Hints to Shopkeepers. #0220
--If you are about to take a place of business, you will do well to consider the following remarks :-
--i. Small Capitalists,-
--Let us take the case of a person who has no intimate knowledge of any particular trade, but having a very small capital, is about to embark it in the exchange of commodities for cash, in order to obtain an honest livelihood thereby. It is clear that unless such a person starts with proper precaution and judgement, the capital will be expended without adequate results; rent and taxes will accumulate, the stock will lie dead, or become deteriorated, and loss and ruin must follow. For the fast absorption acting upon a small capital will soon dry up it's source; and we need not picture the trouble that will arise when the mainspring of a tradesman's success abides him no more.
--ii. Larger Capitalists,-
--The case of the larger capitalists can scarcely be considered an exception to the same rule. For it is probable that the larger capitalist, upon commencing a business, would sink more of his funds in a larger stock - would incur liability for a heavier rent; and the attendant taxes, the wages of assistants and servants would be greater, and, therefore, if the return came not speedily, similar consequences must sooner or later ensue.
--iii. Localities,-
--Large or small capitalists should, therefore, upon entering on a shop keeping speculation, consider well the nature of the locality in which they propose to carry on trade, the number of the population, the habits and wants of the people, and the extent to which they are already supplied with the goods which the new adventurer proposes to offer them.
--iv. New Neighbourhoods,-
--There is a tendency among small capitalists to rush into new neighbourhoods with the expectation of making an early connexion. Low rents also serve as an attraction to these localities. General experience, however, tends to show that the early suburban shops seldom succeed. They are generally entered upon at the very earliest moment that the state of the locality will permit - often before the house is finished the shop is tenanted, and goods exposed for sale - even while the streets are unpaved, and while the roads are as rough and uneven as country lanes. The consequence is, that as the few inhabitants of these localities have frequent communication with adjacent centres of business, they, as a matter of habit or of choice, supply their chief wants thereat; and the newly-arrived shopkeeper has to depend principally for support upon the accidental forgetfulness of his neighbour, who omits to bring something from the cheaper and better market; or upon the changes of the weather, which may sometimes favour him by rendering a ''trip to town'' exceedingly undesirable.
•(v. - x.)
''Coffee Was First Brought To England In 1641.''