Richard Gottlieb

Values Entrepreneurs

I have mentioned in past blogs that I am frequently contacted by new entrepreneurs who have a social conscience.  They are not just in it for the money (although that does play a major role).  They are in it because they want to make the world a better place.

I was therefore pleased to see a values based businessperson in the toy industry get some major play in the February 3, 2008 New York Times.  Entitled: "A Store Where Profit Comes Not in Dollars," the article fills us in on a toy store in Manhattan’s Upper West Side that caters to the affluent but benefits the disadvantaged.

The store is owned by Marjorie Stern who, with her husband Michael, started a foundation two decades ago to assist the Children’s Aid Society.

All of the store’s after-tax revenue goes to Children’s Aid, and all of its employees, except for two managers and a training assistant, are 16- to 20-year-olds referred for part-time work by the agency. They generally work four-month stints of 12 to 15 hours a week, earning $8 an hour, while attending high school in most cases, or college in a few.

So, not only does she give the Children's Aid Society all the after tax revenues but also supplies jobs its young people.  How great is that!

Ms. Stern doesn’t just employ them in menial tasks.  She even brings them to Toy Fair.

Ms. Stern aims to expose the store’s young employees to career opportunities in the retail world. To make the experience more than “just standing in the store and selling,” she said, she seeks to acquaint them with tasks like selecting and effectively displaying merchandise.

“She took five or six of us to a toy trade show to learn the buying aspect,” one of the employees, Charline Mitchell, 18, said recently. “It helped me to see how we get things into the store and how to buy what’s appropriate for the store.”

Marjorie and Michael Stern are certainly going to deserve to be in the express line to heaven (hopefully after many more years).  I have a feeling that there are more Marjorie Sterns out there.  If you know of one, please let me know about it.  We need to sing their praises. 

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on February 13, 2008 | Comments (0)