Page 207 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

The exterior of the store was pale cream stucco and instead of the usual
screen door, the screen and frame were painted chalk blue and the screen
partially covered with lattice work also painted blue. This gave the store its
name, “The Blue Door.” Blue awnings over the windows and blue hurricane
shutters added to its distinctive appearance. The interior was a cool sea-blue
color and chairs at the tables were covered with flowered cretonne slip
covers.

Convenient to the cosmetic corner were a low table, a reed settee, an end
table, and a deep cushioned reed chair with a tall white screen behind it.
These pieces of furniture were painted white and the cushions covered in the
floral cretonne. In this corner face powders were mixed for customers and
perfumes tested for their fragrance, or lipsticks examined for proper color. It
was a new idea for customer and proprietor to sit down and discuss the merits
of this or that product. Women who came into the shop for the first time were
agreeably surprised by its charm and particularly by this cozy little corner
where one could relax, smoke a cigarette and make one’s purchases at leisure.

The first year was a struggle and the second year found her almost willing to
give up and go back north. There was so much work to do, so many of the
sales were small items on which there was little profit, and to make matters
worse, during the first two winters the tourist trade fell to an alltime low.
However, when she talked it over with her mother, they agreed to try it
another year. They were making a poor living but they were not yet willing to
say “die.” The third year saw a pick-up in the winter tourist business which
tided them over for another year. By this time they felt that if they could keep
going at all it was better to be doing something that they liked than to be
making a mediocre living up north doing monotonous clerical work in an
office.

It is now ten years since the little store was started and the last three years
have seen it grow into a real business. In spite of the depression, the store did
enough business to enable the owners to make a trip north each summer, to
dress nicely, to save some money and to buy a coupe. To the original
departments have been added a rental library, a stock of greeting cards, and
some inexpensive bridge prizes and favors. During the busy season, an