John Balliet

Summary

My idea is to first open a small antique shop, offering authentic antiques gathered from my grandmother's attic and barn as well as across Bucks County. Items are to be sold at reasonable prices. Eventually, I'd like to expand this idea by opening an authentic Auction House to be located in a a high traffic area of Brooklyn; I see it as the Union Square Farmer's Market meets the old Flea Market in Chelsea meets an Auction House - no animals though. This is a way for New Yorkers to "escape" the city atmosphere and slip either back in time or to the country. It is an experience. They might take part in an auction, might buy a piece at a specialty shop, or possibly just pick up a shoo-fly pie. Repeat frequenting is expected. Word of mouth is essential. I have the inventory to open the former, a small antique shop and my grandmother has contacts throughout Bucks County. The past 8 years of my life have been spent as a person of my age might term a "corporate whore". No offense to anyone, but I just decided to resign from my position to pursue this. The 125-year old company was basically a mom-and-pop operation being run as some huge corporate entity. Everyone running around playing junior and senior excecutive. In my position as corporate whore, I managed an educational center and supervised a staff of 25+. I came to receive this position shortly after Spetember 11th, and being located only two blocks from the WTC site, there was little hope of the center doing well in 2002; however, all monthly plans were met and in most cases, exceeded. EBITA for 2002 was 29% above what had been expected. In fact, the plan for EBITA was an expected loss. My true stength lies in my ability to interact with customers on a very personal level. Chase can talk all they want about the right relationship being everything. I am the epitome of that. And I might be young (27) and might not be able to speak the corporate lingo...but then again, would I want to? Specialties: Having grown up in Bucks County, PA, I was exposed to the beauty and stories associated with antique pieces at a young age. Our farmhouse was filled with pieces of Americana from the 19th Century. My parents and grandmother would often take me to the Farmer's Market/Auction House where they would acquire more pieces at extremely reasonable prices. It wasn't just that they were getting bargains, it was the experience and excitement of the auction as well.