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East Riding plays host to European study visitors
The East Riding recently took the opportunity to showcase some of the excellent volunteering activity, which is taking place in its many voluntary and community organisations, when European partners from the Volunteers for European Employment (VERSO) project embarked on a study visit to the area.
VERSO is a pan-European knowledge-sharing initiative, which aims to combat increasing unemployment across the European Union and help get people into employment through innovative approaches to volunteering.
VERSO brings together local authority and knowledge partners from Denmark, Greece, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain (Catalonia), Hungary, The Netherlands and Bulgaria to share good practice and East Riding of Yorkshire Council is leading local involvement here. The ultimate aim of the project is to transfer the good practice from one particular national, social and cultural context to another.
The visiting partners attended the East Riding Voluntary and Community Sector Conference 2014 at Bishop Burton College, organised jointly by East Riding Voluntary Action Services and East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and were included in the day’s programme. They gave presentations and ran a workshop to raise awareness of the volunteer training and mentoring work, which is going on in other parts of Europe.
As part of the study visit, European partners visited The Sobriety Project at The Waterways Museum, in Goole, learning of the many ways in which volunteers are engaged, such as maintenance of canal boats, gardening and landscaping, painting and work within the museum.
The second visit was to The Courtyard, in Goole, (a multi-cultural resource centre) where VERSO partners learned about the various volunteer-involving organisations and projects based there, including the work of The Green Team, Home-Start and projects embracing residents from Eastern Europe.
The final visit was to Densholme Care Farm, in Great Hatfield, where volunteers are heavily involved in helping with supporting the clients, care of the animals and helping with the organic community orchard. The European guests were driven about for the day by a volunteer driver in a Beverley Community Lift minibus and enjoyed the varied programme showcasing the work and importance of volunteers within organisations.
Councillor Jane Evison, cabinet portfolio holder for economy, investment and inequalities, said: “It was a real privilege for the council to host our VERSO colleagues from overseas. This visit was an excellent opportunity to share ideas and best practice on a range of economic issues.
“Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, learn new skills and boost employment and career prospects, most volunteers will tell you they got so much out of the work and it provides the opportunity to try new things.
“Getting people into work is a top priority for nations across the European Union and by working together through initiatives like the VERSO project we can identify new ways to grow our economies to the benefit of all our residents.”
The VERSO project will produce a Best Practice Catalogue in 2014, which will be available to learn from the work which has taken place over the course of the project and will ultimately result in a range of research-based policy recommendations, which will identify effective forms of volunteering and indicate how they can be transferred to contexts across Europe.
For more information on the VERSO project, or to get involved in volunteering in the East Riding, contact Anne Watkins at East Riding Voluntary Action Services at anne@ervas.org.uk or by phoning (01482) 871077.
The VERSO project has been co-financed by the European Union European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) and made possible by the INTERREG IVC Programme.
Biz Buzz: Developer has big plans for Ingersoll Avenue
The new king of Ingersoll Avenue says changes are coming soon to one of Des Moines’ most important Main Streets.
West Des Moines developer Richard Hurd has bought about 10 properties in the area in the past year, and he may buy more.
“They just all happened to come up for sale,” Hurd said. “We like Ingersoll, and it’s experiencing a renaissance.”
Hurd is pledging to “significantly upgrade” several properties, which would add momentum to changes already happening on Ingersoll. New apartments and businesses are opening, and neighborhood leaders expect to draw more businesses with a new special taxing district. Commercial property owners pay an extra property tax that is used to improve landscaping, maintenance and other street improvements.
Ingersoll is a hodgepodge of high-end stores, fast-food chains, locally owned bars and restaurants, medical and professional offices and apartment buildings — in a wide range of conditions. In his book “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid,” Bill Bryson called Ingersoll, compared with Grand Avenue, “the servants’ entrance of the street world.”
Hurd said he’s had properties on Ingersoll for years. In the 1990s, he owned a building that housed Blockbuster Video and is now restaurateur Jason Simon’s Eatery A, which will open April 22. Hurd likes the street’s proximity to downtown and its high density of retail.
Hurd Realty’s portfolio includes properties across the metro area, plus a few in Omaha, Las Vegas, Dallas, Arizona, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Hawaii.
Hurd may acquire a few other properties on Ingersoll. “We’re looking at other things, but we’re ready to be done with buying and focus on rebuilding and remodeling,” he said.
