Excerpt from Expenses in Operating Retail Grocery Stores What does it cost to Operate a retail grocery store How often should the stock be turned What are the average sales per salesperson? In order to answer such questions as these and to learn the best practice in store management, the Bureau is collecting exact figures and other specific information from retail grocers. A preliminary summary of the figures which have been obtained up to the present time is presented in this bulletin. The Bureau of Business Research, it may be explained for the benefit of those who are not already familiar with its work, was established in 1911 hy'the Graduate School of Business Administration of Harvard University as an agency for the scientific study of business methods and problems. Because of the need for scientific research in marketing, the Bureau began with that subject. The retail shoe trade was first investi gated, and in June, 1914, a Similar study of the retail grocery trade was begun. The Shoe research is now being extended to the marketing of Shoes by wholesalers and manufacturers. Later other branches of whole sale and retail trade will be studied. The grocery research is thus part of a comprehensive study of the subject of marketing.