What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“They will sell off very low … their valuable STOCK of GOODS.”

It was a going out of business sale.  That was not the language that Hawkins, Petrie, and Company used in their advertisement in the November 22, 1774, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, yet that was what they described to readers.  They first noted that their “co-partnership” would “expire” at the end of the year and, “by mutual consent,” they did not plan to renew it.  Indeed, neither of them intended to continue in business, so they called on customers and associates to settle accounts.

They also sought to liquidate their inventory, announcing that they “will sell off very low … their valuable STOCK of GOODS, which consists of a large assortment.”  Prospective customers could anticipate good deals because Hawkins, Petrie, and Company acquired their wares “on the very best terms.”  They expected cash payments (or “ready money”), but also made allowances to “sell for credit to good customers” who had made timely payments in the past.  To further entice sales, the partners offered discounts to customers “purchasing to a considerable amount,” whether merchants and shopkeepers seeking to expand their own inventories or consumers stocking up on items they frequently used.  “[T]he larger the purchase,” they proclaimed, “the lower the goods will be sold.”  In other words, Hawkins, Petrie, and Company were so eager to move their merchandise that they determined discounts on a sliding scale.  The more that a customer purchased the larger they discount they would receive.

Hawkins, Petrie, and Company did not undertake the sort of flashy going out of business sale familiar in modern marketing, but they did underscore the opportunities and advantages they made available to both consumers and other businesses in the final weeks that their business remained open.  Moving their merchandise was their priority, so they started with low prices and promised to slash them even more for customers who bought in volume.