Young Man of Promise

When curly-haired Edward W. Carter took over as executive vice president of Los Angeles' Broadway Department Store, Inc. in 1946, he vowed to double the company's $31.8 million business within three years. After four years with Broadway, 38-year-old Ed Carter, now president, hasn't quite reached his goal. Sales in 1949 were $50.6 million. But last week he kept his word in a different way.

Broadway arranged to buy northern California's Hale Bros. Stores, Inc., thereby forming a 15-store chain with combined sales of $88 million, the second biggest west of the Mississippi. (The first: Los Angeles' Bullock's, Inc.) The deal involves no cash: for $4.8 million of its own stock, Broadway will acquire control of eleven stores with a book value of $12 million, in San Francisco and four other California cities.

By this move Ed Carter hopes to step out ahead of other West Coast retailers. Though Broadway's gross was down 5.6% in 1949, its net of $1,243,202 was up 7.3%. Ed Carter hopes to move them both up this year. His next objective: to pass Bullock's, which rang up $106 million in sales last year.

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