Shafiq is Coming Back

Some of you remember the soap opera that began 10 months ago. Mohammad Shafiq Rahman was arrested by the FBI and Homeland Security for possible connection to the Pakistani terrorist who attempted to explode a bomb in Times Square, New York. Also, the South Portland Police piled on.

Now after serving many months in jail and losing employment here at Artist & Craftsman Supply, all charges have been dropped and Shafiq is allowed to volunteer (no compensation allowed of any kind) to program here once again.

Who knows, maybe someday we can pay this innocent, quiet man for his work. He begins 9:30 on Tuesday.

Welcome home.

-Larry Adlerstein

A Lonely Night in Luxara

It was a lonely night in Luxara, Arkansas.  Luxara is a small town on the Mississippi River.  There was the levee--the river side flooded now and then, but the river side was where the gambling was.

I was a Vista volunteer, me in my 20’s on the cotton side.  They had found me a place, $5 a week, and I remember one night crawling under the bed as shots were fired in the adjoining area known as “The Alley.”  At the time I was on the phone with my mother.  She will always remember that conversation somewhere in heaven.

The Alligators of Alligator Alley

My mother was attacked by a rooster near Alligator Alley. I of course remember that – she was in her 60’s, I was in my 40’s and my daughter Ana was a kid.

We were walking “the loop” – a 30-mile excursion into the Everglades off Hwy 41. At the time this two-lane highway was the only way to drive from Miami to Florida’s west coast.

We walked up to a little farmhouse to say hello, when from nowhere a rooster – claws first – attacked. Mom survived another 20 years.

So, Steve (A&C’s General Manager) and I recently drove down this memory lane. The alligators are fine; they don’t look endangered to me. We had just signed a lease on our newest store (#18) in Miami’s Little Havana. 

To celebrate the signing, I ordered alligator tail. It still tastes like chicken.

-Larry Adlerstein

Larry Adlerstein, Professional Artist

Yes, I sold a painting for $50—back when that was worth 70 or 80 dollars.

She was a neighbor from upstairs who sat with her red-stockinged legs on my kitchen table. I had just learned foreshortening at the Portland School of Art, and the answer is, “No.”

Also, I was reviewed by Edgar Allen Bean, art critic for the Maine Times. It was a group show at the Portland art building, a slightly converted scrap metal warehouse.

The former “Louis Mack Scrap Metal Warehouse” also housed my real day job, Portland Pottery Supply. Both businesses were housed in a 25,000 square foot brick building heated by one coal stove. Pretty perfumed Brenda almost single-handedly kept the clay from freezing in the Maine winter. Almost.

Edgar spent about 15 words on yours truly but the word that has stuck in my memory 20 or 30 years later is his description of my oil painting as “thick.”

Mid West, Mid August

The media is telling me employment is in crisis, so are the banks and housing construction. But at O’Hare Airport, Budget wanted $200 a day for a compact.  Hertz, Thrifty, and Enterprise were sold out. I felt lucky to find a Dollar car for 145 of them there dollars. On the way back to the airport, the shuttle driver said it’s been this way for months.

On to Jet Blue back to Portland. Today’s fare is 30% more than a month ago. I can’t afford to fly the direct United Airways Portland/Chicago flight so I’ll dine at the Jet Blue terminal on my way home.

We’ve just opened Store #16 in Saugus (North Boston) Mass and #17 in the South loop of Chicago.   This fall will see A&C enlargements of our stores in Madison, Wisconsin and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Costs are up but so is business.  No Doom & Gloom here.
We’re on a roll and this old man is having fun.       

-Larry Adlerstein    

I’ve never before signed 2 leases in one day.

Today was the exception. We’re opening in Saugus, Mass, just north of Boston and the south loop of Chicago.

We hope to open both mid August, just in time for Back to School. So look for us when you’re cruising South Wabash or Rt 1 heading south to Bean Town.

More info coming.

- Larry Adlerstein

I’ve never seen such affection before...

