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Pop 45 Countdown (one day late) ![]()
Moment #31 Hey! Hey! He’s A Monkee!![]()
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One day in 1993 I received an advertising flyer from a talent agency that represented a large number of celebrities and entertainers. My store manager and I looked through the roster of people they were offering but most of them had no connection to our business of selling comic books, toys, and sports memorabilia. There were lots of singers and some old television stars but one name “jumped out” at me. Davy Jones of The Monkees was available through this talent agency!![]()
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The Monkees was one of my favorite bands from my childhood and I thought it would be such fun to have Davy Jones as a guest at our Worcester store. The Monkees had gotten back together for a highly successful tour from 1986-1987 and I had paid to see them five or six times during that period. Each show was extremely entertaining and the audiences seemed to love these guys. We weren’t sure that our customer base, primarily collectors of comic books and sports memorabilia, would have any interest in seeing an ex-Monkee, but if the price was reasonable enough I would book Davy Jones just for my pleasure. The Monkees were not touring as a group at this time so I thought that perhaps this could be affordable.![]()
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The talent agency asked me a bunch of questions about what I would want Davy Jones to do at my store. I explained that I wanted him to sign free autographs for my customers. I wanted Davy to be available to “meet and greet” my customers from 10:00 am to noon, and then he’d take two hours for lunch and come back to sign more autographs from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The agent thought that it sounded possible and she quoted me a price for Davy’s services. The fee was reasonable enough so I accepted the deal with the conditions that Davy Jones would be responsible for his own transportation and hotel expenses. The agent cleared the appearance with Davy Jones and she sent me a contract that I signed and returned. I now had four months to make this a successful event.![]()
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We worked on press releases to send to the newspapers and radio stations in the area and we created a flyer to be sent to the people on my huge mailing list but I wanted to let the general population know about my exciting guest. I decided to advertise his appearance with some “spots” on cable television.![]()
The cable company created a new commercial to advertise Davy Jones visit and they really did a nice job. They used a little bit of the original theme song from The Monkees television show and some photos of Davy from the mid-1960’s to let the viewer know that he was coming to our store to sign free autographs. The commercial ran for three or four weeks before Davy’s store appearance and we hoped that the local television audience would be interested in coming to see him. ![]()
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We wanted to be sure that Davy was safe so we hired a Worcester police officer as security for this event. We wanted this special event to be “perfect” and we tried to anticipate every possible problem that could come up. Our store had arranged to have many guests before but this would be the highest expenditure we ever had for an in-store event so I wanted it to seem really special for my customers.![]()
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We printed thousands of “flyers” to give to everyone who visited our store in the three months prior to Davy’s visit and we encouraged all of our employees to be sure to verbally advertise this appearance. We sent out the flyers to everyone on our huge mailing list and ran our newly created television commercial on cable television channels for a thirteen-week period before the September event. I was excited about the opportunity to meet one of my favorite childhood performers. I wanted my customers (and any new visitors to my store) to have the opportunity to get a personal autograph from Davy Jones without having to pay for it. ![]()
I got lucky because a good customer of mine had five different vintage photographs of The Monkees from the 1960’s that he offered to allow me to copy so that I’d have something interesting for Davy to sign for my customers. A local printer reproduced five hundred of each of the 8 by 10 photos on a glossy paper at a very low price. The possibility that I would sell that many photos was low but the cost was reasonable and, just in case I ended up with a big crowd, there would be something there for them to get signed. I also knew many people might bring items from their own collections to get autographed.![]()
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We contacted the local cable news station and they agreed to do a small news segment about Davy’s appearance. Two of the larger newspapers also expressed interest in covering the event. I was satisfied that we were “covering all of the bases” as far as publicity goes. ![]()
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A week before the appearance Davy’s manager called to inform us that Davy had a “gig” in New York City that wouldn’t get over until almost one o’clock in the morning on the day he was supposed to be at my store. By the time his concert was over he’d be exhausted and he’d still have a five-hour drive from New York to Worcester, Massachusetts. By the time Davy and his road manager checked into the local hotel there would be less than two hours for him to get some rest before I was to pick him up to bring him to my store. I certainly wasn’t happy with this new development. I hate surprises, especially when the financial risk was so high. I enjoyed being in complete control of my situations and this was ruining our careful plans.![]()
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Over the years I had accumulated an extensive collection of “Monkees” memorabilia, including all the legitimately released records and almost every toy, jewelry, book, magazine, and clothing item ever produced! I tried to choose some of the most interesting-looking items for a display that would be placed behind the table where Davy would be sitting. I decided to stand right next to Davy Jones. ![]()
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The night before Davy’s appearance, I barely slept. I was excited about meeting him but I was also very worried that no one would come to see him. By the time I left my house it was pouring rain. I thought that this was the beginning of a horrible day. I arrived at the store at seven o’clock and was disappointed to see that there was no one waiting in line to see Davy Jones. I kept myself busy by walking around the inside of the store, straightening out our shelves and displays, and listening to a cassette tape of music that featured Davy Jones as the lead vocalist from the days of “The Monkees.” This seemed to relax me as I realized that it probably didn’t matter that no one was interested in meeting him other than me. I’d certainly have fun with him!![]()
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Continues in the comments below...
