Will Stinson was the senior member of the team. He was their specialist in bio and high-tech investments. Joe Weiss knew more about real estate development than anyone Mike had ever hired, and Renee Durant was a fantastic research source for what Mike called the “softer” brands, unusual investments that had done well for the firm. She had suggested the low-priced women’s fashion brand that had proven to be brilliantly lucrative, although Mike’s mother had turned her nose up when he asked her about it. But it had become one of the highest-volume brands in the world. Fashion at absurdly low prices. The business model had been imitated by many, but never as successfully as the company Mike helped grow to billion-dollar proportions, to the envy of investors who had paid no attention to that market before. Mike had ridden in on the crest of the wave and sold the company three years later for a fortune.
“What have we got today?” Mike asked them with a smile, as they helped themselves to coffee and sat down. As always, they had a variety of new investments to suggest to him, for Mike to consider before they did further research on them. They all agreed in private that they loved working for him. He was a good guy, he expected excellence from them, but he was kind and easy to work for, as long as they produced.
“I had a crazy thought,” Renee started. “I went shopping last weekend, at Brooke’s. I forget about it at times, because of the location, and when I go down there, it knocks my socks off every time. It’s amazing, a treasure trove of high-end brands, and one-of-a-kind merchandise, which is so rare today with globalization. It’s family-owned, in a lousy neighborhood. But if you ever want a small jewel of an investment, if you got it out of that neighborhood, moved it to a big new location uptown, and helped it grow into something bigger, you could wind up with something like Chanel or Hermès, even open stores in other cities. It’s a goldmine waiting to be discovered. Right now, it’s kind of a secret for the elite. Multiply that, and it could be a huge moneymaker.” Her eyes were bright as she said it.
“Chanel and Hermès are family-owned too,” Joe Weiss reminded her.
“I’d like to be part of those families,” Renee commented, and they all laughed, as Mike listened. All three members of his prime research team were in their thirties and full of bright ideas. All of them had gone to top colleges and had had high-level jobs before they came to him, with excellent references and credentials. Renee had gone to Yale undergrad and Harvard Business School.
“It sounds a little precious to me,” Mike commented, unenthused so far. “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there. Where is it?”
“Sort of south and west of Chelsea. It’s been there forever. Two or three generations.”
“What’s it doing there?” He looked puzzled more than intrigued.
“No idea,” she answered. “The building is beautiful inside, looks like nothing outside, and the street is awful, and full of homeless camps now. Inside it’s very elegant and distinguished. Kind of old-school, with up-to-date merchandise. It’s sort of a hidden secret. People come from all over, but they don’t talk about it. I think people who are addicted to it want to keep it a secret. I go there a few times a year. I spend a fortune every time, and love everything I get. The comparison to Chanel and Hermès is a good one.”
“Is it profitable?” Mike asked, slightly more interested. That was always the bottom line for him.
“It must be. Most of the merchandise is very high-end, luxury brands. There’s a section of less expensive, very chic merchandise, but most of what they sell are very high-flying brands, a lot of them from Europe. You should take a look sometime,” she said to Mike. “If you can afford it,” she added, and they all laughed.
“It wouldn’t be a high-volume investment, like a shopping mall or our low-cost, high-volume brand, but it might be an interesting acquisition, and it might intrigue some of our investors. I have no idea if the owners are looking for investors or want to sell. They may not be interested and be doing just fine without us, but I thought of it when I was there, and I loved the idea. You’d have to get them to expand and move uptown if they’d be willing. Their location now is awful, although it seems to be working for them.”
“If they’re not in trouble, family businesses are a beast to buy into. They’re usually pretty rigid about how they run things if it’s working for them. They may not want to grow and move uptown,” Mike said.