I’ve never seen such affection before in my 67 years. There they were, I assume a male and a female, on the rail of my porch & he (or she) was nuzzling she (or he). If my eyes were better I might have seen the squirrel tongue (or who was her or he), but the affection was obvious.
And they scampered among my porch pots – even contributing a rolled up ball to one of my herbs, until in their teenage enthusiasm they knocked over one of my fledging tomato plant pots (I actually was happy because one of these tomato seed packs could supply an Italian restaurant for a year). But don’t tell them.
Another melodrama from the porch in South Freeport, Maine…
- Larry Adlerstein

From the front porch in S. Freeport, Maine…

Honking going north. The summer people have the lights on on the island across the Harraseeket River and the hum of the interstate… No the honking is geese. I love their Honking.

I have a funny story about I-295. Many years ago I dated an artist from the Boubry in New York City. Her studio/apartment was a 4 story walk up and over the clutter/piss of Little Italy/China Town. Well, 2 children later we were together in Maine and I had purchased “the perfect” 40 acres in the woods for our forever family home.

And she was right. After our 20 minute walk to my dream home – a truck on I-295 was engine breaking. Shattering everything.

Honk going north, honk going south & also quack.

From the porch in South Freeport, Maine…

- Larry Adlerstein

Grit in Baltimore

One of the old warehouses in old Baltimore is our new home & we feel pretty good about our renewal solution.

Most of the exterior walls were 16” x 22” glass windows housed in rusty iron frames. Repairing or replacing the hundreds of windows was beyond our budget & if we were able to so replace we’d be left with a leaky single pane exterior wall with the energy efficiency of the 1920’s.

So, we asked Rob, our Philly manager to “Mondrian” the place. We bought about 100 plexi panels & the crew replaced the old glass with painted plexi.

Behind that went a 1.5” layer of plastic foam insulation covered by fire code sheet rock. The plexi/foam/sheetrock has been held in place by long 2x4”s bolted into the masonry walls.

So A&C has an energy efficient Baltimore home, within budget.
- Larry Adlerstein

Taking Inventory

Now that’s a yawn of a title. I’m getting tireder and tireder.

I’ve really put it off for 27 years. Oh, Artist & Craftsman has an inventory. Actually we have 4 of them.
Our point of sale software (what is retrieved, vouched in & then sold through our computer cash register), that’s one inventory.

A&C’s accounting software, i.e. the checks we write and the deposits we make. That’s a 2nd inventory.
No relation to inventory #1. (I can see your eyes droop)

Then we have a swarm of people with little computers and they swarm the stores. This inventory #3 is always higher than 1 & 2. We think people steal in at midnight and give us art supplies.

#4 is best. Steve and I visit a store and I say – “Looks like 175k, what do you think?”
“No Lar, there’s at least 200 thousand.”
“All right I’ll meet you at 185.”

Ultimately, we’re putting an end to all of this inventory fun.

We hired Shafiq, a programmer, and he has invented a program that lets A&C’s computer talk to our vendor’s computers so that when they ship to us it’s easy to add the shipment to our inventory.

Which inventory? Inventory #5. We started to count all over again.

- Larry Adlerstein

I want you to have children or at least a child.

Oh yes, they’re a pain in the neck and from the age of 2 til 45, they can drive you crazy, but have one anyway because I have 4.

The Yiddish word is “Nachos.” The ch is guttural like you’re about to throw up. Nachos is the joy that can only come from children, a parental pride, like maybe it was worth it after all.

I see less and less long term investments and more & more short term gains. There is no longer term investment than a kid. Try it, I recommend it and I’m an expert at trying.

- Larry Adlerstein

A Tale of Three Cities

I’m flying home from Miami, the third city I have looked at in about a month. By coincidence, my travels have taken me from depressed, to more depressed to most depressed. You might say my trip has been depressing.

The reason for my journey is to open more Artist & Craftsman Supply stores. I started in Los Angeles and even though the city is on the verge of bankruptcy and Los Angeles says it’s depressed, I didn’t see it, especially after visiting Chicago and Miami.

Chicago’s decline is focused in the loop and downtown and that is where a lot of art students buy & use supplies. Downtown Chicago has already lost a major art supply & to my eye another is in trouble. An easy walk from the Symphony & the Art Institute are dozens of “For Lease” signs.

Miami’s problem is a result of their building bubble. Whereas Chicago is an old city renovated & Los Angeles is appears to have balance of old & new, Miami appears all new, heavily leveraged & vacant.

