Duane,
Your posts are particularly close to home for me right now. My brother was diagnosed in early October with small cell carcinoma of the lung that spread to his bladder and one kidney. He passed away 12 weeks later on Dec. 20 th.
This particular type of lung cancer has no cure. It effects about 15% of the lung cancer patients. In this particular case the treatment with very old chemo that was initially developed for testicular cancer (a drug I personally worked on some 40 years ago early in my career in pharmaceutical research and development) had no effect and most likely hastened the end.
He knew there was only hope to extend his own pain for a few more months by taking the drugs, but decided he wanted to be there for his family a little longer if he could. He was courageous not for himself but for those he was leaving behind.
The human spirit is something to behold. Good luck my friend, you have a new life, live each and every day to it's fullest.
Most of all take time to smell the roses along your journey.
Larry
That's a rough time, Larry - so sorry to hear about your brother. It's a very hard thing to lose someone from a slowly wasting disease.
Duane
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Hi Duane,
I'm finding your posts about business even more interesting and educational than those you have written about furniture. I'm a salesman at a plywood company in Connecticut and have big plans on either buying out my boss or starting my own company. We seem to share an appreciation for conservative business practices that so few seem to follow. I wish you good health and many happy years ahead!
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Surrounded by Beauty for sure! Thanks for sharing.
Well Sir,
Congradulations. Lovely Family
My name is Frank and I am in the process of finding seating for my living room. While trapesing around the net trying to find info I fell through the looking glass and ended here. I'm happy to have found someone who has offered us his wealth of knowlegde and, the so hard to find, sincere approach of informing the conustomer.
Thank You Fearless Leader and
Godspeed
Many years since this post was updated.....
A potential customer came into the store this week and sort-of complained where the store is located "It was a long ride to get here and I NEVER come to this part of the Metro DC area, why are you not in Tyson's Corner, the Mosaic District or Old Town Alexandria? It's so much more upscale there. I hate coming to Route 1 near Mt Vernon. Your store is out-of-place where it is located."
True that. No disagreement with any of that. But I explained to that person "If I were located in the trendy retail areas of Metro DC this store would never have survived the down times such as after 09/11 and the 2007/08 Recession to name a few. I own the commercial condominium units that the store is located in and because of that I am not paying out $ 30,000 a month rent like i would be in Tysons. I can survive tough times, especially since there is only one employee - that's me".
"Well, there are not many stores left carrying better furnishings in the area" they said.
"That's correct. It's a low margin business and having a few bad months puts them unable to pay their fixed costs, and they go under. Also because they do have high overhead in those locations, they MUST mark up higher in price. Consumers are not always that loyal, they will decide what they want then go in search of the best price, which is how they usually wind up here at my store. No one has the low overhead I do, the store has no debt and no landlord."
Would I like to be in those really nice parts of town with a store? Oh yes, absolutely I would. I have shopped the nicer storefronts year after year, and can imagine the store I would love to have, I have it all built in my mind. But, going on 37 years of doing this, one thing I have learned is never over-extend your business with fixed debt. Pay as you go, in cash, and buy your building. Buy your Trucks in cash, too. Pay your delivery guys well. When the other guys (competition) flounder and go out of business, my store will still be here.
Last edited by drcollie; 03-20-2023 at 01:53 PM.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Thanks! Early on in this career I was spooked by other stores failing, it left an impression upon me.
I remember selling Windsor Chairs to Chesapeake Furniture in the late 1980's, very nice guys who used to buy wholesale from me. They had a rather crummy store in Virginia Beach and I would take the chairs to them with my truck. Then, they built a beautiful new store, it was gorgeous - from the ground up. I made two deliveries to the new store before they were bankrupt and gone.
Another one I watched was Gallahan's in Fredericksburg VA. Beautiful - Gorgeous new store. I took my wife there for a day trip and on the ride home I was bummed out. "Look at how great that new store is, why can't we have something like that instead of where we are located?" It wasn't long after that the owner blew his brains out in the office of his pretty new store due to debt load. The store never re-opened.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-aadcadf05042/
The first time the Founder of Hancock and Moore, Jack Glasheen, came to visit my store (I guess about 17 years ago), I profusely apologized to him because my store is not fancy. He said "No Duane, you are doing this right. You have it small enough to keep your arms around it, and with no debt load, you will survive hard times when others cannot. Don't change a thing." Jack was the smartest man I ever met in the industry and his advice was spot on. The Recession of 2007/2008 appeared not long after his visit and that wiped out approximately 60% of all better quality furniture stores nationwide. My store survived.
Several years later, about 2017 Jack told me in a phone call I need to come to Hickory NC and open a fine furniture factory. He told me I would be so good at it, that in short order I would be one of the most successful operators in the Industry. That was a very nice compliment from a man I hold in high regard, but I needed to be a lot younger that in my 60's!
Nowadays I like my little store. I like my customers and enjoy chatting with them and really try to help them get the best product for their project that will work for them. More than once I have found out the husband has a cool car collection and then we talk for an hour about cars - while his wife is befuddled by how her selecting a sofa just got sidelined. My very favorite customers though, are the younger generation that come in because they are buying their first pieces and their parents were customers 35 years ago and told them they HAVE to shop at The Keeping Room. That makes my day.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Well, it's been 13 years and a month, just poking in to see if the lights are still on around here. Glad to see they are, albeit reportedly a bit more peaceful. I registered again as the software rightfully wrote me off.
Duane, I hope you are in a position to reply that you took your BMW (or whatever your current steed) way out West since our last writing as I know that was on your to do list! Yes, Cruises can be nice (we did a Danube River cruise last year), but bugs in the teeth are much mo' funner.
My '02 RT, '04 Ducati ST4S, and my '18 RT are all now owned my my SIL in Columbus. He promises me first dibs on any one of them for when I get up there next. Now I have a scooter in the garage. Wait, two of them! Ha! That Retirement Recliner is getting closer, I can just feel it.
Hope all is well!
Jake