RUSH FOR FOOTWEAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1942, Page 6

RUSH FOR FOOTWEAR

HEAVY BUYING BY WOMEN SOME STOKES CLOSE EARLY (0.C.) • WELLINGTON, this day. Heavy buying of footwear by women characterised the first day of shopping under rationed conditions in Wellington. Some stores had to close their premises earlier than usual in order to conserve their stocks. Trading much heavier than the peak business of Christmas was recorded in some footwear stores. It was noticable that men, in the main, refrained from joining in rush buying. Numbers of women bought several pairs of shoes. Others sought immediate delivery of shoes held under the lay-by system, despite the exemption of this from the application of the rationing scheme. Excited women had harassed assistants hardpressed. Numbers of women had evidently been shopping heavily, as some of them had just sufficient coupons remaining in their books to cover their purchases. It was found, in some cases, that wrong coupons, including those for sugar, had been detached by one or two inexperienced footwear sales assistants. It was a hard day for the staffs in some footwear shops, where certain lines, particularly heavy brogues, and certain ranges in sizes, were completely sold out. Heavy buying of general articles of clothing was reported in some shops. Others reported steady trading in an active day, but expected conditions to stabilise themselves in a few days. There were numerous instances where women asked for sales entries to be back-dated, or telephoned stating that they had decided to purchase materials they had inspected the day before. No business eventuated with these.