DE LUXE GOODS FOR DE LUXE CUSTOMERS 75

more, we must do nothing within reason that will obstruct
the functioning of the de luxe buyer’s artistic temperament
as it expresses itself in choosing the most exclusive styles
for the most discriminating customers. After all, we should
not expect that a great artist such as Kreisler would willingly
submit to the rules that must be imposed on the violinists
of a full orchestra.
The de luxe buyer must be free to buy what he wants, as
he wants it, and to price it as he wants to. For one thing,
many of his purchases are made with the individual customer
in mind, after he has asked about that customer’s wants and
needs. Our basic rule for selecting goods for a full-line price
is to let the customers judge the goods. Such a rule definitely
does not apply to a de luxe department, because the average
customer’s judgment is not what is wanted for a selection
of de luxe goods. Moreover, the average de luxe customer
defers to the style knowledge and taste of the de luxe buyer
where she rarely defers to the taste of the full-line buyer.
The de luxe buyer must distinctly be exempt from all the
full-line rules of the Model Stock Plan. For this is the paradox,
 that while a de luxe department is necessary as part of
the Model Stock Plan in a store large enough to make such
a department possible, the de luxe department itself, to
function most profitably both as a department and as part
of the whole, must be entirely free from all the restrictions
of the Model Stock Plan as applied to a department at the
mass-selling price levels.
Especially the de luxe buyer must be free from any supervision
 by the department heads of the full-line departments
carrying the same types of merchandise at the three fullline
 prices.
As retailers, you and I must admit to a number of individual
 weaknesses in our make-ups. My weaknesses are along
certain lines; yours are probably along different lines. But
neither of us is inclined to admit—nor is any other retailer
I have ever known—that anything can be weak about our
ability to pick out good styles in good taste, even up through
the very highest levels of style and price. We feel sure that