will be natural for the customers to expect it. In some of the newer stores the soda fountain is placed beyond the cigar case or beyond both the cigar and candy cases as shown in the illustration. The argument in favor of this location is that cigars are what people are in a hurry about and not soda. Then, too, soda customers must pass the cigar and candy cases and they are brought near the middle of the store. ABOUT LIGHTING. The lighting arrangement should be so planned as to have the lights hang over the show-cases rather than over the centre of the store. Then the goods and prices show up better. Any little detail that contributes even in a small degree to the better display of goods tends to increase the sales, for well-displayed goods partly sell themselves. The matter of lighting is one of the big items of expense to a pharmacy, as it is open so many hours of every evening in the week. The lighting should be adequate and should not be stinted too far. A well-lighted store is a good advertisement in itself. By having each lamp equipped with a separate switch or cord, with a little care, the lighting expense can be kept at minimum. During the late hours of the evening when trade is light or on stormy nights, several of the lights can be turned off. All these points should be thought of before the lighting system is installed. It will save re-wiring and tearing up things later on. There should be no dark corners in your store at night. Ground glass globes are better than clear glass. They give a softer light and are not so dazzling. Hooded lights are better for the windows, because they throw the light down on the goods rather than through the glass into the street. The goods rather than the street is what you are interested in. ABOUT SIGNS.-An electric sign is a good advertisement, if you have a good place to put one. Its value lies in how clearly it can be read and how many people will see it. The script type of letters for electric signs is not advisable. A friend of the writer, who is proprietor of a large department store, put a lot of money into a sign of this character, and PHARMACY OF DONOVAN & FALLON, CHARLESTOWN, MASS. EXAMPLE OF THE MODERN IDEA OF STORE PLANNING. NOTE he doesn't like it. It is not legible enough to suit him. The plain letters are much better. Be sure to put your electric sign where it will have the best circulation-be seen by the greatest number of people-then you will get adequate returns on your investment, for electric signs are rather expensive, unless you happen to be in a town where the "electric sign flat rate lighting contract" is in force. Your regular sign over your store should have a row of hooded lights above it, otherwise it will be hard to read at night. It is better to keep the window glass clear rather than have gold or enamel signs on it. The front of your store should be distinctive, different from the stores near you. Either in the color of the paint, the arrangement of the windows, or the character of the signs. If the window arrangement is not satisfactory, perhaps the landlord will change it for you. If he don't you can afford to go halves with him on the cost of it, if you have a lease. If a telephone pole obstructs the view of your store front make a complaint about it and you can get it removed. If there is room at the side of the window, erect a bulletin-board upon which you can enter special bargains, weather indications, base-ball and foot-ball scores, election returns, etc. Get the people in the habit of looking at that bulletin-board every time they pass. ABOUT CASH REGISTERS.-A cash register is an indispensable article for a pharmacy. You will need one, but go in light. The multiple drawer register of improved type, that has a drawer for each clerk, tells which clerk took in the mutilated coins, which one made the mistake in changing a bill, which one forgot to charge a credit sale or credit a payment is not the register for you at the start unless you actually need it. A less expensive register, provided it meets your requirements, is much better for you to buy. The best way to do is this: When the salesman explains the different kinds of registers choose the one you think is best adapted to your needs. Then you will realize that you can afford to let the $500 register wait until you have established a well-paying store and by that time you will know better just what kind of a register you want. The writer commends the cash register. It is a mercantile weapon that you cannot get along without. It will save you at least a dollar a day. It also saves time, assures a good method of handling and recording sales, and acts as a check on dishonest clerks. But don't cripple yourself at the start by carrying the burden of heavy payments on an expensive cash register. CHAPTER VI. ARRANGEMENT OF A PHARMACY. BUYING THE OPENING BILLS.-Having decided to invest most of your capital in stock, you are now ready to buy your opening bills of goods. As the subject of buying goods will be treated at greater length in Chapter XXIV, only such reference to it will be made here as seems necessary for the exercise of proper caution in buying the opening stock. For the lack of this proper caution many pharmacists have on their shelves to-day goods that appear on their opening invoices perhaps fifteen or twenty years ago. A safe guide to buying opening bills is to enter onetwelfth dozen at the top of the order sheets and write ditto marks under it for all the items in the order. One-twelfth dozen lots of all the necessary articles will run up a bill of several hundred dollars from the wholesaler alone, add to this the many articles of several side lines and the cost of the opening stock runs up into the thousands. Most stores are located where they can replenish their stock every week and the demands on the stock the first few weeks after the opening will prove to you the trend of your trade. GLASSWARE AND LABELS.-It is in the purchase of glassware and labels where the average pharmacist errs. Labels |