38 
THE MODEL STOCK PLAN 
basement store. The Filene Automatic Bargain Basement 
has profitably sold even such high-priced merchandise as fur 
coats at $1,000 and cloth coats at $273. 
We have seen on the first page of this chapter that, like 
the de luxe departments, the basement store must be staffed 
and organized altogether separately from the full-line 
executives and buyers. This should be carried out to such 
a degree that the basement store manager is not responsible 
to executives especially interested in upstairs departments. 
These statements are not opinions. They are, as we shall 
presently see, indisputable facts. The basement store must 
have separate buyers, separate merchandise men, separate 
service organizations, and, if possible, separate advertising 
men also, if it is to yield the greatest total profits. The base- 
ment advertising should be related to the main store advertis- 
ing only in so far as is advisable to assure that it conforms to 
the general advertising policies which are necessary for the 
continuing goodwill of the whole business. 
Obviously, there must be no attempt to limit the amount 
that any of the full lines may sell. Similarly, there must be 
no curb on the de luxe or basement departments. All of 
them may, and must, do their utmost for increasing their 
sales volumes and their total profits. For instance, suppose 
that the basement store sells more in a given class of goods 
than the upstairs department. This does not mean that 
any one should in any way limit the selling power of the 
basement store by imposing upstairs expenses on it or in 
any other way. On the contrary, it should be encouraged 
and helped to sell more if possible. 
What such a condition probably means is that something 
is decidedly wrong in the planning and handling of the 
upstairs department. When the source of this weakness 
upstairs is searched out and corrected, the sales volume of 
the upstairs department—and its total profits showing— 
should improve. The example of the basement store’s large 
sales volume can be used to stimulate the upstairs department 
to correct its stock and its selling to bring the necessary 
improvement.