taxation, isolation, out-of-state competition, and limited promotion reduced the Highlander share of the market following World War II. The brewery closed in 1964 to make way for an interstate highway, ending the era of Montana-brewed beer. Rainier bought the Highlander name, but the former failure in quality control had hurt the Highlander reputation. Many entrepreneurs built stores, shops, and offices along Main Street. The most handsome ones used pre-formed, sheet iron facades, especially those manufactured by the Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. These neoclassical, stylized facades added sophistication to brick or wood-frame buildings throughout the state. Retail business In the rural areas farmers and ranchers depended on general stores that had a limited stock and slow turnover; they made enough profit to stay in operation by selling at high prices. Prices were not marked on each item; instead the customer negotiated a price. Men did most of the shopping, since the main criterion was credit rather than quality of goods. Indeed, most customers shopped on credit, paying off the bill when crops or cattle were later sold; the business owner's ability to judge credit worthiness was vital to his success. In the cities consumers had more choices, usually purchasing dry goods and supplies at locally owned department stores such as Helena's T.C. Power & Bro, which expanded into several cities, I.G. Baker & Co. in Fort Benton, Strain Bros. of Great Falls, F.A. Buttrey & Co. in Havre, and others. They had a much wider selection of goods than in the country general stores and price tags that gave the actual selling price. Department stores provided limited credit, and set up attractive displays and, after 1900, window displays as well. Their clerks were experienced salesmen whose knowledge of the products appealed to the better educated middle-class women who did most of the shopping. The keys to success were a large variety of high-quality brand-name merchandise, high turnover, reasonable prices, and frequent special sales. The larger stores sent their buyers to Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago once or twice a year to evaluate the newest trends in merchandising and stock up on the latest fashions. By the 1920s and 1930s, large mail-order houses such as Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward provided serious competition, so the department stores came to rely even more on salesmanship as well as close integration with the community. Natural resource development Mining and organized labor Butte