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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1958)
He Deals in Cabbages and Culture Culture ' peddler Duttweiler. by Edgar May In Switzerland there's a merchant who has startled American business men by featuring, next to butter and beans, such sidelines as books and Beethoven. Acknowledged as Switzer land's supermarket king, Gottlieb Dutt weiler explains such strange combinations as an effort "to build a better world starting in the kitchen." Hardly a cloud-floating dreamer, Dutt weiler has anchored his lofty ideals with business ropes that would be the envy of a J. P. Morgan. He keeps vigil on 345 stores, 100 trucks that are rolling groceries, and more than 10,300 employes who run his nation-wide enterprises. Duttweiler also superintends a myriad of un-grocerylike activities that have made him unique as a food merchandiser. For example, he runs an adult-education program with various courses in cluding cooking classes for bachelors. The largest night school in Switzerland, it attracts 6,000 students weekly in the language division alone! Duttweiler's book club, Ex Libris, is the biggest in the country and sells 350,000 volumes annually, while the club's record division distributes almost a half-million discs a year. "Dutti" and his assistants arrange concert series that have featured such American stars as violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the Boston Symphony Or chestra. And for vacation-minded citizens, he offers economy holidays that include language courses at resort hotels. Add to these "sidelines" a film company, two newspapers, a mountain railway, and a Zurich clubhouse for oldsters, and you have an idea how far afield "Dutti" has gone since 1925 when ' he started his grocery business with borrowed capital and five Ford Model T trucks. While most of these activities are self supporting, some, like the concert series, have to be subsidized. One percent of the gross grocery turnover about $1,500,000 annually keeps culture going. As one of his associates explained: "Dutti doesn't measure success in terms of money, but what he can't stand is in activity whether it's in material or people." After World War n, when his fruit buyer reported wide unemployment of young people in Italy, a typical Duttweiler re action ensued: Aware that many Swiss housewives were unable to find maids, his organization approached the Italian and Swiss Govern ments, got yards of red tape cut, provided medical examinations for 2,500 girls, and arranged for Swiss clergymen to super vise them. Within months, Italian un employment was eased a bit and the Swiss maid problem was solved! Even Duttweiler's competitors are im pressed with his "big business" approach. Last Fall, shortly after the Russians launched their Sputniks, he had not been seen around Zurich for a few days. A rival merchant was quick to explain: "Duttweiler? Oh, he's negotiating for supermarkets on the moon!" I no extra cost in every Giant Size 1 Tt.'ft nastel-strined. W worth un tn 2St and it's packed right in the box! A i A W 1 IP 11 iANNON MCI CLOTH IN RIOULAR SIZK . . . CANNON BATH TOWKL IN KINO SIZB M M M W I I II I A II I I JI 1 I ( r r rV S VLI V And remember Breeze is toDs for evervthiner you wash from dungarees to nylon. You can't niOtnoh buy a better all-purpose detergent! Satisfaction guaranteed by Lever Brother or your money refunded!
