"Illusion" windows and bizarre exhibitions of all kinds surely attract a crowd, but the crowd is there to see the show and not your goods. The value of most such dis plays is always questionable, and unless these exhibitions have some direct bearing upon what you have for sale nothing is lost by avoiding them. Electric illumination effects can usually be depended upon to get attention at night, and if well designed and arranged they form very excellent methods of halting the passer-by.
There are many opportunities during the year for special decoration. Christmas, New Year's, Washington's and Lincoln's birthday anniversaries, St. Valentine's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving, are all generally recognized with appropriate displays. There are also numerous other occasions for attractive window work : association and lodge conventions, local celebrations, visit ing celebrities, etc. Careful judgment should be exercised in all displays that have to do with elections, athletic victories, and, in fact, all matters upon which public sen timent is divided. A partisan display usually has more power to repel than to attract.
Most merchants dress their windows outside of business hours, but a deviation from this practice is frequently advantageous. Many decorators gain much attention for the store by dressing their windows in full view of a mid-day crowd. People never seem to tire of "getting behind the scenes" and "watching the wheels go 'round," and a window dresser can always be sure of a sizable audience. If a canvas screen is used to enclose the window during a "change," the splendid opportunity its expanse offers for some brief, effective advertising should not be neglected. "Pass This Way To
morrow, but Don't Pass This Window," "Our Window Is Closed, but Our Door Is Open," "Come Back! You'll Be Glad You Did," "Don't Look! The Window Is Dress ing"—these lines suggest the length and style of such notices.
In the grocery trade, more than in any other, cleanliness of window displays is of essential importance. As a business-repelling device nothing can quite equal an exhi bition of food products surrounded by dingy decorations, covered with dirt and dust and having the general appearance of an extensive fly morgue. Furthermore, while it is usually a desirable thing to have a cat in your store as a discourager of mice, it is wise to obtain a shy and modest tabby ; one without the vain habit of show-window lounging. Goods and decorations should never be permitted to remain on display after they have lost their appearance freshness. Dust • and dead insects can hardly be prevented, especially in an unenclosed window, but it is only the work of a few minutes to dust your displays once a day, keeping them clean and tidy. A display of opened goods in an unenclosed window can be protected from flies by placing an electric fan at one side and attaching to the front-protecting wires, long strips of colored paper or silk ribbons. The wind-current from the fan, by keeping these streamers in motion, will not only drive away flies, but will add an attractive life to your display. Never, under any consideration, place fly paper in your window.