One cluster of properties Hurd owns is in the 2700 block. Last summer, he purchased the buildings that house Office Max and Dollar General, as well as a building at 2708 Ingersoll Ave. that had been the home to the Lime nightclub and a furniture resale shop.
Hurd said he plans to tear down 2708 this year. He said he’s not sure what it will become, but a strip retail center is a possibility. He bought the building from Andy Lee, a major Ingersoll landowner whose reluctance to sell or improve sites has frustrated neighborhood leaders.
Hurd has also put a stake down at the corner of 31st and Ingersoll, a busy intersection.
He bought 3025-3029 Ingersoll in November, a building that once housed Albright Lighting and Ancient Ways. Hurd is looking for tenants and plans to create a new storefront, preserving the building’s existing brick.
Hurd also owns several properties on the west side of the intersection, but he said he hasn’t decided what to do with the area. He said a strip retail center is unlikely.
He has a contract to buy 3111 Ingersoll Ave., and its tenants, which include Lockwood Jewelers and Studio TKO, have been given notice to move out. Hurd said the building cannot remain in its current condition, and he’ll either remodel it or tear it down.
Hurd owns the La Hacienda restaurant next door, including its large rear parking lot. He also owns five houses on 31st Street that abut the parking lot; he bought three of the houses in January.
Hurd said he hasn’t decided whether to tear down the houses, but owning them gives him more flexibility for green space and parking.
Hurd met with the North of Grand Neighborhood Association this month and said he would be sensitive to residential concerns, said Colleen Kinney, the group’s president. The association is waiting to hear more information on his plans, but residents were impressed with his “spirit of cooperation,” she said. “We wish there were more Richard Hurds out there,” she said.
D.M. native jumps into ‘Shark Tank’
Des Moines native Jordan Bookey Lloyd will pitch her tech startup on “Shark Tank” Friday.
Bookey Lloyd, who gave a Smart Talk Connected Conversations lecture at the Civic Center last month, and her husband, Felix Brandon Lloyd, will appear on the ABC show, which airs at 8 p.m. On the show, entrepreneurs try to persuade a panel of investors — including loudmouth billionaire Mark Cuban — to invest in their ideas.
Bookey Lloyd is the daughter of developers and philanthropists Harry Bookey and Pamela Bass Bookey of Des Moines.
The Lloyds founded Zoobean, an online service that selects books, apps and other resources for children — “an educational Pandora for kids.” According to the company’s website, Zoobean has attracted $573,000 in funding.
Insurance exec wins U of I alum award
A Clive insurance executive has been named the University of Iowa business school’s first alumnus of the year.
Dana Ramundt, a 1974 Iowa graduate, is president and CEO of the Dana Co., an independent insurance agency. Ramundt has had several industry leadership positions and helped establish the Emmett Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance at the university.
Meanwhile, Tom Niblock of Washington, D.C., was named the Tippie College’s young alumnus of the year for his work as a foreign service officer. Niblock, a 2007 graduate, serves in the Office of Taiwan Coordination in Washington, D.C., and previously served as the staff assistant to the ambassador at U.S. embassies in Beijing and Islamabad, Pakistan. He is also the author of “Tip of the Dragon’s Tongue: The Adventures of a Young American Diplomat in China.”
Other moves: Scott Raecker will split his time between Des Moines and Los Angeles after adding another role. Raecker will become CEO of the Josephson Institute, an L.A.-based nonprofit that promotes ethical decision-making, including its “Character Counts!” curriculum. President Michael Josephson has announced his retirement. Raecker, board chairman of the institute, is also executive director of the Institute for Character Development at Drake University.
Birthdays
Former Rockwell Collins chief executive Clay Jones will turn 65 today. Thursday’s birthdays include Jeff Russell, CEO of Delta Dental of Iowa, who will be 42, and William Kerr, former chairman of Meredith Corp., 73. Des Moines writer Jennifer Wilson will be 44 on Friday. On Saturday, state Rep. Peter Cownie, executive director of the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation, will turn 34, and Ben Anderson, co-owner of T-shirt printing and graphic design shop 8/7 Central, will be 29. Rich Wilkey, a Casey’s General Stores board member and former Des Moines city manager, will be 74 on Sunday. On Monday, Dr. Dale Andringa will be 64, and Stanley J. Bright, retired chairman and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Co., 74.
