R.A. Gardner & Company: General Merchandise — Cotton Buyers

Published in the “Fountain Department” section of the Farmville Enterprise, June 8, 1917, page 6.

This business was established about five years ago and has gained steadily in popular favor ever since. To accommodate its increasing demands, the firm are now erecting a modern two-story brick building, with two floors 30×75 feet each, which will afford five thousand square feet of floor space. To illustrate the large proportions the business has attained it is only necessary to state that a $20,000 stock is carried, and the volume of business done last year aggregated $90,000.

Fountain has sprung into corporate existence within the past fifteen years, and yet, today has within its boundaries, mercantile stores of a character that would be a credit to towns of much greater size. None of these mercantile establishments bears a higher reputation than the firm of R.A. Gardner and Company, and none has done, or is doing more for the development of the town. The admirable business methods in vogue at this store have won for it a high place in the regard of the people of this and the surrounding country, and its patrons are by no means confined to this immediate locale. It is a maxim of the firm that every one trading there will get a fair and square deal, and this is lived up to with scrupulous exactitude. The large stock is carefully selected and embraces a varied assortment of goods. It is the aim of the management to handle articles of real merit, while at the same time it is their desire to set the price within reasonable bounds. The treatment accorded customers on all occasions is courteous and considerate whether they come to buy goods or to sell their cotton, and this attitude has been appreciated by the people, who have proved this by the liberal bestowal of their patronage. In addition to the general mercantile business, the company are dealers in fertilizers on a large scale.

Mr. R.A. Gardner, the manager of the store, is a business man of proven ability, keenly alive to the requirements of his trade. He believes in a square deal all round, and is known far and wide for his integrity and honesty of purpose. Mr. Gardner takes an active interest in the affairs of the community, is broad minded and progressive in his tendencies and ever ready to lend a helping hand to the promotion of progress and prosperity.