Reminiscences in Retailing

Extract

An address delivered by Mr. Joseph H. Appel at the Annual Meeting of the Business Historical Society.

It was two o'clock of a morning in late October, 1899. As night editor I had just put to press Colonel McClure's Philadelphia Times and was examining a first copy. My eye caught John Wanamaker's advertisement—with a banner head across the top—in color. A thought flashed in my mind—why not make it read: “Wanamaker's Daily News”? Make up the page like a newspaper—a newspaper of the store? Why not? Isn't a store a little world? Why not tell its news? I slept on the thought. Next day I wrote a letter—closing with “kindly reply at your earliest convenience.” The reply was prompt. “Come and see me,” signed John Wanamaker. Two days later I said goodbye to the Times and became an advertising writer in a great store.