Benedict's House of Valentine

"Thank you, but no," said Edward. "I just now decided that I have other plans for this building," he said and he did have other plans.

Encouraged by the alternatives that confronted him, to sell his building, to continue his business, or to begin his new plan for the building. The first of a kind, he opted for the new plan.

"Other plans? May I ask what your plans are?" The realtor looked at him with a skeptical eye.

"Certainly, of course you may ask my plans for my building, so long as you don't mind me not telling you my plans for my building," he said with a smug laugh and showing them all to the door.

Tough times were coming for everyone and Edward Benedict could see the economy was going down the drain. Taken out of his hands, it would soon no longer be his decision, once the bank called his loans and rescinded his line of credit. If he was going to do anything other than retire, now was the time to do it.

He was good at seeing things, before they happened and before anyone else. That was his special talent. Just as he did with this stock market investments that fattened his portfolio, he had always been quicker than most to realize a financial opportunity. When economists were toting blue skies and brokers were declaring a bull market, moving his money from stocks to bonds, he foresaw the recession that put so many people out of their homes and out of a job. Selling high and buying low, he made a fortune, when the market bottomed and he bought back the stocks he sold at a hugely discounted price.

Now faced with a real dilemma, not wanting and willing to continue to be part of a money losing business venture, with his nervous bankers pressuring him to make a decision, sell the business or continue and eventually declare bankruptcy, he took another strategy. Instead of laying off people, he asked his staff to take a pay cut. Those who agreed to the pay cut kept their jobs and their benefits, stayed and worked, and those that didn't accept the pay cut left and collected unemployment. Taking the decision out of his hands and putting it their hands, he felt better that he wasn't upsetting the Karma that his grandfather and father had worked so hard to build and maintain.

His staff fell from more than one hundred employees to less than fifty. In the meantime, even though his toy and furniture production levels were the lowest they've been, since his grandfather started the business more than a century ago, even though he was still losing money daily by keeping his doors open, he decided to go against convention and against the advice of all his financial advisors and hire more employees. People thought he was crazy to hire more people, when he couldn't afford the meager staff that he had now. It took a personal guarantee and a new business plan for him to get the bank to loan him the money that he needed to do what he wanted and needed to do.

Always one to take the opposite side of the road and the one less traveled, usually making the tough climb up the mountain, instead of coasting downhill, he enjoyed walking against the flow. Hoping to find a missed opportunity, he could see better when going where everyone had already been. When others looked to the ground, he looked to the sky and vice versa and, when others looked behind them, he looked straight ahead.

Unable to see the clearing with so many people doing the same things at the same time, he couldn't see as well, when the mad mob panicked, as if cattle and headed off in the same direction. Holding his ground and standing still, it paid sometimes to wait for the confused crowd to pass. Then, once they were all gone and scattered out behind him, once he was standing there alone, and once he was able to think without all the clamor of others giving him their uninformed opinions, is when he knew what to do.

Benedict always had a devil of a time finding quality help, skilled help, and good help, people who wanted to work a full day for an honest pay. His grandfather built this huge factory, when land and materials were cheap and construction costs were cheaper. He could never afford to build such a magnificent building now. For sure, except for moving his factory to China, as everyone else did and was still doing, it would cost him more than one hundred million dollars to duplicate the splendor of this factory elsewhere.

Unless he was willing to abandon his beloved building and much-loved community and setup shop overseas, he'd never make his money back, if he had to build a new factory here. Yet, by using the bad economy to work with him instead of against him, using a bit of creativity, he thought of an alternative. When everyone else was selling big, old factories, hoping that someone would want to buy them at a reduced rate, remodel them, and turn them into high priced condos that average people, people who lived here all their lives, couldn't afford, Edward didn't want to dishonor his family by selling his legacy. In spite of the banks being so stingy with loans and greedy with their money, Edward wanted to remodel his factory.

With the new loans he received from the bank the money that he had available to him, mostly his own personal assets, money wasn't his problem, but time was. In his sixties, when others retire, Edward was starting a new business. He had invested wisely over the years and this was his time to give back, so that he could reap later what he sowed now. He put a big sign out front.

HIRING, BUT AT HALF WAGES

The sign stayed there for several months, as there were no takers. No one wanted to work for half wages, especially when he struggled to find good help, who would work hard for full wages. Yet, after their unemployment exhausted, after they became frustrated looking for jobs that weren't there and were desperate for work, Edward's half wages looked better. Now with the biggest staff he's ever had, more than 300 employees, it was time to put everyone back to work but, first, he called a meeting.

"I know nearly every person in this room. Just as you do, I live her, too. I can't count the times I was offered huge amounts of money to sell this beautiful building," he said and stopped when he heard more than a few chuckles. "You don't see my building as beautiful, but I do. For sure, they don't make buildings like this anymore. It's just too expensive. This building was built to last longer than the one hundred and twenty-five years that it's already lasted. It just needs a little help and a facelift to hit the next milestone of two hundred years."

"With all due respect, Mr. Benedict," said one of his workers. "Speaking for the others, as well as for myself, we find it difficult to share in your joy for your building and enthusiasm for your business, when we are all working for half wages."

"Ah, I was about to get to that," he said putting his thumbs in his vest pockets and looking out over the crowd, as if he was looking at the new Rolls Royce he had just purchased.

