Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

is too high and cuts sales; wholesale price
of beer has increased 35 to 40 per cent in
the past seven years.
Employment may become th e most im·
portant topic in the location field for a
time, now that spotty layoffs began to ap·
pear in factories during November, and it
is suggested that our readers refer to the
Business Review column in this issue to get
more details on the subject.
NOW D.ELlVERING
2 Terrific Money-Makers
Electric
A ir-Conditioned
Candy Vendors
V ends up to 500 bars on loading
•
New Crop Provides
More Salted Peanuts
New Electric
Shoe Shine Machines
A Unit that gives a real shine!
Contact the
U. S. Automatic Stores
Exclusive West Coast Distributor
(Incl . Arizona and New Mexico )
S712 V:z East Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles 22, California
Phone UNion 1-7697
does mean more new locations when new
firms are started.
While new firms are organized, others are
failing or going out of business, and this
reduces a percentage of the locations. Rate
of business failures has been increasing
since 1946 but th e rate is still much below
th e prewar rate.
Opening of new factories has stopped in
some industries, such as furniture, leather
and glass products, etc. Firms in retail
and service businesses are increasing mod·
erately, but declines in the number of eat·
ing and drinking places, hotels, etc., were
reported in the second quarter of the year
and later.
Theaters-A recent convention of about
700 independent th eater owners in New
Orleans highlighted some conditions in
this type, of location. The owners present
were mostly from neighborhood and small
town movie houses. A summary report said
attendance had fallen off about 15 per cent
this year; the owners report that operating
costs still continue to rise. The attendance
reports agree with reports from other
sources during the year. A conference of
the movie industry was held in Hollywood,
Dec. 14-16.
Operators will keep in mind that the
owners who met in New Orleans represent
the smaller theaters of the country, about
one·fourth of the total, and that there is
conflict in the point of view of the smaller
owners and the big movie houses of the
large cities.
Television was duly considered by the
movie owners ; it is offering real competi·
tion to neighborhood houses in the cities
where there are TV stations, and those in
the hinterland wonder when TV will reach
their territory. Theater owners have no
sure plan to · build up attendance. They
are getting complaints from movie·goers on
the "hidden advertising" plugs in films for
such vendor merchandise as cigarettes, soft
drinks, etc.
Among the circuit and chain movie
houses there is a move to sell many of
them, due to Government anti· trust action.
An authority says that 1949 will be the
peak in sales of some of the 1,400 partner'
ship theaters. This will affect some of the
big vendor concessions in these first·run
houses.
D rug Stores-In this column recently,
an official government report on drug stores
was mentioned. The publishers of Satur-
day Evening Post recently issued a 190-
page survey report on drug stores. This
report agrees with report given to THE
REVIEW about a year ago, that the total
number of drug stores has been slowly de-
clining over a period of years.
The Post report says the number of drug
38
stores has decreased about 3.5 per cent
since 1940, but that average sales per store
have increased, at least in dollar volume.
Drug stores in the Pacific Coast area have
remained constant in number but sales
have gained; number of stores has declined
more than 7 per cent in the Atlantic re-
gion. The survey puts the total number of
drug stores in 1948 at 55,876; the govern·
ment report put the number at 55,600 in
1947; a Chamber of Commerce survey put
the total number in 1948 at 61,000; the
1948 SOURCE BOOK put the estimated num-
ber in October 1947 at 52,800, based on a
report by the National Assn. of Retail
Druggists. Government reports on drug
store business this year have shown a de-
clining trend; latest report available
(Sept.) shows sales having dropped from
August and also below same month last
year.
Tavern s - Various agencies are still
checking on what happened to taverns in
the Nov. 2 elections. An ~ssociated Press
summary says the wet·dry battle still rages
regionally but the wets still lead in the
nation as a whole; however, drys have won
a substantial majority of local option elec·
tions in last 15 years; 16 states are now
100 per cent wet; in nine other states less
than 5 peF cent of the population resides
in dry areas; 81 per cent of the nation's
population lives in wet areas.
Government revenue reports have been
showing declines in beer sales through most
of last year, indicating that tavern trade is
off. A recent survey of small breweries
shows their sales 30 to 50 per' cent off; a
few big breweries hold to high levels with
heavy advertising. Many leaders in the
trade think the high cost of living has cut
beer sales; others think .retail price of beer
WASHINGTON - Growers moved the
new 1948 crop of peanuts to market in
record fashion, official reports showing that
milling of farmers' stock peanuts set a
record for the first four months of the new
peanut market year which began Sept. 1.
Government reports also showed the total
visible supply of peanuts on Nov. 30 at the
highest since 1943, but the total supply of
edible peanuts available for market pur·
poses was regarded as lower than usual.
Production of shelled edible nuts during
the fall months had set a record for the
past three yeilrs.
Peanuts have also been disappearing -
rapidly in recent months, as the new crop
came onto the market, much faster than for
the same period in 1947. Peanut butter has
been taking about 50 per cent of the visible
edible supply recently but this is a decline
from the high mark reached last September
when 55 per cent of peanut supply went
into butter.
Use of peanuts in candy began to in·
crease last November, after candy manu·
facturers had reduced purchases of peanuts
over many months because of the high
prices. Growers have been getting about 88
per cent of parity ptices on the new crop
and it may be this ' drop that has led to
more buying by candy firm s.
Use for salting alsa showed increases
during the last few months of '48, ranging
from about 20 per cent to more than 28
per cent of the total edible supply. This
was a gain over the previous three years in
salted peanuts. Thus, use of peanuts in
candy and for salting seems to be gaining
at the present time, while use for peanut
butter is declining.
Parity prices, now an issue before Con·
gress, were reported officially at 11.9 cents
per pound, a slight increase over Oct.
price. The average price being received
by farmers at the time was officially re-
ported to be about 88 per cent of the
Daritv figure. At the time, spot market
quotations in Chicago were slightly above
18 cents per pound for No. 1 Spanish,
Jumbos about 19 cents. The Chicago
markets reported demand light. The first
peanut market report in 1949 showed little
change from the last weeks of December.
THE NEW REVOLUTI ,O NARY
NORTHWESTERN
Model '49'
With Transfer Refi" Feature
CUTS SERVICE TIME IN HALF
$1755
Write for
9uantity Discount
Sample
Other Popular NOJ:thwestern Vendors
$10.35 and up.
We are headquarters for Bulk Machine
'Charms and Supplies.
NUT-BALLGUM OR CHARM
1 c-5c and Foreign Coins
BADGER SALES CO., Inc.
2251 WEST PICO BOULEVARD
LOS ANGELES 6, CALIF.
COIN MACHINE REVIEW