Nt and ku U 0f at 0 :. . : Front of Building Billiard Room-=21 Tables Bowlingoosm = Alleys Cigars and Pipes ._________________________________-______________________________ * 1 a a a. a Naut> The firm of Iluston Bros. was or- ganized in March, 1905, and includ- ed at that time Roscoe B. Huston, '02, '04L., Irvin "Si" Huston, '03D., and Corwin Huston, '05D. They purchased the billiards business of James W. Reid and started business at 312 S. State St., on the 26th of March, 1905. The fixtures Included seven billiards tables and one six foot show case for cigers, cigarettes and tobaccos. In the summer of 1907 the second floor or the build- ing was remodeled and four addl- tional tables were installed, also 'a ten foot show case on the ground floor. In the summer of 1908 the second floor of the garage building at 311 Maynard St., was leased and eight bowling alleys and a six foot show case put in. In the summer and fall of 1909 the firm built its own building at the pre.sent loca- tion, 307-309 S. State St., and moved the eleven tables and eight alleys there. Five more tables were ad- ded, also forty feet of new show cases and a twenty foot wall case. Business commenced in the new place Oct. 30, 1909, the day before Michigan defeated Syracuse, 44 to 0, in the big football game or that fall. Five more tables were again added in September of 1910. In the fall of 1911 the two older brothers bought out the interet of Corwin Huston, continuing the business, however, under the old firm name. In the summer of 1912 the entire pipe .business of R. E. Jolly (for 25 years the exclusive "3B" agent in Ann Arbor) was purchased and the "3B" agency acquired. ATHLETIC PICTURES- We have on the walls of our store group pictures of all championship Michigan athletic teams since 1897, with names of players ant scores or games printed beneath. We also have pictures of the crowds at the big football games and Individual pictures of all team captains. room is the largest, finest appear- ing, most complete, and best equip- ped ground floor room in the United States, and this in a town with but 15,000 population. All our tables are standard Bruswick make equip- ed with Monarch cushions and best grade cloths, cues and balls. BILRtI)S INSTRUCIONS- "Si" Huston will give free in- structions daily from 2 to 4 P. M. to patrons anxious to improve their billiards playing. The bowling room occupies the en- tire second floor and contains eight regulation A. B. C. alleys equipped with simplex spotters, loop-the- loop returns and mineralite balls.' All the alleys have just been re-sur- faced, polished, and completely re- finished as good as new. The room is probably the finest appear- ing and best lighted one-floor room in the state. The bowling manage- ment for this school year has been entrusted to a student, Efton James, '16E., who will have two assistants, also students. BOOKS AND ,UNLES- We have storage space for books, bundles, suit cases, etc. Students are always welcome to leave these in our care. We believe that the more people we can .accommodate in this way, by use of telephone, wash room, bulletin service, cash- ing checks, etc., the more business we will do. BIl1DING- We built our own building after we had been in busines for four years and as a consequence the building was made to fit the busi- ness, and not vice versa as is nec- essary in a rented place The build- ing is brick, stone and steel con- struction, 50 feet front by 90 feet deep, two stories high, with a base- ment 50 feet by 100 feet underneath. Not one billiards or bowling room in 500 is in a building owned by the proprietors and especially designed for the business. CANHI REMISTfER- This summer we have installed a new cash register. It was built to order for us by the National Cash Register Co., and is the latest, larg- est and best type. It miay be of in- terest to some of our customers to know that this register will do among other things the following: Issue a receipt ticket for each pur- chase. Record every transaction in printed form on a detail strip locked! within the regiter. Keep each clerk's money and table cards, also No Sale, Memo, Mslns., and Pipe sales tickets in his own private drawer for which he retains 'ey and which cannot be openeo or op- erated during his absence. The register also gives at all times andj at a glance the total number and amount of each clerk's sales, or ta- ble cards, of paid out, mdse. dis- count, pipe and mslns. sales, mdse. sales, and prize table tickets. EveryI table time card and each check cashed are stamped with clerk's in- itial and amount. porion, set or fration of theni practically the entire male student body. What store of any kind could be pat roni?.e by a lbetter class any- w here? ('E 1) 1 1 'o m . )o : 11( mail oult 1n0 statemntsi~:, doing a cashi business only. Why? Net because studets vould fail to settle in too large numrs for we d(id eit business tfor four years and at the end of that time less than one-enth of one per cent of our total business was on the books. The reason for our present policy which we are convinced is the best and when wC aso think is appreciated by our customers, is this. 95 per cent of our business is with students; hil- liards ,and(1bow;ling are fascinatling gamesy, smit ng is a habit, credit Is: too easily obtainable