Moment # 32: The "Secret" Origin of our That's Entertainment Store in Fitchburg, Massachusetts!![]()
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In the late 1980s I got a phone call from Hank Stolz, a good friend in the comic book business. He had opened several comic book stores around Massachusetts and New York but business wasn't going as well as he had expected. Hank asked if I'd be interested in buying his stores but I explained that I couldn't imagine going from one store to five stores overnight! I knew I wasn't interested in his stores that were located in expensive shopping malls but I suggested that I might be interested in buying his Fitchburg store since it was located in a retail space on Main Street. Hank decided he didn't want to sell just one of the stores.![]()
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A few months later, Hank called to discuss the possibility of That's Entertainment buying his Fitchburg location. I called my wife and explained the situation and she urged me not to make an impulsive decision but I'm sure she knew I'd do it anyway. I do tend to make quick decisions but it frequently works out when it is comic book/collectibles related!![]()
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When I arrived at the "Same Bat Channel" store in Fitchburg, I was introduced to Richard Ortwein, one of the "key" employees. Chris, Hank's other important employee wasn't there that night. Hank didn't mention to any of his staff that he was trying to sell the store to me. He probably figured that the odds were slim that I'd actually buy it because I had told him about my recent purchase of a huge collection of old comic books, and money was tighter than usual. There was no sense getting his employees upset or worried about their jobs unless he was sure that I was really going to buy the store.![]()
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As I examined his comic book inventory I noticed that it wasn't very comprehensive. Hank had spread his inventory out over his five stores so it was pretty weak in this location. But the inventory wasn't going to be a major deciding factor in my decision to buy the store because I already had enough stock to fill numerous stores!![]()
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Hank suggested that we go to a nearby restaurant for a more private talk. He gave me all of the details about the store. His rent was fairly reasonable and he didn't have any lease that I'd be locked into. Hank told me the price he wanted and it was reasonable enough for me to consider.![]()
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The only problem was, I didn't have any people to work at this location! I had just enough to run the Worcester store! While we were going over the details of Hank's offer, Richard and Chris "just happened" to come into the restaurant. Hank didn't want to be dishonest with his employees so he told them what we were discussing. I explained that the potential deal was important to Hank and that I would only agree to buy the store if they stayed working with me. The guys didn't seem very interested so I told Hank that this was a "deal-breaker" for me. I called my wife and she seemed relieved that a deal wasn't reached.![]()
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The next morning, I got the news that both Richard and Chris decided to come aboard as employees of That's Entertainment! I quickly contacted the landlord of the Fitchburg location and he agreed to let me continue renting it. Hank and I completed the deal the next day and after removing his inventory and replacing it with my inventory the location went from "Same Bat Channel" to "That's Entertainment" overnight!![]()
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Just a few days ago, on October 12th, our Fitchburg location marked its 30th anniversary-- and Hank Stolz himself, who went on to become one of the region's best-known media personalities, helped us celebrate by running an in-store Trivia Night last week! I was happy to see Hank involved, because he had really paved the way for our pop-culture store there. In the past thirty years we've changed locations from Main Street to the Wallace Plaza on John Fitch Highway to the current location at 56 John Fitch Highway, but one thing hasn't changed: the Fitchburg area has always been amazingly supportive of That's Entertainment!![]()
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To find out more about my life in comics, visit my blog at:![]()
mylifewithcomicbooks.blogspot.com/.../my-life-with...![]()
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Who has memories of our previous Fitchburg locations?
We got a great new batch of autographs just in time for the holidays! #bostonceltics #paytonpritchard #jrueholiday #derrickwhite #NBAChamps #bobbyorr #camneely #celebrityhattrick #bostonbruins #dennisleary #tswift #taylorswift #swifties #erastour #Autographs
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