Jan 2, 1947: Bailey’s Weekly Column

Bailey’s Country Store was known for many things during its long history, including a column in the local newspaper and a live radio show.  Here is a transcript of their newspaper column from Jan 2, 1947:

Bailey’s Weekly Column

Whitley Republican Jan 2, 1947

I am a little sleepy today. I stayed up most of the night making New Year’s resolutions. After I got through I looked over my list and said out loud to myself, “That’s too dang much for any one man to accomplish in one year.” So I started marking off my list the things I felt weren’t so important, and when I got through I had one left. It was “I hereby resolve with every lazy bone in my worthless body to sell you my good customers, better furniture at lower prices.”

And I meant just that, too, and I am going to tell you why I can do this: When we checked up at the end of the year we found we had the biggest business in 1946 of any year since I started in business. In fact, we sold ten times as much in 1946 as we did the first year we started in business here in Williamsburg. Now if you would stop and think for a minute, there is a cause for any business growing or failing. After you figure it out, it all sums up to one thing: We have been selling you better furniture at cheaper prices than you could buy it at other places. If we didn’t, you wouldn’t buy from us.

Now you are buying enough furniture from us that we can buy in large quantities or in car loads direct from the factory, and in buying this way we save the middleman or wholesale house profit, which is about 25 per cent, and we can pass this saving on to you.

This year you will find more nationally advertised furniture on our floor, for we aim to handle better furniture than we could get during the war years, when we all had to take any brand we could get.

You will find on our floor now such well known brands as Brown Stoves and Ranges, none better made; Lane’s Cedar Chests, known from coast to coast; Lloyd’s breakfast sets, one of the best; Craft Living Room Furniture, a product that the makers are not ashamed to put their name on; also all Crosley Electrical Appliances, and as fast as other known brands become available we will have them in stock and at prices you can afford to pay.

If you have a few frog hides salted away, I don’t know of anything better you could spend them for than one of these Rollaway Beds we got for $24.80, complete with felt-plated mattress.

We got one metal Floor Lamp, slightly rusty from not being used. This was $16.95. Will trade it even for $8.95.

One used 9-piece Dining Suite. Would trade this for heifer calves or a good ‘possum dog. Could make more money ‘possum hunting than I’m making, as cheap as I sell my furniture. If you take a notion you want to go ‘possum hunting, feed your dogs and eat your supper and come on.

It’s getting about my milk and mush time. I’ll be seeing you up at the furniture bargain center of the world. That’s Bailey’s — as usual.

BAILEY’S
“We Are Never Undersold”
Main St., Williamsburg