in Ann Arbor. Under these conditions and our old system tudeints would o ten run up) largraccountithan they could afford,(woud1th.in we were wor- ried about the indebtedness, which Do times out of 100, was not the case, and as a result woud stay away f rom our store altogether un- til1 they 'ould pay in full. Al osti theitr uinessin th1meatim; a- so the father ;'if h mterc Tn o his attenutindi l i, e cially in the ease of a billiards room, roarded bM mny, 1altough fase ly, ason a par with the corner "1p001 room";i-il nI ome small tow~n. We did not like this feeling elier on the part of the student or the fat he'rand murch p1refer the "payw-as- yo-go' -planmwhereby Ihestudent is much more likely to spend what he can afford for his billiards., bowl- in, or sooking. We have not only tlie highest grade tables and alleys but chalk, cues, cloths, balls, etc., and all ac- cessories are the best and kept "up- to-snuff" by men who know how because of ten years of experience in this business. CI(~ ~RE'i2TES- Our cigarette sales have increased over 600 per cent in the last four years. Why? Because we buy stan- dard brands direct from the factory,. order frequently, keep fresh stock, and have the most varied assort- ment of any retail store in the state. exclusive cigar and tobacco stores not excepted. As an illustration of the volume of our cigarette busi- ness it may be stated that, although we handle over 100 different kinds, our average daily sale of one lead- ing brand is enough to supply a smoke each day to every cigarette smoker in the University. houlers, cigarette cases, tooacco pouches and the famous one cent "WAlt"n matches of which we retail "ach month enough to supply every student of the iUniversity, male ana foale, withy over 100 matches per month. NO AMllIANf - (Gambling and betting of all kinds is prohibited in our store. We have no "house" players among the stu- dents. We have never had a dice box at our cigar counters, will not hold money for bettors, have never- evIn raffled a box of candy, a pipe, or anything (rse. Why? Because we have $50,000 invested in our bus- ;hess, value the "good will" at much more, and are here to stay permanently in our own building ana not for a few years only in a retedrt place. This policy in our case is the best 'ron a busines* stanlpoint in Ann Arbor where we are desirous of the good will of our eustomers. and of the cIty and Uni- versity authorities, and of the par-. ents back home. PAB EN TS W ELCOIUE- W are ahvays glad- to have stu- dents bring their parents or friends uno our store. Our customers- fre- quoutly (o so when the chance of- felrs.You have nothing to be asham- ed of and neither have we. We have had many a student's father con- gratulate us on the character of our I)lace and assure us that he consid- ers his boy's time for recreation well spent with us. We are the Ann Arbor agents and importers for the famous "3B" and -OWN MAKE" pipes, the cholce or student smokers everywhere and ior years acknowledged to be the world's best pipe line. The largest and imost varied assortment or any retail store in the state is kept in stock, a large portion of which is atvays in sight and readily accessi- ble to prospective purchasers. The proprietors in this firm are frmer Michigan students and have the same viewpoints and sympa- thies. Our policy has always been to "try to treat you right." This is our motto and we believe that what business success we have had has been largely in proportion as we and our clerks have lived up to it. as is to be found anywh year we gave out $-3,829 trade checks good for hi: bowling, over 97 per cent were used. RE,ULAR 11HOIRS- Our store is open dail A.M. to 12 P.M., Sundays 7 P.M., bowling room dail A.M. to 11 P.M. We oper no earlier and no later how large or small the da of business. Thus you w know when to find us oper neither to ttike an unnec. when away nor feel that y stop play early when yo and business is dull. SCORES-- We get all the basebal ball scores regularly, tick on World Series games, a telegraphic running acco Michigan out-of-town foc es and Inter-Collegiate N SERtVICE- You do not want to wa: utes or so to be served w: into a store to buy canet . er yo ge qucep i n ed a d u t ol etc. Here you get quicd experienced, and courteo Our clerks have been 'w eight years, in fact since in business. STAT1E 1ILIJARIMS LN r- I f, T I CIGARS We carry all the standard brands but no cheap "long shots," that is, cI-I gars of poor quality but costing the dealer less. We have 18 feet of show-cases for cigars alone, by far the best assortment inbthe Univer- sity section of Ann Arbor. Our ci- gar sales have increased 110 per cent in four years and will increase steadily for a number of years in the future as older customers, other than students, get better acquaint- ed with the variety and freshness of our stock. FId'BS11 STIOCK-- C A LCUL A G.'R Pi- CTIECKS CISHIE- BILLIARDS- The game of billiards has risen in popular esteem by leaps and bounds in the pat ten years and now claims more active followers than any other pastime both in this country and the world at large. Nowhere has this growth been more marked than in Ann Arbor. It is confidently asserted that there are. more students here who play bil- liards both in number and propor- tion, than in any other University, and