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!