Merchant Grabbers

Despite all the scare buying by consumers, retail inventories are the highest ever. The Commerce Department reported last week that at year's end store stocks stood at a record $16.1 billion v. $13.1 billion in 1949. Since then, merchants have been buying faster than the public.

Atlanta's Rich's Inc.,which usually does not start buying fall goods until May, has already bought up half its supply of wool clothing, blankets and sweaters. San Francisco's huge Emporium is bulging with all the things that are expected to become hard to get--furniture, woolens, metal goods, etc. Said a New York liquor dealer: "There's so much whisky stacked on Manhattan that an A-bomb blast would plaster half of Philadelphia."

But last week many a well-stocked retailer got a jolt. Retail sales, which had recently soared as much as 40% over last year's, dropped back to 1950 levels. Retailers blamed the drop on the freezing weather and the price freeze, which had stopped most of the beat-the-price-rise buying. If sales stay down, some of the frantic inventory buying, which has pushed up wholesale prices, is bound to diminish. Retailers are not yet worried about being caught with their stocks up. But soon they might be.

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