The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 78

A Twenty six a THE ROANOKE TIMES SUNDAY MARCH 184951 50 YEARS SERVICE TRADE PROMOTION VITAL TO MERCHANTS Norfolk and Western Railway and 'of Roanoke told the story Em livery and wrapped package serv Roanoke Merchants Association (Continued on Page 32) Choose Your Diamond Wisely 310 New Arrival si'iini suits SHIRTS Slacks Sportswear We SeelalUe Tallerta IN OINK KSKMC iams Choose Your Jeweler Well WESTERN VIRGINIA'S LARGEST BULOVA DEALER DIAMONTOLOGISTS GEMOLOGISTS OR EASTER SUMMER just happen We have grown together! ROANOKE'S ONLY MEMBER OR PROMPT DELIVERY SERVICE DIAL 3 2465 GREAT STORES Roanoke Bedford Covington Harriton did their part in welcoming the former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morganthau to Roanoke and making the War Bond Rally at Victory Stadium a great occa sion in August 1942 The period of the last war was rina a fha moat rlif rtf" th viiv vi vav uV0V Association second only to the de nteolAn When the curtain went up again on trade promotion in 1946 the received formal written endorse ment of the merchant group: the for the races and the estival In an effort to promote Roa noke even further as a shopping and tourist center the Mill Moun tain Incline Railway asked the merchants to assist in erecting a huge searchlight atop Mill Moun tain by advertising in the cars of the Incline Railway then in use Soon a strong beam was scan ning the sky and the Roanoke neighborhood this was 40 years before the erection of the present neon star Later a storm de stroyed the observation tower and with it the searchlight which it supported Many of the promotion events sponsored by the Association have been the result of an evolutionary process One such idea was Dollar Day It was brought before the mem bership in 1910 by local news paper representatives and turned down But in 1921 the merchants were having a Dollar Day on the Tues day after the third Sunday in ebruary and August Interest grew and in 1922 a Dollar Day song contest was arranged 1 Official Dollar Day was discon tinued in 1926 when one of the merchants on the committee stated that he found it necessary to go into the market to purchase special merchandise for the oc casion 'i Today Dollar Day is gaining favor and has been used for the past several years As another type of trade promo tion became a merchandising event in May 1932 and 1933 The endeavor was to en courage the neighbors to Roanoke and Roanoke residents': to come downtown' Billboards newspapers and radio stations within 100 miles i Association during the war I The Roanoke Mercnants Asso ciation did its cart in educating the buying public to the curtail I ment of COD Delivery Special De such as and the ROANOKE ASSOCIATION Ties Socks Sport Coats Belts Here now in the latest styles and colors is the suit you will want for spring Styles for the short and tall stout and small Choose now from our large assortments memberships and credit calls to rvn a I 4 Vx a A oeAZtl a Hftn ine COUIlveipai VU uic noauviawvM is the present "Spring and The Association lost temporarily all irst held in the jts secretary and treasurer to the fall of 1948 The largest was heldu Navy The merchants also in the spring 1949 with tne sun day newspaper carrying two sec tions of news pictures and adver tisements of the event Nearly all store windows were especially decorated and some stores held merchandise demonstrations and Prior to 1924 the only decoration 1 in downtown Roanoke at the Christmas Season was the display of flags 1 By 1930 Christmas lighting in Roanoke was a reality Both of Associations then operating voted the next year to turn on the deco rative street lights on Thanksgiv ing Eve The purpose behind the lighting has not been the making of sales but the advertising of Roanoke as a progressive City to ils visitors during the busiest sea 1 son of the year A Christmas present was given to Roanoke and Vicinity Dec 5 1933 in the form of a Santa Claus Parade and Christmas Street Pageant Drawing card for the spectacle was the announcement that Roanoke was the only City in the State where Santa Claus and one of his live reindeer would appear Official Claus attracted thousands as the I City and its people paused to revel in the spirit of Christmas Trade Blacks Out A blackout on trade promot ion descended in 1940 and continued until 1946 during the years of World War II 'I for Defense i was held in September 1941 when? several hundred stores in Roanoke Vinton and Salem pressed the sale of defense stamps and bonds The Roanoke Merchants? Association raised $1000 which was presented the Red Cross for British war re lief Scarehead and special sale advertising was discouraged by the i Mill Mountain Star Creates Much Publicity Discussion at a 1910 meeting of the former Retail Merchants As sociation was agitated by a reali zation that Roanoke needed two things: a hard surfaced road leading to the City and a crowd drawing event to invigorate sales Action taken as a result of plans made at the meeting launched a program of trade pro motion which today ranks as one ot the oldest and most important within the Merchants Association Both the road and the crowd drawing event had been discussed at previous meetings in no action had been taken until a committee consisting of Angell Engleby and Davis was named to assist in the then current Good Roads Move ment and the auto races pro posed by the Automobile Club i The races were to be combined with a May estival and the pro ceeds were to go to the improve ment of area road surfaces under the joint supervision of the Auto mobile Association and the Retail Merchants Association The races were on the Salem Turnpike then a dirt road Stores Decorated At the suggestion of A Thur man merchants decorated their stores 'during thev May estival and prepared floats for participa tion in a parade Sponsors of the event offered to refund one way fare to those coming to the City and purchasing as much as $25 worth of goods from Association members or full fa for $50 in purchases the fare not to exceed 100 miles The Association also agreed tb offer a prize of $25 to the person making the largest aggregate of purchases from its members $100 worth to be the minimum The i Many of the requests for credit information in volve the contacting of Bureaus in other parts of the country or world This is done easily in a relatively short time by employes of the foreign reporting department Working on credit reports either originating out of town or to be sent out of town are (left to right) Miss Lou Elva Shay Miss Myrtle Glasgow and Mrs Dorothy Spencer the Virginian Railroad were asked phasis was on styles quality and ices Cooperation with the war ef to run excursions into Roanoke values but the turning of Roa fort was the theme for several durine the estival noke Day into another Dollar Day years despite a loss in revenue Two publications at the time again brought on the state cnrist mas Street Lights and added a mile long giant balloon parade for the children The parade attracted a crowd of 50000 persons the largest known in the recent his tory of Roanoke despite cold damp weather Children Delighted Small fry gazed for 45 minutes during 5 the parade at the 500 floats 10 bands and many clowns which traveled 27 blocks through the City to delight them The Association the following vear erected the most elaborate uav M1IU lllKlsw UiOMlMJ vt VIIAAOVUIRO street decorations tn be seen in 'S' Jefferson St I im ill II I Uf 9 9 9 MMiaiLiw I 7 ll 44 A Aw AW Wwepwpnrweu 9 4 A jWA AjK SMIRK OB.