I have a few copies also.....wish my scanner would work righ
Yes,
I have two catalogs one is from 1966 and the other is from 1971. As stated above it was a jobber catalog kinda like an old school Grainger...but offereing everything for the home, garden really everything including the kitchen sink and more, anything you could possibly want to buy...etc.
My guess is that many general/hardware stores and small town localized department stores used this book to stock thier shelves. Back when It wasnt the norm to drive to a huge city and shop at a Sears, Wards, Penney's, Higbee's, Macy's and any other huge outfit that I failed to mention.
I like the fact that 70% of the book is in color ...and that they sold every type of appliance at one point or another. Major appliances weren't their forte tho, at least not in the versions that I have anyways...small versions like portable fridges, washers and so forth were the more common fare.
The 1966 version that I have seems to have more brands than the 1971 version. In 1966 there was the likes of Knapp-Monarch, Westinghouse,ChannelMaster (for Tv's) that were not present in the 1971 catalog.
In Vacuum Cleaners for example, Westinghouse sold a complete line of cleaners including the "Super-Converto-Vac" which I own one of...and probably the only example left of, as I have never seen another...along with a three level line of canisters, and a lower priced Convertovac.
However in 1971 Bennett Bro's. no longer carried this lineup...which wasn't discontinued until at LEAST 1972-73 anyways...but was replaced by a newly resurgent line of Canister, Electric Broom and Upright style Cleaners from Regina, and a multiple lineup at that.
Hoover being the primary maunufacturer of course along with Eureka and a smattering of other's as well such as Lewyt and General Electric....
The same all over tho. Those that were still viable concerns in 1966 and gone by 1971 were of course replaced by other manuf. that were still in the same buisness. And price concessions too.
A perfect example would be this: And go with me on this... Druckers Store orders a Hoover Heavy Duty Upright cleaner model 910 costing Sam $107.64 sold to the (him) the dealer purchasing one. And sold it to Mrs. Douglas (Lisa) the consumer with markup for an advertised retail of $137.95 sold to her; this gave Sam the dealer, a variable net profit high of $30.31.
Five years later in 1971, Lisa ordered another one. But this time it was the same machine but a different model number( maybe 918 or soemthing like that. But by this time the machine was sold to Sam the (dealer) at $117.54 with a $9.90 markup given by him back to Bennett Brothers, but the advertised sale price to consumers at the point of sale ( To Lisa)was $159.95 at that point giving the dealer (Sam Drucker) a variable net profit high of $42.41
Of course, the dealer (Sam) then had to minus the shipping costs and stocking fees paying his employees and such, even with that dealer profit high of $42.41 in 1971 minus the above charges totaling maybe $10.00 in all depending on destination...the (samll town dealer), (Sam) made still to bank in his pocket $32.41; good buisness for the small town delaer indeed.
This is crucial to why most if not all failed. While they were banking all this cash not being competitive especially considering that they usually marked up the actual retail far higher than what Hoover advertised it for. And then they the consumer (Lisa) had to wait for the merchandise to arrive by truck or train or however it came. It spelled eventual , inevitable doom for what started to happen next.
When the more common (today) options became viable, and most consumers switched away from small town buisness and started driving farther ( due an ever growing interstate system), to larger places offering the same merchandise for what Bennett Brothers offered at dealer wholesale price already...and without the middleman and dealer markup...the whold edifice of small town buisness started to die.....thus ending catalogs like Bennett Brothers and the small town dealer in general.
Like when Lisa and Oliver gassed up the Lincoln Continental Convertible that they drove...and took the (made up) Interstate I-698 from the Hootersville exit, back to New York only taking them an 45 minutes to an hour tops...which on the old roads would take them 2 hours, and the hassle of driving thru small towns with low speed limits.
And finally purchasing their next Hoover Commercial in 1976 at Gimbels,Wannamakers or Macy's for $99.95 and costing them only in effect a quarter to a half tank of gas and the like...saving them in the pocket probably $20.00 but putting poor Sam Druker out of buisness.
Any one care to add?
Chad
