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NORM: I’m Norm Silverstein. Glad you’re with
us. Today I’m in good company, with Larry and Jane Glazer. Jane and Larry take the word
“entrepreneurship” to a new level. First, each of them has embraced the risks involved
in starting your own business, and both have mastered the skills it takes to reap the rewards
of their risk-taking. Jane Glazer is an Athena Award finalist, she's President and Founder
of the catalog company, QCI-Direct. Larry Glazer is the CEO and Managing Partner of
Buckingham Properties, which has developed literally millions of square feet of space
in the Rochester area. The Glazers are not likely to describe themselves as a power couple
but their combination of regional roots, business success and community service sets them apart
as Rochester notables. Larry, Jane, thanks for being with us today.
LARRY and Jane: Good Morning
NORM: Larry, I'd like to start with you. You've
talked about the fact your father was a major influence in your life and he was an inventor,
but he wasn't able to take those products to market, what did you learn from him?
LARRY: Well my father was the hardest working person
I ever knew. I grew up in Buffalo and my father was always working two or three jobs it seemed
just to support his family, he was not really well educated, but early on he had a very
small little chemical company and he invented several products which went on to fame and
fortune for other people. So, really what I learned is that there was a business sense
that my father never had but he had the work ethic, he had the intelligence and he had
the perseverance to develop product, he just, I learned things to do and things not to do
from my father.
NORM: What was the most important thing you learned
to do?
LARRY: Most important thing I learned to do was dot
i's and cross t's.
NORM: Okay, so to be organized and to, I guess you'd
say, close the sale?
LARRY: Yes.
NORM: Okay, Jane, you grew up in a time when opportunities
for women seemed to be limited but you didn't let that stop you, in fact didn't you start
off as a teenager with, was it a day care center in your own backyard?
JANE: Yes, I put together a paper that I sent out
around the neighborhood and I offered to take care of kids two mornings a week and feed
them juice and crackers and all that and I even have a copy of it in my office, because
the truth is in those days that meant "Oh I must want to be a teacher" but the truth
was I was doing all the business aspects and I didn't recognize it until years later.
NORM: But you did become a teacher?
JANE: Yea, I did, ‘cause you're supposed to either
be a teacher, a nurse or a social worker, those were my choices.
NORM: Okay, but what's interesting is there was
a family business and both of you had an opportunity. It was Great Lakes Press, and Larry you started
out there?
LARRY: Well, I actually started out there in Rochester,
I had been living, we were married, living in New York and I had the opportunity to move
to Rochester and I started out at Great Lakes Press in production, really not knowing anything
about printing so I paid my dues, I worked there for about twenty-five years, moved up
through the company ranks and that's where I learned the art of selling, closing deals,
negotiating and contracts.
NORM: But, somehow you got away from there, you
had a friend, Harold Samloff, who called you one day. Am I correct?
LARRY: Yes, when we moved to Rochester we really
didn't know anybody, but I love to play tennis and I found a group of guys, who every Sunday
morning at Pittsford - Sutherland High School got together
and we played what I call "pick-up games." And one of the guys I met was Harold Samloff.
And one day I'm at Great Lakes Press, I'm twenty-two years old, the phone rings and
the guy says "Hi, this is Harold Samloff on the phone, do you remember me?" and I said
"Of course" he said "Well how would you like to go in the real estate business?" I said
"Well, okay" he said "I have a house on Buckingham Street and you can buy half of it for a thousand
dollars." So I said "Well, okay." And I came home from work and I said "Jane, I've just
gone into the real estate business" and she said "Okay." And that was the end, beginning
of the Buckingham Properties and a partnership that lasted for forty years.
NORM: And today you have, Buckingham Properties
has over, is it nine million square feet?
LARRY: It depends how you count, but I would say
if we finish everything we're trying to do, we'll probably be in the ten million foot
range, or something like that.
NORM: Well, that's pretty incredible. And Jane,
you were also at Great Lakes Press, but you decided that maybe you could go out on your
own?
JANE: Actually, I was never offered a job at Great
Lakes Press because I was a girl and it was Larry who encouraged me to do something more.
He said "you can do more than just teach, you can do something, you wanna go into business".
