As a tribute to Women’s History Month, this story was provided by the Sherman Room of the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library and originally published by the Mansfield News on July 24, 1921 on Page 2 of the Social Section. Those interested in more history should check out the Sherman Room at the Mansfield/Richland Public Library or visit this link.
MANSFIELD — Perhaps in no work is there required so much foundation experience as the job of being a buyer in a store, particularly the millinery part of it.
It requires actual knowledge of the making of a hat to be able to successfully buy for other people.
“A buyer to be successful must know her goods and her trade,” said Laura A. Konrad, a millinery buyer for Reed’s. “She must know how to make a hat before she can be quite sure of what she is buying.”
Miss Konrad was sitting by the window, deftly molding wire into just the right shape for a hat crown and all the time she talked her hands kept busy twisting the wire this way and that. There was no question about her being able to make what she has been such a success in — hats.
“When I say a buyer must know her goods,” continued Miss Konrad, “I mean she must know everything about the qualities, the style, and characteristics that go into the making of a hat.
“Not only that but she must know when the salesman gives her the wholesale price of a hat, immediately just how much of a retail price she can put on that article. To be able to tell that at once requires experience, of course.”
As with a great many women who have never really defined their successes, but have just worked and studied their job throughout the years, Miss Konrad was rather shy about putting her ideas into so many words. But there never was a woman, or a man either for that matter, who has achieved success, who has not some good ideas to pass on to someone else who is just starting out.
“Just what do you mean, Miss Konrad, by knowing your trade?” she was asked.
“I mean,” she answered, “that a buyer must know her customers. When I go East to buy, I always buy with my customers in mind. Of course, there is a certain amount of transient trade, but even with that we can judge what will be wanted to a certain extent.
“There are hats that look just like certain women you know, and it’s a pretty safe guess to buy those. After selling to the same women for years, you get to know pretty well just what they are going to require.”
She is then asked if there are many times when she is wrong about that.
“Not many, about several times out of a hundred, probably. Of course, I make a mistake, sometimes, but after studying my customers enough, I can judge fairly well.”
She looked thoughtfully out of the window for a moment. Then she answered the question that had been running through my mind.
“What has helped me most in being able to buy successfully is the confidence of my customers. I would rather not sell a hat than to violate that confidence. And women certainly respect your interest in themselves and their needs.
“Another thing that has helped me is in being able to rely absolutely on the judgement of the salesmen from whom we buy. That depends, of course, on the selection of the wholesale house. If it is an established firm, and one you have found trustworthy, then you can have confidence in that house.
“But it takes years of work and thought to be able to achieve success.”