Teen citrus expert hopes to put the orange back in Orange Beach
ORANGE BEACH, AL – If a skinny kid with bangs neatly crossing his forehead and an adolescent smile bristling with braces motors up to your dock or rides his bike into your yard and starts talking about citrus trees, you might want to pay attention.
Austin Andrews, 14, has studied the trees Orange Beach is named for and all varieties of citrus. And don’t let the baby face fool you. He is not only an expert, he’s a businessman as well. He can tell you what you need to do to successfully grow citrus trees.
Andrews was invited to speak to the Orange Beach City Council last week and may enter into a contract to adorn city landscaping with citrus.
It all came about when Mayor Tony Kennon and bestselling author Andy Andrews of Orange Beach were talking about citrus trees.
“We got to talking about our desire to re-establish orange tree groves and citrus groves and he had an interest in it and thought that was a great idea,” Kennon told the gathering. “In our discussion he told me that his son Austin was a citrus tree expert. I thought he was kidding. We got to talking and got his paperwork and this young man is a citrus tree expert.”
His business is Sporty Citrus and can be reached at sportycitrus.com.
“I’m interested in citrus and always have been,” Austin told the council and audience. “I’ve seen trees that haven’t grown the way they should and produce the fruit they should or just grow. I turned my hobby of giving people tips on their trees and built it into a business last year. The name is Sporty Citrus.”
As a lifelong resident, Austin said, he loves Orange Beach and wanted to see more of the trees the town is named on the landscape.
“One thing that kind of bothered me about Orange Beach, however, was there are no oranges here,” he said. “That’s where I think I can help.”
Austin said there are ways he sees right now he can help the trees on city property.
“I’d love to help Orange Beach’s citrus in any I can,” he said. “I’ve seen the trees outside this building and at the art center. They’re great trees but they need to be worked on.”
His services can come in the form of yearlong care and maintenance or one-time visits to give owners the instructions they need to make their citrus trees successful.
“What I will do is plant and manage trees under a yearly contract,” he said. “I’ll visit the tree weekly. I can fertilize the tree, I can remove any bad limbs or suckers that grow on it. Do just about anything that a citrus tree needs.
“Or I can do a one-time consultation where I will tell the owner of the citrus tree or the person taking care of it what they can do to make it better or the best it can be.”
While his job involves landscaping, Austin says his services are not what you would get from a typical landscaping company.
“The difference between me and a regular landscaper I just deal with the citrus and give them the specific care that they need,” he said. “A landscaper, with citrus, basically sticks it in the ground and waters it and fertilizes it.”
Kennon and city council members came away impressed by Austin’s presentation and said discussions about entering into a contract for him to start a citrus tree program for the city are upcoming.
“What a great example,” Kennon said, “a 14-year-old businessman with his own business in the city of Orange Beach.”
Other youngsters, Kennon said, are also running businesses in the town and he said he will bring them in in the future as well.
“We have lots of other young men and women who are inventors and have great ideas,” he said. “What I want to do is bring them in and let them present their ideas to the city.”
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Tom Eblen: Lexington brothers win international architectural design contest
The email from London looked genuine, but it arrived before dawn on April 1.
“Everybody we told thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” said Patrick Morgan, a young architect from Lexington. “I don’t think Jha D believed me. She just wanted to go back to sleep when I called her at 6:30 in the morning.”
The email was from Building Trust International, a London-based charity that works to improve life in developing countries with good shelter design. It told Morgan that he, his brother, Simon, and his architecture school classmate, Jhanéa “Jha D” Williams, had won the organization’s fifth international design competition, to create a mobile health clinic for use in Southeast Asia.
Their design was chosen from among more than 200 entries by student and professional architects. The best student entry won a small cash prize. “Our prize is that it actually gets built and used,” Simon said.
There were nine professional runners-up in the competition, from India, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Ireland and Malaysia.
“It’s still a shock that we won,” Patrick said.
Patrick, 26, has a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and works for Interface Studio Architects in Philadelphia. Simon, 24, has a master’s in public health from Columbia University and works for a firm in Washington, D.C., analyzing health policy.
The brothers have been interested in design and construction since they were boys, helping their parents, John Morgan and Linda Carroll, restore historic houses in downtown Lexington.
“That was quite a bit of it,” Patrick said with a laugh. “Having a wheelbarrow in my hands at 6 months old.”
For their Eagle Scout service projects, they built a patio and landscaping at St. Paul Catholic Church.
