I will have done this "retail thing" for 30 years next month, and I was hoping to retire on that date, but I am saddened that none of my children really want to take over the family business from me.
I wonder if I didn't set an example to my children of how much I love doing this job; or perhaps I made so many sacrifices that the "life of a game store owner" really doesn't appeal to them. There is certainly nothing wrong with the idea of working for someone else, punching a clock for a corporation, and when you leave work, leave it at work. That is certainly nothing I have ever done. My father did that.
My father grew up in a time when one could aspire to work for a company for 30 years, draw a pension, and enjoy retirement. He worked for Clark's Equipment Company for 30 years. First as a welder, then as a plater (someone who runs a tank to chrome or copper plate items) and finally as a millwright. He made good money. He worked TONS of overtime. As a guy with, literally, an 8th grade education, he did really well for himself. He got my two oldest cousins into Clark’s along the way, and he certainly intended to help me get in, but it was not something I wanted. Of course, that plant closed and moved to Brazil back in the early 80s, right after I joined the Army.
But what I always wanted to do was to own my own business. Buying and selling. And, that is what I do. I have never been able to just leave work at work.
When I was 14 at my very first job – at a fruit market along a busy road – I drew up a plan to change the entrance and exit to allow for faster customer departure. I had noticed one day that people trying to get into the lot from the opposite side of the road kept having to wait for lot traffic to clear, and that fairly often people would sit with their blinker on for several minutes, then give up and leave. Everyone needing to turn left out of the lot had real trouble. With my plan the departing traffic got out of the way faster, and incoming traffic didn't have to wait, and drive-offs ceased.
I have always been like that – thinking about how to improve a business. But, I find that is just something about me, it is not something most people share.
My daughters started helping me when they were 10 and 7. And, frankly, those early years if they had not been involved, my store would not have survived. They made 100- and 500- and 1000-count Magic lots, they sorted comics, and they eventually became my packers and pullers for online orders. They loaded, unloaded, set up at cons, tore down at cons, reloaded and unloaded trucks. My girls worked harder than I did many times.
By the time my son Max was old enough to carry a box and put it on a truck, he'd already been to 200 conventions as an infant, toddler and young boy. People like Gary Gygax and Lou Zocchi, Margaret Weis and David Prowse knew my son by name before he was old enough to run a cash register, because they'd seen him so many times. He ran the cash register at our Origins booth when he was ten, doing $1200 in sales per day from his register.
I drove my kids hard to try to teach them the value of a strong work ethic, and I tried to lead by example. But having three hernia surgeries along the way may have scared them. Watching my children work and help gave me an immense sense of pride. Today, with my daughter Katie running my eBay sales store I still get that sense of pride. This past week I was watching her type one-handed while writing a description for a listing, while feeding my grandson with the other hand.
I was hoping to retire and draw a salary from my business, passing it along to one of my kids, but none of them want that life. And, well, I don't really blame them. So, I guess I will sell my shop if I... Hey, wait a minute. My grandson might enjoy owning a comic shop. Let’s see, he's five months old now. I just gotta hang on another, what, 20 years?
Piece of cake.
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See ya in a couple weeks.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
