Mail Orders Rise as Thaw Wraps Up

“Send me the warmest thing you’ve got” is the common plea heard recently by telephone operators at mail-order clothing retailers.

Despite the brief thaw, customers are ringing mail-order phones off their hooks as another wintry blast is set to descend late this week. Warm garments are going like hot cakes to customers too cold to travel to the mall and caught off guard by record low temperatures and icy roads.

At leading mail-order retailers L. L. Bean and Lands’ End, supplies are getting mighty thin.

Even catalogues that don’t exactly specialize in winter gear are getting a boost from the cold. Victoria’s Secret, which sells lingerie, said sales of conservative long underwear have boomed.