State

Missing China Yields A Bonanza A trip to a flea market was the first step toward tlic* birth of a multi-million dol¬ lar business By M. A. BALLOU Have you inherited Aunt Martha's china, hut hate it? Realized that you can’t have dinner guests because two of your Sunday-besl plates arc broken? Found out with horror that the china pattern you chose with such love, and not that long ago. has been discontinued and your set is nowhere near complete? Then you need to know about Replace¬ ments. Ltd., the young and burgeoning ”dish" business begun by Bob Page in Greensboro. N.C. only five years ago. In 19Ю Page, a native of Ruffin, N.C. and the son of a tobacco farmer, had completed a stint in the Army and was working for Strand. Skces. Jones, and Co. as a CPA. When some friends asked him to go with them to a flea market, neither they nor he could have imagined that this was the first step to¬ ward the making of a five-million-dollar business based upon selling discon¬ tinued china and crystal. Replacements. Ltd. has just been ranked 81st in Inc Magazine’s list of the nation’s five hun¬ dred fastest-growing private companies, and. as its president. Bob Page was named North Carolina's 1986 Small Businessman of the Year. In the 1970's Page, bitten by the used- goods bug. began spending his weekends visiting the local Ilea markets and garage and estate sales. The first thing to capture his interest was Depres¬ sion glass. "But everybody was into Depression glass back then." smiled the affable Page when interviewed in his liny but meticulously-organized office. He spoke from behind his desk where he was seated in a wheelchair, the result of a grinding auto-van accident in Septem¬ ber of 1986 that left him with a broken arm. broken collarbone, nine fractured ribs, and a crushed ankle now held to¬ gether with steel pins. How It Started Page’s love affair with old china be¬ gan when someone asked him to be on the look-out for pieces needed in a par¬ ticular pattern. After a while he had a long list of pieces and patterns others were seeking. Finding that he was often able to purchase discontinued china at bargain prices, he began putting ads in magazines like the Antique Trader and selling these dishes for slight profit. "The response to my ads was truly amazing." says Page. "It seemed as if everybody out there was trying to locate some kind of china.” Page’s first file cabinet was a recipe box of 3 bv 5 index cards kept in his home. He hired a part-time employee to help him. but even then he was soon spending more time on his hobby than on his regular job. "When I told my family that 1 thought I would go into the dish busi¬ ness full-time. the>' thought I had gone crazy." laughed Page. But in March of 1981 he quit his job and, six months later, bought a small house in the Coliseum area of Greens¬ boro where he officially began the busi¬ ness that to him is "as much fun as an Easter-egg hunt." Over 15,000 Patterns Replacements. Ltd. now has 55 em¬ ployees working with a half-million pieces, representing more than 15.000 patterns of bone china, carthcnw-are. and fine crystal in slock. Every month the company receives 4500 letters from customers searching for other patterns, between four and five hundred of them. And now fifteen hundred antique dealers in every part of the country are seeking, just as Page used to do, some of the many patterns listed in the com¬ pany’s bimonthly buyer catalog. They send in 3000 pieces of additional china each week. Instead of the recipe box of index cards, a giant computer keeps track of inventory and sets prices for both buyers and sellers by a complex formula based upon supply, demand, and research in old catalogs. "We’re always looking for old cata¬ logs." says Page. "They help us estab¬ lish a retail price." As he talked. Page took a minute to graciously accept a piece of chocolate cake from an employee celebrating a birthday. When teased about the cake being served on a paper plate. Page laughed and lowered his voice to say. "Don’t tell anybody, but I don’t have a piece of china or crystal in my house. Oh. I have some dishes I can use in the microwave, but no china or crystal. But then I eat out a lot." Page reveals that he is not particularly In wheelchair. Bob Page, president of Replace¬ ments. Ltd., and vice president Shelley Karl, behind chair, chat with Interested visitors. Sunnyvale by Castleton is the most requested china pattern at Replacements. Ltd. Shown with it is Rose Point by Cambridge, the second most requested crystal pattern. THE STATE. FEBRUARY 1987