Craig Smith
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Proof that I was cute at one time, don’t you think?
While still in college and only 20 years old, I started a retail shoe store. I managed this store for 27 years before closing it. At first it was called ‘Shoe City’ and only sold ladies dress & casual shoes. The building was 20 X 30/ On opening day, April 14, 1973, total sales was $1,001.40. I was paying $150 per month in rent. Later I bought the property and enlarged the building to 20 X 70. Then in September of 1977, I finished constructing a 40 X 60 building on the property.
In 1990, I moved the buisness in a local shopping center, changed the name to ‘City Athletics’, and started selling athletic shoes, apparel & accessories. In 2000, my lease escalted by a factor of 3.5. Needless to say I did not want to work for the landlord, so I closed the business.
During these 27 years of managing the shoe business, I worked as a stockbroker for 2 years. At this time, tax sheltered limited partnerships in real estate was a fad. The day I resigned as a stockbroker, I enrolled in real estate school and earned a brokers license. Now I was prepared to embark on a great opportunity, local real estate sydication. With the real estate license, I could manage the properties in the partnerships and by securities license, I could sell the limited partnership interests. However, within a few months, a new law was enacted limiting passive investment write offs to no more than the amount invested, thus killing the demand for these investments.