Briefing.BACK in 1959, Dan Osborne couldn't get anyone to properly repair the damage his four kids inflicted on the family furniture. So he took matters into his own hands and did the work himself. He didn't stop with his own furniture. Osborne had always wanted to start his own business, so he opened Ozzie's Antiques & Restoration on Artesia Boulevard in Manhattan Beach Manhattan Beach, city (1990 pop. 32,063), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1912. It is a residential and beach community with an oil refinery and nearby factories that produce transportation and electrical equipment, computers, and pottery. . During the past 40 years, he has bought and sold everything from 18th century dressers and chairs to pine coffins and Chinese silk screens. Jennifer Smith There are at least six prominent individuals named Jennifer Smith:
"The first thing I did was rent a 1,000-square-foot building for $60 a month. Then I took everything out of my house and put it in the store as our first stock. "My wife did tailoring on the side for the first nine months that we were in business, She'd give me $30 from her work, and I'd come back with a track full of merchandise from auctions or from ads in the paper. As we acquired things, we'd replace the furniture at our home. "The biggest problems, then as now, were cash flow and a line of credit. You can't sell from an empty wagon. In the old days, I couldn't write a check for $10, much less $10,000. I ended up taking out mortgages on the house or paying 22 percent interest on loans in order to buy stock for the store. "When we started, our business came almost exclusively from Palos Verdes Palos Verdes is often used to refer to a group of coastal cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Los Angeles/South Bay area of California. This affluent bedroom community is known for its dramatic views, good schools [1] extensive horse trails [2] . Now we get customers from all over the South Bay. "There are more people who want to buy good antiques now that there is good stuff available. The business used to be built on throwaways, or the guy who would buy something for two bucks and sell it for four. Today you're competing with everybody -- swap meets swap meet n. An informal gathering for the barter or sale of used articles or handicrafts. , road shows, garage sales. If I had some of the merchandise today I had back then, I'd retire. "We make our main living on restoration. We fix up other people's furniture and repair porcelain porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated in certain parts of their kilns. and glass. A chair runs about $150, a table $500 and up. We don't give delivery dates. We give customers visitation rights In a Divorce or custody action, permission granted by the court to a noncustodial parent to visit his or her child or children. Custody may also refer to visitation rights extended to grandparents. , but we'll call you when it's done (jargon) When It's Done - A manufacturer's non-answer to questions about product availability. This answer allows the manufacturer to pretend to communicate with their customers without setting themselves any deadlines or revealing how behind schedule the product really is. . "We worked seven days a week when it started out. We advertised on the radio and in the phone book. Now it's all yak, yak -- word of mouth. We're doing business with the grandkids of original customers ... I work because I like to now, not because I have to." |
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