"I'm offering you all shares in my company. You don't have to buy the shares. Along with your pay, I'm giving them to you, in exchange for the work you do for me. The harder, longer, and more you work, the more shares you earn. Honestly, you may not see the return for years, but without doubt, those who of you who worked for me before know to trust me at my word now. Those who believe in me today, will we wealthy people tomorrow."

"And," said a man in back, raising his hand as high as his voice to be acknowledged and heard, "how do you propose to make money in an economy that is flat by selling wooden toys, a product that no one wants?"

"Well, I've given it much thought and we're still going to make our toys and furniture. We're still going to maintain our quality standards. None of that will change. What will change is the name of the company." He looked over the crowd of faces. Changing his company name was akin to asking them to change their own names. Everyone knew the House of Benedict. It was a landmark. "The House of Benedict is now the House of Valentine?"

"The House of Valentine? You mean, the holiday?" A woman standing in front looked at him, as if he had lost his mind.

"That's precisely what I mean."

"Why that name?" A person standing asked the question.

"I don't understand," said someone else.

Suddenly, trusting the man with a plan, knowing his reputation by all the good deeds his family had done for others over the years, there was an excitement in the crowd.

"Love is priceless. Love conquers all. The only thing that can fight hate is love," he said watching how his audience reacted to his words. "Love lasts forever. People smile when you say, Happy Valentine's Day because they realize the connation of that one phrase means love, romance, flowers, and candy."

"What does love have to do with it," said a comedian in the audience and saying it in the way that Tina Turner would.

"I'm glad you asked that," he said. "There is one holiday, even when times are tough, especially when times are tough, that husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, and all those in love do not skimp and that's Valentine's Day. Love is priceless. Think about how many songs, poems, books, and movies there are about being in love, falling in love, and falling out of love. Life is all about love. No matter what terrible things happen in people's lives, it's the one holiday, other than Christmas and birthdays, that everyone celebrates."

"I still don't understand," said someone else.

"I propose we turn this business and this building into everything Valentine's Day. Just as I'm doing this from my heart for you, dear friends and valued employees, it's time we shared our good will with others throughout the world. Just as there is a Disney World, just as there is a Santa's Workshop and Village, this will be our claim to fame on the holiday of love and romance, Valentine's Day. The House of Valentine," he said pulling a sheet from an architect's drawing of what his House of Valentine would look like. "The House of Valentine will put this city back on the map."

"Wow! Is that this building? It's beautiful," said someone.

"The inside still looks like a workshop, but better and more modern," said another.

"Nah, it's more an indoor amusement park," said another. "Look there's rides."

"No, it's a shopping mall," said someone else. "Don't you see all the shops?"

"It's all of those things and more," said Edward. "It's our workshop, an amusement park, a shopping mall, and so much more than that."

The excitement in the crowd was as electric as it was when the University of Massachusetts opened a campus in their city. It was more than a ground floor opportunity. With the shares that they earned, every employee here would own a piece of the business. Do unto others...and what goes around...Edward stayed true to the good karma that his grandfather and father had worked so hard to develop and maintain.

Construction of the House of Valentine started immediately and everyone had a job. Those that didn't work on the outside of the building worked on the inside of the building. Only, nothing was new, but everything was refurbished. Edward maintained the charm and the character of the building to museum like status by using what he had and making it all in new like condition, instead of replacing materials that were not only more cheaply made but more costly, he'd rather pay the labor to fix something than to buy a replacement.

His House of Valentine was completed a week before Christmas and his employees and their families were the first to experience it all for free. He charged five dollars admission for adults and one dollar for children. His admission price did little to reimburse him for his huge expenditure, but in time, now that he built it, once the word got out that there was a House of Valentine, more people will come. Besides, he didn't just make money on the admission that he charged, he made money at every venue.

Between admission, playing arcade and video games, shopping in his shops, buying souvenirs, buying his products, and dining in his restaurants, the average family spent $150. Multiply that by the 30,000 families that visited him the first year, the majority visiting him from January to March, he grossed $4.5 million in revenue from his House of Valentine the first year, much more money than he made selling wooden toys. Based on his projections, foot traffic was projected to increase by 15% every year. With little to celebrate from January to the summer vacation time, perfect for February school vacation, it was somewhere to go, someplace to bring the kids, or someplace to celebrate Valentine's Day. In the first year that it was open, he had more than fifty weddings in his function room.

When people first walked in, there was a tour of his workshop that visitors watched workers, many who had worked there for 30 and 40 years make custom, handmade toys and furniture. He had guided tours with tour guides that explained what workers did at each work station. For the first time, customers could see the craftsmanship that went into every product he made.

Walking through his House of Valentine, there was a full sized doll house that was recreated inside his building for the children to experience. Then, there was an interactive and animated arcade with everything Valentine from Saint Valentine to Cupid to hearts and flowers, along with pinball and video games and rides for the kids. Instead of a mere gift shop, Edward had a mall where visitors could buy all the products he made from furniture to toys. He owned all the shops and the shops were manned by his employees. He had a Valentine fine dining restaurant for lovers and another fast food restaurant for families.

Refusing to give up on his community, refusing to sell his beloved building, the lives of his employees and all who lived there was transformed by Edward Benedict's House of Valentine.

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