Buyers & Sellers

Ignoring the steady drizzle, excited cariocas began to queue up outside the white stucco store as early as 6 a.m. What had brought them was a display of advertising such as they had never seen. For weeks, Rio newspapers had carried big, purse-tickling ads promising "Tudo para Todos [Everything for Everybody]." The day before, whole sections were taken up with an illustrated catalogue of everything from egg beaters to beds. Sears, Roebuck & Co. was opening its first branch in Rio.

By the 10 a.m. opening hour that first day, jostling crowds stretched for three blocks. They waited restively while Papal Nuncio Carlo Chiarlo sprinkled holy water on each of the eight floors of the air-conditioned building. When Rio's May or Angelo Mendes de Morais snipped the yellow-and-green ribbons across the front doors, neither 100 police nor metal guard rails could stop the stampede of umbrella-armed customers.

A Lost Shoe. They rushed for the Escalators, got so snarled in the strange contraptions (there is only one other Escalator in Rio) that within two minutes the machinery had to be stopped to prevent panic. A woman lost her shoe in the crush, exclaimed: "I don't care about my shoe. Where are the refrigerators?" A quick witted clerk pointed to the men's shirt department, yelled: "This way!" That broke the jam, but another soon developed.

At $400, an average 35% less than anywhere else in the city, the U.S. refrigerators on the second floor were Sears's opening-day "leader." Customers avidly followed the lead. Clutching wads of bills, they stormed past the aisle marked "Credito," to the one marked "A vista [cash]," knocked down barriers to mob the six order takers. Within an hour, much of the entire stock of 1 ,000 refrigerators was sold.

Sweating men, looking for someone to take their money, milled around with new garbage cans filled with DDT bombs, plastic shower curtains, screw drivers. Women snatched at nylons and boxes of facial tissues. Hordes of hooky-playing bobby-soxers tried out radios, bounced on mattresses. They found the Escalator control buttons, tangled store traffic.

Despite the people and the crush, the day's business went on without a major hitch, thanks largely to the enthusiasm of the well-trained staff of 900 (96% Brazilians). By the time the doors closed for the day, 123,000 customers had swarmed through the store--and 20,000 still waited outside. The customers had spent $550,000, a record for Sears openings.

A New Style. Though Sears opened its first Brazilian store (in Sao Paulo) only three months ago, its U.S.-style retailing and especially the policy of "more for less" have wrought remarkable changes in Brazilian ways. Local merchants have dropped their habit of simply waiting for the customers, now run full-page ads regularly. European-style shopkeepers are scrambling to add more variety to their wares, and all have started cutting prices.

Because Brazilian laws limit a foreign firm's annual imports to the amount of its Brazilian capitalization, local manufacturers have also benefited. Sears expects its volume to be so much higher than its capitalization ($5,000,000) that 80% of its items will have to be Brazilian-made. To assure ample quantity & quality, it has given local producers unlimited help in converting to something like mass production of Sears-designed goods.

The biggest change has been in Brazilian shopping habits. Despite big expectations, even Sears was surprised by the rush that continued after last week's opening day in Rio. Before the week ended, the store had to call a halt. It did so in an ad from which Brazilian merchants could learn still another new trick. Said the ad: "Our clerks are fatigued and need a rest. Saturday will be a paid holiday so they can have a weekend rest. We want to serve you with clerks who are attentive and happy."

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