Word: basement
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...make last-minute checks with some of 800 employees. Eying crowds jammed behind restraining ropes at 13 entrances, he makes certain that nearby telephones are removed from their cradles. On more than one occasion, tense shoppers have stampeded when they mistook a phone ring for the gong announcing basement's opening...
...Opening gong sounds. Conroys, now at front of crowd, fan out through basement. Other women come running and dodging like halfbacks from all directions, swiveling past pyramids of shoes ($4.95), bins full of records ($1.25), and piles of antique copper lanterns ($25). "As you're running," explains Mrs. Conroy later, "you have to keep one eye up to spot the sizes and one eye down to make sure someone isn't trying to trip...
...Conroys emerge from basement with day's take: last week's haul included eight place settings of gold-plated flatware for $39.95 (original price: $110), a man's fake suede car coat for $6 (originally $25), four pairs of lined, imported gloves at $5 each (originally $16), and a framed painting of a Spanish warrior for $14.95 (once close to $50). "A good shopper needs only one to two hours to case the place," says Mrs. Conroy. "Longer than that and you begin to get headaches...
...Basement closes. Stockboys begin job of cleaning up mounds of hangers and dresses on floor. Gormley checks day's receipts (close to $300,000): "All in all, a fairly routine...
THAT NIGHT. At home in Needham Mrs. Conroy and Terry sort through day's buys, setting some aside to be wrapped for Christmas, others for storage in a special closet they had built in their basement for the surplus. As they hold up each item, they ask: "Do we really need this?" And each time, giggling like schoolgirls, they answer...