The Florida broker I was working with told me that recently, the commercial realtors¬ had started doing financial background checks of both potential landlords and tenants, especially if the building was a condo. First time he had seen that in his 35 year professional career, i.e. checking the financial health of landlords.

Well, I am almost back down to Portland Maine & Maine is always depressed. And that’s not depressing at all.
- Larry Adlerstein

The Art Material Trade Today

These are “interesting” times. Pearl Paint, the former dominant player in the distribution of art supplies is on the rocks. They are closing 11 of their 16 stores. From this man’s perspective, here’s the story.

A few years ago a parcel ripped open in a UPS conveyor belt and out spilled hundred dollar bills. So Robert Pearlmuter , a man in his late 70’s went to jail for a couple of years. He’s been depressed ever since (4-6 years of depression). His crime: tax evasion.

I have had almost no contact with the Pearlmuters or their partner Shalish Shaw, but what I know about them I don’t like. Aside from this stealing money that they don’t need, they have a history of arrogance and they do not treat their employees nicely.

Pearl will attempt to reorganize and prosper with the remaining stores. At this point I don’t believe they will survive.

Their management skills have proved inadequate and if my recent experience in Los Angeles is an indicator of the future, I see no hope of improvement.

Here’s the Los Angeles Story:

I was at a trade show in Anaheim, California a few weeks ago. Everyone was talking about Pearl’s announced 50% off everything sale in 6 stores (it later went to 12 of the 16 stores).

Steve and I consulted (Steve Kenney is my General Manager of 17 years) and we decided to look at the cities that were losing Pearl Art Supplies. Los Angeles was a 40 minute drive, so I drove north and Steve flew back east to general manage.

My first stop was Pearl. I asked to see the manager. Lamine and his assistant Doug joined me for coffee and I was very careful to be clear in my intent. I wanted to notify them both that if Pearl Los Angeles closed they could apply for a job with Artist & Craftsman. At that date Pearl Los Angeles was selling everything at 50% off and regardless of Pearl closing or not I was committed to open in Los Angeles.

So, a week ago I returned to Los Angeles to sign a lease. The 50% off sale had gone to 75% then 90%. The morning I arrived there was an 8 ½ x 11 inch sign in the Pearl window announcing that the 90% sale was over and Pearl intended to reopen with fresh inventory in a few weeks.

Lamine, a 12 year veteran with Pearl joined us for lunch. He said he had just minutes ago quit Pearl. A group of bosses from headquarters had come to Los Angeles and they were very critical of Lamine’s performance. Lamine countered that he had no inventory left to sell. I can attest to Lamine’s version. Anyway, at lunch Lamine asked for a job and he’s my new manager at Artist & Craftsman Los Angeles.

Vendors are telling me that Pearl is sending purchase orders for 5 stores (including Los Angeles) with the promise of prepayment before shipment but with no commitment to pay past overdue debt.

We are also actively pursuing two markets. We believe a store on Route 1 North of Boston would be good so as to replace out of business Charette of Woburn and Tech office in Portsmouth.

Also on the short list is Chicago. Without Pearl that sophisticated art market has one independent and corporate like suppliers Utrecht & Dick Blick. Chicago needs A&C and we need Chicago.

Protecting a business in hard times

Apparently someone stole a check of ours on its way to the Staedtler Company, a supplier of rulers and technical supplies. Big deal. Well, it’s turning into a big deal and could have been a business disaster, except we were lucky. Here is a story of how we’re changing our business to protect ourselves in hard times. You might consider how you can protect yourself.
The depression is affecting all banks, even the strong ones. One effect we discovered is the rising tide of fraud. Our one missing check has turned up in three separate frauds and a lot of people are getting hurt.
That missing Staedtler check for 8 thousand dollars was washed. Staedtler’s name came off and a thief deposited the check in a Chase bank. The bank suspected foul play and Chase and our bank T.D. Bank North caught the fraud, but that was only the first.
The thieves sold or gave our routing number to counterfeiters who manufactured checks with a new name, but with our routing number. They sent these checks to people as prizes for winning a make believe contest.
The plan was for the “winners” to deposit the check (our check) into their bank accounts and mail the thief a few hundred of their money to get the second half of their award. For some reason the new checks kept our Portland address and two “winners” found us. We closed the account and so far Artist and Craftsman have lost no money, but I imagine some “winners” are “losers”.
Last night my comptroller called me to announce bogus credit card charges were appearing on our closed account. This morning lots of restaurants and merchants are victims of chargeback’s. The third fraud was against these merchants.