As an architect with the Lexington firm Thought Space, Patrick designed the interior of an early 1800s cottage his parents restored on East Third Street. It is beside the offices of their company, Morgan Worldwide, a consulting firm that specializes in reducing the environmental impact of mining.
Patrick said he saw Building Trust International’s Moved to Care competition advertised on an architecture blog and suggested developing an entry with his brother and Williams, who works for the architecture and planning firm Sasaki Associates in Boston.
“This sounded perfect for what Simon and I wanted to do together,” he said. “We had always been thinking about trying to work together on projects that would combine our skill sets.”
The idea is that health care services and education can be more effectively delivered in rural areas by bringing small clinics to people rather than asking them to travel to clinics for medical treatment, vaccinations and hygiene education.
“We had been talking about doing something like this for two years,” Simon said. “I studied in South Africa as an undergraduate, and I thought something like this was a much better way to deliver care.”
Patrick said several things about their design seemed to impress the judges. It is easily portable, folding out from a standard tractor-trailer bed. It uses a lot of color, which makes the clinic look welcoming and provides visual clues for usage in a region where dozens of languages are spoken. The design also allows outdoor deck space to be customized for each location.
“The idea is they would fold down from the trailer, but then the community could come in to use their knowledge to build the sun shading and the railings,” Patrick said. “So the local community would feel involved with it.”
Patrick and Simon said they hope to stay connected to the project as it is built and put to use in Cambodia in a pilot project late this year.
“We definitely want to get to Cambodia and stay as involved as possible,” Patrick said. “We’ll get to test the ideas we had in the design and see how they work in the real world, and then be able to tweak it for future models. The idea is that this won’t just be one clinic, but over time they will build more and more of them.”
The Morgan brothers hope to do many more projects together, combining aspects of public health and innovative design.
“It’s just really nice that the first time Simon and I worked together, doing something we plan on doing for a long time, that we were able to win,” Patrick said. “It shows that our ideas meld together nicely.”
Tom Eblen: (859) 231-1415. Email: teblen@herald-leader.com. Twitter: @tomeblen. Blog: tomeblen.bloginky.com
Renovators find multitude of ideas with exhibitors at home show
For three days, visitors flocked to the Rath Eastlink Community Centre for the 22nd annual home show, now in its second year at the new facility.
“It was my husband’s idea to come here,” said Wanda Kent, who was walking around with the couple’s eight-year-old daughter, Olivia. “We’re renovating our kitchen and laundry room, which includes our heating system, and even doing some landscaping outdoors. We just wanted to come check everything out.”
The Truro family has been to the home show in previous years, however it was the first outing since the event moved to the new centre last year.
“Everything caught my eye,” said Olivia. “Especially the fudge and the hot tubs.”
While Olivia tested out a Euro Body Shaper with Cork Kallen, her mother said she was enjoying the home show.
“I really like the things like Mary Kay out (in the foyer), and all the bigger stuff in here,” she said. “Because we’re doing renovations, I did get some kitchen ideas and even the retaining walls caught my attention.”
Also working on renovations at their New Glasgow home, Tanya and Mike McCarthy wanted to see what the home show had in store.
“We wanted to look at better ways of heating our home, because oil is so expensive these days,” said Tanya. “We’ve been looking at heat pumps. And hot tubs…who doesn’t want a hot tub, but we probably won’t be getting one.
Tanya said the couple would continue to attend future home shows, especially while continuing renovations.
“Right now we’re basically re-doing the entire upstairs,” said Mike. “Insulation, drywall and windows.”
Tanya said the couple, even though they aren’t renovating their kitchen, has gotten some good ideas for if and when the time comes.
With about 5,000 people attending last year’s home show, Scott Sprague with Master Promotions said attendance was a little down this year.
“It’s going to be close,” he said, adding about 3,500 people had attended from the time the home show started on Friday until the final day began on Sunday.
“Even with the weather this nice (on Sunday), we should still have a strong day,” he said. “Everyone’s having a great time. There’s been a positive vibe throughout the event and it’s been a good experience. People are engaged and anxious to get outside into spring.”
He said the event was a good chance for those working on new projects to compare products from various suppliers, and possibly get ideas for new ones.
rtetanish@trurodaily.com
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
Exhibitors share home ideas
As Catherine McGhie and Stephan Peleck demonstrated the virtues of Wallgarden, they also are the perfect demonstration of how Home Exhibition 2014 in Brantford was up to date.
