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Newspaper Page Text
i'.-- -"V r.*v v?r I f *t^,. -2u-JL f J^i%^^ SATURDAY EVENING, y: ^ K 1 '/.! - :- v^:f^. ?f &22# '. vi' t /3 \ ?,. L 4 (lift ?w i^A-i w THE MINNEAPO^JS JOURNAL*. w ^ ILLIAM DONALDSO N & CO.S GLASS BLOCK, whose splendid growth and development has been in harmony with the rapid for- ward strides'of the community whose enterprise and progress it so fully exemplifies, has again given way to the exigencies of trade and the construction of the greatest in all of its series of Annexes will be the result. We summarize briefly as follows: The management has contracted for improvements which in- volve the expenditure of about a quarter of a million dollars. The most important of these improvements is an annex with a frontage of 100 feet on Sixth street and a depth of 166 feet. This is practically a doubling of the floor space. The annex will be completed before the end of the summer seasrth-possi bly by Aug. 1. The building will then have a frontage of 166 feet on Nicollet avenue and 232 feet on Sixth street,and provide floor space of upward of 200,000 square feet. The several an- nexes which have been made necessary^ by the very rapid growth of business have all been architecturally in harmony with the original idea, and the result will be a symmetrical, at- tractive and substantial structure. In the extent and charac- ter of the building, in the number and character of the depart- ments, in the quantity and quality of the stock, in the conven- ient and comprehensive arrangement of the manydepartments, in the extent of the business done, in the order and system which prevails throughout, in the completeness and sym- metry of its electrical plant, in its lighting and illumination, in the convenience of looation and accessibility so far as street car lines are concerned, in the perfection of its delivery sys- tem, in the extent and systematic arrangement of the mail or- der department, in the system of ventilation, in the tearoom, cafe,waiting room, information bureau and other features cal- culated to make woman's favorite pastime of shopping a truly convenient and agreeable pastime, and in the uniform intelli- gence and courtesy of its army of employesin''these and in other important respects, Donaldson's Glass Block has a place among the first ten or twelyfe department stores of the United .States, and that means the world,,.. Here aire some of tHe. things ty^plj'go^^n^ke up this very interesting emporium, as it .will be after the completion of the extensive improvements FirstThere are forty great departments, not scattered about indiscriminately under several roofs, but under one roof, and arranged in a most convenient system. SecondThere is an esprit de corps such as is essential to suc- cess in so extensive concern. v ThirdThere is an elaborate, finished and thorough electric system* with 400 arc lamps and Upward of 6,000 incandescent lights, making one of the very best lighted stores in the coun- try and providing an elaborate illumination. FourthThere will be two elaborate electrical fountains, with changeable lights, and there will be an extensive and instructive electrical display in the already beautiful and ar- tistic engine room. FifthThere will be an artificial ice plant capable of pro- ducing twenty-five tons of the crystalized commodity every twenty-four hours supplying frigidity for cold storage rooms, cafe, etc. :naw JL- :mc rfrr'C'f under way: ^.i i?&^ m i^^i^^^l & # mmmmmmmmmam SixthThere will be a spacious fur-storing - room, where valuable garments are cleaned, cared for and kept away from the persistent moth. SeventhThere will be an extensive cold storage for flow- ers from the large greenhouses of the firm at Portland avenue and Thirty-fifth street. EighthThere will be a tea room, elegant in its appoint- ments and first class in its service, designed largely for the convenience of out-of-town patrons. . NinthThere will be a ladies' and gentlemen's cafe, spa- cious and elaborate, where there will be excellent service and the latest and best from the hands of culinary experts. TenthThere will be a very extensive flower department, supplied from greenhouses, the largest in the citygreenhouses so extensive as to require more than 60,000 square feet of glass. EleventhThere will be a system of ventilation, with.a large and powerful fan operated automatically, by which prac- tically a fresh supply of air will be furnished to every part of the house every half hour. TwelfthThere will be a system of prompt and efficient de- livery, the thoroughness of which can be understood when it is stated that during December last there were 53,689 separate de- liveries, representing approximately 70,000 separate packages. ThirteenthA mail order department from which are issued elaborate catalogues for the different seasons, where there is a card index with the names and addresses of more than 100,000 out-of-town patrons, where the business done during the past year aggregated $200,000 and with so perfect a system that at 5 o'clock each afternoon every order is filled and on its way to express or postoffice. FourteenthThe spacious balcony, where patrons may read, write or engage in conversation. FifteenthIt will have an agency in Paris, France, which will be the commercial home of the European buyers of the house, and where American tourists generally and the friends and patrons of the Glass Block in particular will be hospitably received and royally entertained by the firm's representatives, persons capable of giving information about the gay French capital or about any other important European point in which they may be interested. SixteenthA thousand clerks, more or less, who by reason of being most carefully selected,^, and receiving a higher aver- age of salary than paid by any other store in the country, are courteous, refined and contented, and more capable of giving intelligent service than can be had at any other local estab- lishment. FEBRUARY 21,' 1003. ' '-^^ ^ ' wg&tm Y- r "-5*=^ N ? *^V ^-^ .-*. i' - r., ': * hi A~^ ^ S 3& 7 : "'J' v)! a&r. i U 4 * :' /