Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406080015
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LIGHTFOOT, VA. LENGTH: Medium
But at 24, Hawkins is president of one of the country's most unusual shopping attractions.
Spread out over more than 200 acres, the pottery looks like the world's largest garage sale - only most of the items are new. It's a hodgepodge of buildings scattered in an area about five miles from the refined atmosphere of Colonial Williamsburg.
The ``bizarre bazaar,'' as the pottery has been called, actually outdraws the historic attractions only a few miles away. The pottery lures 3 million to 4 million visitors a year. Colonial Williamsburg draws about 1 million.
The pottery's inventory is an odd mixture: giant pots for plants and flowers, brass items, flowers (silk, dried and fresh), knights in armor to put in the yard, vintage signs advertising 5-cent cigars, black-and-white photos of baseball greats such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.
The items are displayed in flea-market fashion and often carry price tags well below items in retail stores.
``We never designed anything to be beautiful. We just made it work,'' Hawkins said. ``We've never gone into real fancy displays. We've just done what would get the merchandise up for sale.''
The first merchandise was sold 56 years ago by Hawkins' grandfather, Jimmy Maloney, who started the operation with a pottery kiln and a roadside stand.
Maloney, 82, still controls the family-owned business and recently made his grandson president. Fixing a date on when that occurred is difficult because, according to Maloney, ``at the pottery, titles don't mean a damn thing.''
What matters is what people do - what they make, how they work. Hawkins oversees more than 600 employees. He has experience in just about every facet of the business.
Hawkins started working for his grandfather when he was 9. One of his first jobs was cutting ragweed for a penny a bunch.
``Jimmy would turn around and sell them for 99 cents a bunch, and that's where I learned about the business,'' he said.
Each summer he would be assigned to a new department on the sprawling compound, which includes more than 30 buildings, some filled with shelves that stretch longer than a football field.
``I've done everything from sweeping floors, running cash registers, pouring cement, making pottery,'' he said. ``There's not much I haven't done.''
Hawkins succeeded Mike Long as the company's chief executive after Long resigned this year. Long worked through the spring to help ease the transition.
Hawkins, who grew up nearby in an era of fancy malls with specialty stores and food courts, said he wants the Williamsburg Pottery Factory to retain its unique character.
``People drive by 100,000 Kmarts and Wal-Marts and Rose's stores to come here, so there must be something they're looking for,'' he said.
Looking for a cement copy of Michelangelo's David? How about a porcelain urn? Or a big dinner bell shaped like a martini glass?
If it's not too big, your purchase will be wrapped in newspaper. The high-volume, no-frills approach keeps prices so low, store owners drive long distances to load up on items they'll sell elsewhere.
``There's nobody else that can, one on one, compete with us,'' said Hawkins, who never left the business to go to college.
While Hawkins is president, Maloney still is very active at the pottery. They meet each weekday morning around 7 to discuss business plans. Walking recently through the original pottery building, which is lined with hundreds of handmade vases and bottles, Maloney picked up a pot that didn't meet his approval.
``Tell him when we put a stamp on there we want to read it,'' he said to Hawkins, who checked with a worker about the problem.
The stamp, which shows that reproductions meet Colonial Williamsburg specifications for historical accuracy, is important to Maloney. For years he has sold 18th century pottery reproductions to the historic attraction.
The family doesn't discuss finances publicly but analysts have estimated annual sales from the Williamsburg Pottery Factory at between $60 million and $80 million.
Long tried to bring tighter inventory controls and other reforms to the business during his four years there.
``It's a whole lot to get a grasp on, for sure,'' he said.
Long believes Hawkins and the pottery will do fine as long as the business holds onto its unique niche.
``You don't want to have someone come down from New Jersey and find something that they could have had at home for the same price,'' he said.
by CNB