“I’ve been working most of a year on bringing it to the area but everything came only three weeks ago, in time for the show,” McGhie said as she stood in her booth in the civic centre with Peleck, her business partner.
Paris-based Wallgarden: Sales, Installation, Maintenance sells a wall system for potted plantings or herbs or flowers.
The product is manufactured from recycled plastic in Portugal. It can be stacked in vertical or horizontal preference against a wall, and can be irrigated by hand or by a pressure and plumbed system of plastic lines running through each tray.
“We tested the product for awhile in house and outside to make sure it works, then placed our orders,” McGhie said as patrons to the show stopped to consider the product’s possibilities.
Peleck also runs a complementary business, Fixtures, in Paris, and he and McGhie operate as partners to offer a wider home furnishing product.
Wallgarden was one of many home improvement, finance and management ideas available to thousands of visitors who walked the show’s aisles from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
The event attracted more than 70 exhibitors with a mix of local and national companies.
The displays and their representatives ranged from home design, construction and landscaping to the specialized installation of plumbing, windows, doors, roofing, fireplaces, painting and decorating.
For the outside, there were companies ready to sell landscaping, lawn and garden equipment, patios and fencing.
The number and variety of companies represented – from established firms to upstart enterprises offered options and competition.
At Ringuette Windows and Doors, owner Matt Ringuette touted his company’s products.
“We sell exclusively locally made Canadian products because we want to support our community,” he said, pointing to products in the Mitten line.
“A lot of really big manufacturing firms are in the U.S. and they produce for people there. There are products that are more suitable for our local climate, such as Mitten Vinyl, which everyone around here knows.”
michael-allan.marion@sunmedia.ca
Twitter.com/EXPMarion
Fine Design Living, One of the GTAs Leading Boutique Design and Build Firms …
More Related Stories
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April 11, 2014 —
Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) April 11, 2014
Fine Design Living (http://www.FineDesignLiving.com), one of the Greater Toronto Areas leading boutique design and build firms, specializing in high-quality exterior and interior custom renovations for residential and commercial clients, is advising consumers to keep in mind the benefits of indoor spring renovation projects.
The warm spring weather brings with it the allure of planning artistic landscaping design ideas. However, its important to acknowledge the benefits of having designers and general contractors work on the inside of ones home as well.
As soon as spring hits, its easy for homeowners to get caught up with backyard landscaping and front yard landscaping ideas, says Braden White, owner of Fine Design Living. However, upgrading the interior of the home can add personal and monetary value.
The kitchen and bathroom still add the most monetary value to homes, and a recent poll shows that Canadians appear to be following this trend by allocating most of their funds toward these areas. But White notes that personal spaces should not be ignored; while taking the time to design a bedroom or living room may not be as lucrative, it goes a long way to adding comfort to any home, particularly those homes with young children. (Source: CIBC Poll: Renovation Nation? Canadians say they’ll spend almost 30 per cent more on home renos in 2014, Yahoo! Finance, March 27, 2014; http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cibc-poll-renovation-nation-canadians-080000148.html.)
According to White, one of the ways homeowners can add value and comfort to their house is by conducting an artistic interior design project on the basement. While a finished basement can yield a return of up to 75%, homeowners can also add an immediate personal touch by having it double as a game room for the kids, an extra living area, or a home office. (Source: Ducas, I., Return on renovation costs: How much will you get back?” Style at Home web site; http://www.styleathome.com/homes/renovating/return-on-renovation-costs-how-much-will-you-get-back/a/882.)
Homeowners often misjudge just how beneficial it can be to have a finished basement, White observes. That space can be utilized in so many different ways and have multiple functions. And when or if it comes time to sell, the return on the investment can be substantial.
Beautifying a home with a new deck, swimming pool, or some other intricate landscaping design is certainly a great idea, especially for the spring and summer season, when more time will be spent outdoors, in backyards and sitting on the patio, soaking up the suns rays, White concludes. Thats why homeowners should hire a landscaping company like Fine Design Living. We will put the same amount of attention to detail to the inside of a home as we will to the outside.
