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 para- 
dox, 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 super- 
vision by the department heads of the full-line departments 
carrying the same types of merchandise at the three full- 
line prices. 
As retailers, you and I must admit to a number of individ- 
ual 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