this, notwithstanding the fact that the average Michigan student has much less to spend on recrea- tion than is the case in many of the large Eastern schools. Huston Bros. were the pioneers and prime movers in the remarkable billiards development locally. Our 21 table Whenever play starts on a table, a time card numbered to correspond with the table is put in our Calcu- lagraph which stamps the exact time on the face of the card. The card is then placed on the proper hook, also numbered, and when play stops the card is again put in the Calculagraph which not only stamps on the face of the card the exact quitting time but also the correct amount due in dollars and cents. This avoids any computa- tion by the clerk, saves time, and is satisfactory to the customer as it insures accuracy. We carry a complete line of all. the best selling five cent bar can- dies and a full assortment of "LOW- NEY" bulk chocolates. Freshness of stock and frequencyof orders are special points. Our candy business runs a close second to our cigar and cigarette business and is larg- er than that of any other retail store in Ann Arbor other than ex- clusive confectionery stores. We cash checks for all students without question. The banks are located down town and so this is an accommodation much appreciated. We cash an average of 100 student checks a day, more than any two banks in Ann Arbor. It speais well both for the Michigan student body and for their good will toward our firm when it is known that out of more than 200,000 checks which we have cashed for students in the last eight years we have not lost one cent on a single check. This is all the more remarkable when it is un- dertood that we have never gone either to the University or city au- thorities for assistance in making checks goot. CLASS OF PATRONAG_- We claim unhesitatingly that there is not a billiards or bowlIng room in the country that will sur- pass ours in the character of its patronage. Our patrons are the students of the University of Michi- gan almost exclusively, and not any We order Irequently and in comn- paratively small (lumtities and on staple merchandise tlircct from fac- tory. We also make speal enorts to keepJstock right. This isnsure fresh goods, If not, nmoney lre(iun- ed. JOBBING- \\e make special jobbig prices to club and fraternity slores and for large orders, commititees and banquets. 1E AGU ES, TOU RNAUIENTiS AND EXHIBITIONS.- InI sea!son we oraieun conr- duct student b C illiardsai bowlin leagues and tour'naments. iRegular schedules are played and special prizes offered; We also arrange during each y ear a numbe of ex~i- bitions for thre best prnossioinal )bil- liards layes at yerw a here among other famous player s- Champion \\Wille Iloppe, Sutton, Demarest Oriz, Schaeffer, Catton and George Sutton the wonderful "armless" billiards player- PRI VATIE CUES- About two-fifths of the games 1y the Michigan Championship Tour- nament for the Detroit Free Press cup are played in our room each year. No charge is made to witness these games in which all the best state billiardists participate. The cup last year was won permanently by "Si" Huston and a new one will be offered this season, STOCK ROOK- We keep a stock book in which are posted all items of merchandise and pipe stock daily as received. We inventory each three weeks. Thus we have at all times an exact record of all stock bought by items, of the amount sold each three weeks, and of the amount on hand. phis system is for our own guidance in ordering stock and guarantees that we will not over-order on poor selling brands which will become stale before sold. TELEP HONE- Students are always welcome to use our telephone. Do not stop to ask permission. It is on the coun- ter at your service any time. 1, BA cc () - We carry a complete line of all the standard smoking, chewing, scrap and fine cut tobaccos, and an especially large stock and varied assortment of the higher grade pipe tobaccos. Our toilet room is fully equipped with wash basin, drinking fountain, soap, sanitary paper towers, etc. It is on the ground floor and open to the public at all times. It is 'used on an average by 2,000 students dai- ly. INCREASE OF BUSINESS- Our total business nearly doubled the lirst four years and more than doubled again during the second four years. Why? Ask any upper classman, or better yet come and see for yourself. Each year we reserve over 500 cues for the private use of individ- ual student billiards players. These cues are put aside for your use as deired and kept in repair without charge. gi:AI "Y ','id ITS- Our cash register issues a receipt ket for each purchase which giv- -e heLnumbe and date of sale, in-I ial 1of clerk, amount, and nature of1 the transaction. These tickets are! valuable to the customer and this year may be redeemed for cash, merchandise, billiards or bowling at the option of the holder, and for from 7 to 33 1-3 per cent of face amount of purchase.The well known ?'nited Cigar Store coupon system is based on only a 4 per cent cash basis. We believe our system to be probably as liberal to the customer ISCA N EO1J$ 3i E GI A N- We also sell daily iand Sunday Detroit and Chicago papers, stogies of all kinds, "Bicycle" cards, ciga- rete pa' < rs, cigar and Cigarteh We TrytoTreatYou Right _. ..- _ . , _ ___ .: Ie ~%1 ! 0