Page 230 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

Open-Air Market Brings Added Profits

A

NUMBER of years ago, a grocer owning his own store in a Chicago suburb,
purchased the adjoining lot on the corner because he had a chance to get it
cheap and thought he might want to enlarge his store some day. One day on a
trip out into the country, it occurred to him that the roadside stands were
doing an excellent business on fruit and vegetables that were no better than
his own. The prices, too, were about in line with his. He thought of the vacant
lot alongside his store and decided to make an experiment. The next week, he
had a carpenter build some stands and some uprights in the vacant space. A
colorful striped awning was stretched from the side of the store to the
uprights, and the stands were loaded with vegetables and fruits. There was
plenty of parking space across the street. Almost from the start, this addition
to his store brought new customers. He kept it open from early spring until
late fall and found that practically all of the new customers, attracted by the
open-air market, continued to buy during the winter when the market was
closed. The construction of the market required about $850, but through this
outlay he cleared around $7,500 net and increased his business in staples
considerably at the same time.

Mixing a Good Time with Good Food

F

OUR months ago Howard Stevens rented a vacant house on a ten-acre tract
fifteen miles from Detroit, Michigan, along a much traveled highway, and
here established a Wayside Inn. He stocked a few cases of beer, and some
sandwich meats, but did very little business the first month. Then he decided
to “doll up” the place. During the past two months, the result of his
improvements has been to attract an increasingly large number of customers
to his place, and his profits have climbed.

“I discovered that to draw people you must have something besides a few old