight for Woolson’s and that blue handled egg beater. With the $5 dollar bill in my hand I picked up the egg beater and triumphantly made my way to the cash register to pay. Mr. Woolson wrote up the sale on a little pad with carbon paper between the white and yellow layers. Eye level with the cash register I watched him punch the key that made “$5” pop up in the glass window of the cash register. My pride of a completed sale turned to horror as I watched him punch “tax” then “.15” which also popped in the window. He calmly announced, “That will be five dollars and 15 cents, please.” I froze with the five dollar bill in my hand and just stared at the cash register. With a sinking heart and rising embarrassment, I whispered, “This is all I have.” That dear man hesitated then said, “Oh, that’s OK”, pushed a button that made a drawer open with a cha-ching sound, and he placed my treasured bill in the metal drawer. My “thank you” was soft, but my heart pounded loudly with my good fortune. I have that egg beater now, and every time I look at it, I remember Don Woolson’s willingness to forgo some sales tax because a little girl didn’t know to have it.

1915 Mail Order Competition – 2009 Internet Competition

Employees of Dowds Dry Goods 1914

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  At least that’s what our parents used to tell us.

Researching the history of Mount Vernon, Ohio’s dry goods stores and department stores, I came across a 1915 newspaper notice that Mr. J. W. Rudin (my grandfather) of the A. A. Dowds Dry Goods Co. led a discussion on “How Can We Meet Mail Order Competition?” for the Ohio Retail Dry Goods Association. Just a few years before, Sears added a promise to its hugely successful catalog – “Your money back if you are not satisfied!”

Small town stores, Rudin’s Department Store included, have always had to fight to attract customers to their friendlier, but smaller inventoried businesses.  I don’t know what my grandfather said at that meeting almost one hundred years ago, but I do recall many family conversations about how to persuade citizens to spend their money in town instead of out of town: customer service, developing loyalty to local commerce,and providing quality merchandise .

In 2009 the competition is the Internet sales -  the medium for seeing the product and for making the purchase.  Internet ordering serves the same purpose that mail ordering did….the customer could  drool over a catalog with limitless items to picture in one’s own home, send the money and wait for delivery. Life is simple.

This time  it’s the retail giants who have to fight mail order a.k.a. FedEx and UPS trucks rumbling up and down our streets delivering all those Internet orders. I am sure that  my grandfather and my father are both relieved that they don’t have to face cyber competition. So… some things have changed, but not really.

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Check out the history of Sears’ catalog.

Dead Malls DOT Com

Dead Malls DOT Com is a fascinating website and blog about the death of malls as we know (knew) them. In the 60′s , affluence, highways, and shopping malls drew customers away from small town department stores. People wanted more choice and competitve pricing and were willing to give up service, which is the trademark of independent stores. The customer base shifts at light speed it seems, and now traditional malls are closing.

Dead Malls has abundant information about retailing history, including a dictionary of dead mall terms, old store lists, and dead malls merchandise. Do you know what a ‘mallmanac’ is? Or a ‘category killer?’ Visit http://www.deadmalls.com/ .

A Timeline of Retailing at 201-213 South Main Street

• 1858 William Dudley Browning, 25 years old and a native of Vermont, started a dry goods store in Mount Vernon.
  

  Employees of A. A. Dowds Dry Goods

• 1873 Browning took W. S. Sperry into partnership and Browning & Sperry occupied the Woolworth building on the west side of S. Main between Vine and Gambier Streets.
• 1896 Browning purchased Sperry’s interest and moved the store to the southwest corner of Main and Gambier Streets, location of the former S. S. Kresge Co. He named the store Browning’s on the Corner.
• 1908 After being a junior partner with Browning for a while (time unknown) A. A. Dowds purchased his interest from Browning and started the A. A. Dowds Dry Goods Co.
• 1909 Dowds acquired R. F. Mantz & Co. at the present Rudin’s location and moved his store there. The second and third floors were mostly apartments.
• 1910 John W. Rudin became a partner with A. A. Dowds.
• 1929 Dowds Dry Goods became the Dowds-Rudin Co.
• 1939, February 6 John W. Rudin became president of the Dowds-Rudin Co.
• 1939, March 6 A. A. Dowds died.
• 1939 Sons Jack W. Rudin and Walter M. Rudin joined their father John W. Rudin at Dowds-Rudin Co.
• 1940, February 1 Dowds-Rudin Co. became Rudin’s Department Store.
• 1977, August 13 Jack Rudin died.
• 1977, October 11 John W. Rudin died.
• 1977, November 9 Walter M. Rudin became president of The Rudin Co. and Rudin’s Department Store.
• 1979 Rudin’s Department Store sold to Uhlmans.