Fine Design Living is a boutique design and build firm that specializes in high-quality exterior and interior custom renovations for both residential and commercial clients. From unique landscape designs and landscape construction to custom interior renovations, Fine Design Living is committed to providing the highest-quality workmanship and is backed by a personalized approach to service excellence. Based out of Markham, Fine Design Living serves customers in Toronto and the GTA, including Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Vaughan, Newmarket, Unionville, Aurora, and Stouffville. More information about Fine Design Living is available by visiting the firm’s web site at http://www.FineDesignLiving.com or by calling 416-817-6128.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/spring-is-not-just/for-outdoor-renovations/prweb11756308.htm.
Ice Imports targets men with swords, dragon statues, ‘Magic’ card competitions
One piece of advice, offered by a woman wise in the way of flea markets, always stuck with Eric Meyer: “Always stay until the end.” And, sure enough, one day a few years back while tending a booth at the Jewett City Flea Market, he doubled his day’s sales by being one of the last to close up shop.
Meyer has since parlayed his flea market experience into one of the Crystal Mall’s most well-established independent stores, Ice Imports, which since 2006 has offered a collection of male-oriented gifts – swords and pocket knives, dragon statues and mineral specimens – not to mention an area in the back for “Magic: The Gathering” competitions.
He opened another Ice Imports store in 2011 with similar merchandise at the Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor and has been contemplating a possible foray into franchising the concept.
“It just took off,” Meyer said. “I just kept chasing the money.”
Meyer, who grew up in Montville and Norwich but lives in Colchester, had been selling at fairs and flea markets since 2001. It wasn’t paying the bills so he also worked a side job doing landscaping.
With family encouragement, he had been pursuing a cart at the mall when a 700-square-foot store became available at almost the same price. He and his wife, Danielle, worked 12 hours a day to launch the store. They joke that Sunday’s eight-hour schedule constitutes a day off.
“I don’t know what got into my head about money, but I always had to pursue it,” Meyer said.
The pursuit sometimes has led him astray, he said, such as a four-year nightmare of helping out relatives with Meyer Deli at the mall’s food court, a venture he calls an expensive learning experience. He has since decided to stick with the market he knows: cool stuff for the 16-to-35-year-old crowd.
“‘Mom wouldn’t let me have this stuff when I was young’ – that’s what drives the business,” he said.
Another side of the business is “Magic: The Gathering,” which in some ways is a complete departure from the gift shop. In the back of the store, a group – comprised largely of young men – work their Magic cards in a competition, which players say offers mental stimulation and a sense of community.
“We’re all just one Magic-playing family,” Zack Lemmon of East Lyme said as he play with friends Tanner Hall of Norwich and Cain Rianhard of East Lyme. “I just like having all my friends in one place.”
Magic, which dates back to the 1990s and at last count was played by about 12 million people worldwide, is described as easy to learn but with strategic complexities.
“It’s like poker meets chess,” said Hall, who used to play in world poker tournaments.
Meyer added the card game to the mix at his now 1,400-square-foot store – he has been at three different mall locations through the years – after partnering with a former employee in a Magic store and then bailing out when relationships soured, he said. After a two-year noncompete agreement, he decided to add the game to his mix, and the result has seen increased sales from players seeking new Magic cards.
“Nerd is the new cool,” Meyer said.
Just to prove it, he travels the world, mixing fun with a search for interesting new imports. Morocco, Rome and Istanbul are a few of the cities he has visited to check out hot new items and develop ideas for the store.
“From my mom, I inherited an ability to see what’s hot and what’s cool,” Meyer said. “I have the blessed ability to see a little ahead of the curve.”
Key, too, are some excellent employees, who are eligible for monthly bonuses when the individual stores hit sales targets, he said.
“Without the support of these people, I would never have been able to find my way through some of the darker times,” he said.
The recession years were particularly tough, he added, a time when he had to learn a lot about debt and inventory management.
“I love business,” Meyer said. “I like the hustle.”
The Crystal Mall store works well because it is conducive to impulse purchases from people just walking by, he said. His other store near Hartford is in an outdoor mall where impulse buys are less likely and “Magic: The Gathering” is a larger part of the equation.
Meyer also has developed a strong online presence, shipping items as far away as Japan, Spain and Italy. He recently returned from a trip to Montreal where he was part of a big Magic tournament, spending two days selling, buying and trading cards.
But as he recalls his retail beginnings, he always harkens back to those days at the Jewett City Flea Market when he kept experimenting with different product lines until he got it right.
“Flea markets are incubators for businesses,” he said. “You can grow out of them.”
l.howard@theday.com