Here is our response.
We will have three bank accounts. The first will be our checking account that will issue checks. After each check run we will deposit in that account enough money to cover the checks, but little more.
The second bank account will be our savings account where we will have our assets. Our line of credit will be attached but our savings account will have no outside contact. Routing from the savings to the checking account will be internal and secure.
A third bank account will be our receiving account where credit card and store deposits will be received. Money from this account will be transferred to the savings account periodically.
To lessen the danger of checks being intercepted in the mail, checks will no longer mail in check like envelopes. Electronic transfer of funds will be preferred and we have signed up for bank monitoring programs which allows us to spot fraud the same day, not at the end of the month as is the case today.
So I welcome you to the future.

Larry

In The Recession Hole

Here are the realities as I see it.
The captains of industry are not stupid but they have been affected by the same short term interests that affect all American society. The manufacturers of SUV’s were not stupid; it was mere short term self interest. Profits were fat.
Those fat profits paid heavy union wages and benefits. They could let the Japanese seek short margins. The profits lasted for generations, but the bosses and the workers knew it would end some day. It’s ending now.
And we borrowed a lot to keep the image afloat.
There will be a shrinking of the economy as we retrench to what we can afford. This will be complicated by two factors: 1. paying off debt and 2. Insecurity in the credit market.
I think paying off debt will be easy. We’ll print lots of money but so will other so called advanced societies. It will be a race to the bottom as governments cheapen currency so as to pay back loans with cheap money.
Who is the money owed to? Well not you and I because we never saved and loaned (invested.) In the short haul I think it will be the Chinese and Arabs who get shafted. I think.
But no one in your generation will trust the greenback, perhaps not the Pound and Euro.
And that brings us to the more difficult issue- trust in the markets. That is what upsets me as I glance at the dow.
The markets control huge parts of the economy. I believe layoffs and mortgage defaults will be more affected by Wall Street than Main Street, I’m sorry to say.
So in a nutshell, The best cure is an orderly retreat on Wall Street down to realistic levels. If our economy was measured at the peak at 14 thousand, I expect the dow will continue to settle till 6 or 7 thousand.
Then things should stabilize and life will go on, poorer but O.K.
Forget about national debt. They can always print on toilet paper.


Larry

My job, what is my job?

I do it every day, you’d think I know what I do. Let’s try to figure out what the owner of a middle-sized art supply does.

I often feel that I’m like a father to the 75-80 people who work with me. And like most parents I mess up. But if there is any reality to this self-image then Artist & Craftsman is a family life with all the strength and weakness so associated.

They drift in and out of our lives. Many who quit or are fired come back, sometimes older and wiser. Some of us just stay for decades.

I guess my job is to try to understand as many of them as I can. To help them grow and develop their best potential, even if my words hurt. To listen as best I can and to protect the security of this family-like group.

I guess that’s my job. I love my job and, my actual family – 4 children and many wives have given up trying to convince me to retire. I’m one of the luck ones.

-Larry Adlerstein

Jeff and Rob, the Cambridge crew.

First there was Rob.

I don’t remember how I met Rob. I was opening our first store in Boston and I believe he simply answered my help wanted ad. He was quiet and it took a few months to discern who he was.

The store had a slow start, located in a basement across the street from Pearl Paint – then the dominant player in our trade. But Rob in his gentle way won over artist after artist and built a solid business.

One day Rob came to me to say he and his wife Jamie wanted to buy a home and they couldn’t afford Boston housing. They wanted to move to Philly. O.K. We’ll open a new store in Philly.

Enter Jeff. Jeff had always been there as assistant manager but I knew little about Jeff.

After Rob went south Jeff stumbled around for a little while and then that thing happened: that thing that sometimes happens when the lid is off and an assistant has to become master. It happened to Jeff. So now I have two great managers.

The other day he came to me with an invitation, “come to Boston.”

