CUSTOMERS TODAY ARE LOOKING FOR LUXURY MUCH MORE THAN SOLIDITY THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT PRICES

"If it looks rich", if it looks fashionable", these are the main concerns of buyers around the shelves.

Do post-war customers make the same purchases as customers in the past?

The department manager of the department store of novelties to whom I ask this question hesitates for a moment to answer me, then: - If I understand you correctly, it is about the female mentality - "before", "after" that you want to be informed. Well, madam, if you want my opinion, it is simply day and night.

The reign of fantasy
In the past, when a lady went, for example, to the shoe department, the first thing she inquired about was the solidity of the item on offer. Out of twenty pairs of ankle boots we sold barely two pairs of "luxury" and eighteen pairs called "fatigue". It must be believed that we no longer tire because, if I told you to reverse the proportion, we would still be far from the truth. We sell a few classic and practical models from time to time, but only from time to time. The reign of fantasy has never been more brilliant. Even the servants, who never found the leather thick enough, the sole strong enough, also only choose the latest items. As everything is linked, a whole category of working women who wore, in the days of long skirts, cotton stockings, only reluctantly agree to wear with these forms only thread stockings, which they also disdain as often as possible for silk stockings of more or less good quality. It is only in the children's shoe department that mothers still worry about the quality of their purchase.

Fine linen
What I tell you about shoes, you will also be told about lingerie. It's all over with shirting, with the resistant madapolam. We still have these articles, of course, but they are less in demand each season. In the class that appreciated them, we now want something completely different. Cotton voile replaces, for those who cannot afford it, silk linen. Because it is a fact that we have never worn so many crepe de Chine, triple voile or pongee sets as since the high cost of living. What we call "small linen", silky and fragile underwear, has dethroned what we called good linen. Fashion is so rampant in this area, that we are currently reducing more and more the personal items in the trousseau.

Perfumes
A proof of this change of mentality will be provided to you again in the perfume department. It is the most expensive essences that sell the best. It seems that moderate prices frighten women, that they fear, by letting themselves be tempted by their modesty, not having a really chic perfume and it is, do not doubt it, this concern that takes precedence over everything. One sometimes has the impression, I should not say it, that customers do not know very well how to use the money they have. It is only in the household, bedding, furniture departments that they seem to be aware of the prices. For anything that is fancy, they no longer surprise them. They get used to it! *On the duration of things...

Would you like to go to the clothing departments between noon and 1:30. This is the time when the clientele of employees and workers, of lower middle-class women who have taken their children to school, come here. Take an average of thirty buyers, listen to the questions they ask. Depending on their appearance, some ask "if it makes you look young", others "if it makes you look fashionable", or even if it makes you look rich". Very few ask about the probable duration of their acquisition. This is especially where they differ from pre-war customers. For them, nothing was solid enough. Where did that come from? Perhaps they were not used to spending. Perhaps fashion changed less... Perhaps... But who knows?... -

HUGUETTE GARNIER.