“You visit the stores when there are troubles or problems. Why don’t you visit when things are good? We’d like to get to know you better.”

So I did. Even this old dog can learn from Jeff.

-Larry Adlerstein

Dear Artist,

In our 2002 catalogue I wrote…

“This catalogue finds my business and our world in an interesting time in the circle clock of history. The shrinking world puts each of us in contact with humans all around the globe.

We can’t ignore international trade and business. Our clothes, food, and even art supplies are made everywhere. Shopkeepers, like me, seek their best values for their customers – often to be found in the low wage third world.

How do I feel about today’s retailing? Pretty good.
Yes, it’s true that American jobs are being lost, but third world jobs are being created. Our world will be a more peaceful place only if jobs and money are more evenly spread. Containers coming in from China and India may be our best insurance against the anger of war and terrorism.”

Beware; sometimes the things that you wish for come true.

Now a days people come into our store looking at labels. What they’re not looking for is “Made in China.”

Here’s our dilemma. Here’s our position.

There are economic realities that we ignore at our own peril, but within those realities we can steer towards a better result.

The dilemma is that the American consumer’s present standard of living is based on the import of cheap Asian goods and retailers who ignore that reality are put out of business. Another dilemma is that domestic management, companies, and jobs are being lost so that we are even more dependent on those overseas factories.

Our position: At first we named our Asian imports honestly so we sold “Mao Brushes” and “T’ang Easels.” These were products made to our specifications in China.

Our later position is to support domestic companies even if they use Asian manufacturers. Better yet we keep production closer to home if possible. We presently buy all the Canadian stretched canvas they can make for us.

Larry Adlerstein

A&C, DaVinci Paint & Leon Nicaragua

A&C partners with DaVinci Paint to help repaint a historic mural in Leon, Nicaragua. Marcello Dworzak, President of DaVinci Paint, of Irvine, California is donating gallons of his new fluid acrylic to the artist community of this small Nicaraguan city on the Pacific. The mural depicts the plight of the Nicaraguan peoples who have suffered with many invasions. A&C President, Larry Adlerstein, came across the mural when he was visiting his 19 year-old daughter who was “gap yearing” in Central America. The teenager was traveling alone, often hitchhiking for months. Dad went down to “check up on her.” They stayed at Rancho Esperanza, a hammock hostel on the beach. $12 a night room and board. They had 2 flat tires getting there. The mural graces the walls of the Central Square. The hot Central American sun has faded the years old painting. The cooperation of DaVinci Paint and local artists will brighten the mural with Artist Grade Pigments. The Leon effort is being organized by Danilo Gutierrez Garcia.

Click Here for Photos

MAP – Minimum Advertised Pricing

At this writing, February ’06, the individuals and companies that bring you color, brushes and surfaces are embroiled in a debate about MAP – Minimum Advertised Prices. We are having an important dialogue.

Some manufacturers (and we support these manufacturers) feel the excessive discounting damages the reputation of their products. It makes them look cheap.

The also feel that this deep discounting will centralize distribution. Only the most efficient, the Wal-Marts, will survive and the smaller retailers will fail.

As the retail distribution becomes more focused the few big survivors can dictate terms and smaller manufacturers will be pushed aside and the manufacturing base may slip away to china where manufacturing is cheapest.

Right now we have a healthy art material trade. but there are indicators that the above fears are becoming reality. As one of your retailers I am pleased to offer you a variety of colors and materials available from many continents – an industry that draws on efficiency and also traditions.

We will continue to present value and diversity to the best of our ability. We will also support MAP which proposes to allow all manufacturers a modest profit, all retailers a modest profit and the most efficient of those manufacturers and retailers a more than modest return.

As an aside, Golden Acrylics has cut off Jerry’s Artarama because Jerry’s allegedly violated Goldens Minimum Advertised Price program. Even though MAP programs have been in our trade for a time, this is the 1st time a major manufacturer has refused to supply a major customer for violations of minimum pricing guidelines.

We hope that Mark Golden's brave effort to protect his brand’s reputation does not result in lawsuits and excess harm. We do hope that Jerry’s will respect Golden Acrylic’s well earned reputation for quality and that a normal business relationship will resume.