And he suggested that I go into the mail order business because they were in printing, and
so he said "Easy, we'll print a catalogue and you'll just work part time, come in and
you know, reap the benefits." Well, it never was part time, but it was a lot of fun and
I was the first one evicted when the business was sold, so then I had to go back to my husband
and say "Can you give me some place to go?" and I got my first location on Lyell Avenue
in the back of an old warehouse.
NORM: I remember that, but today it's a little more
than that, it's in Chili? How big is your space?
JANE: Well, now I'm in a two hundred fifty thousand
square foot facility, but the interesting part is that when that facility came up for
sale, it was originally owned by Case-Hoyt who had bought out Great Lakes Press. So as
Larry says "what comes around goes around," and when he found it was available he said
"This is the place for you to move." So I'm out in Chili.
NORM: Well, how did you two meet? I understand it
has something to do with summer camp?
LARRY: I'll let Jane take that one.
JANE: Okay, well we were counselors at Camp Seneca
Lake which is the JCC local camp and Larry was from Buffalo, I was going to Ohio State,
he was at University of Buffalo, and he called my cousin, to see, cause she was also going
to camp, and she wrote me a letter - in those days we didn't have email and telephones were
expensive. She wrote me a letter and she said "I just talked to this guy, Larry Glazer,
on the phone, and he sounds really good but he's only a freshman so maybe he'll be good
for you." And the rest is history.
NORM: Okay, well take us back, where was your first
date? And I've heard this was a very interesting first date.
JANE: Are you gonna tell that?
LARRY: No, you better tell that.
JANE: Well, the first time we actually went out,
at camp, Larry squeezed a peach on top of my head. What was the reason for that? What
was that all about?
LARRY: Just to get your attention.
JANE: Anyway, I don't know, and it was just a summer
romance and it still is, it's forty-five years of a summer romance.
NORM: Well, I heard a story about, I think you told
once Larry, that on certainly one of your first dates you were delivering products and
you made some deliveries with Jane in your car?
LARRY: That was actually...
JANE: That was our real first date.
LARRY: Our real first date.
JANE: I came to Buffalo to visit him from Ohio State
and he picked me up at the airport and he said "Okay before we go to dinner we have
a few things to do," and it was delivering soap suds to these customers.
LARRY: I was in the chemical distribution business
at that time while I was going to school and I would buy home cleaning products and repackage
them. And we had to make deliveries to customers on our way to our first date, so the back
of the car was filled with bags and boxes of soap suds and cleaning products.
JANE: I should have known then, there was something
going on you know, besides just the "couple thing."
NORM: I guess, very romantic, I must say. There's
been a lot written about both of you and it always comes back to how you sort of play
off of each other in terms of your strengths. You've advised Larry to go with his instincts,
is that correct? And Larry, you've told Jane that, you know, she is capable of doing anything
she sets her minds to and she should be making decisions. Do you think you'd be where you
are today, without each other?
LARRY and JANE: No, no absolutely not.
JANE: We're a team.
NORM: You're a team. Okay, for people who don't
know, QCI Direct, it started out as a much smaller company. Why don't you tell us a little
bit about your origins and actually how you came up with the idea for a catalogue company?
JANE: Well it was because we were in the printing
business and we needed something so we thought we'd print a catalogue. We printed a sixteen
page black and white and we really worked as a team at the beginning, Larry used to
buy the products and do a lot of the merchandising and we had three teenagers so one day I said
"You have to go to Chicago without me, I can't do this, we can't leave the kids alone." And
he came back with a banana bag, I mean a banana stand, like it was about this high. It was
this plastic thing you were supposed to hang bananas on, and in usual way that we act I
said "What is this stupid thing? What did you buy?" and he said "No, this is gonna be
great." And as always it was great, and the business took off, and we started selling
things for the home, and the rest is history.
LARRY: Actually, what started is we named it "Tarzan
and Jane’s banana stand" and that's what got it going.
NORM: Okay, it kind of developed from there though
didn't it? You have how many customers across the whole country, around the world?
JANE: Oh well, we've served millions of customers
and we do about a million customers a year, now.
NORM: And what inspired you two, to build that business,
from the stand?
JANE: I got very, as my husband says "stubborn as
can be." I would use the other word but, anyway and I just, I couldn't believe I was that
stupid that I couldn't make it work so I just kept working it and working it.
NORM: Now you're being pretty humble. How many catalogue
companies are there today, catalogues, in QCI Direct?
JANE: Oh we have two catalogues and then we have
three websites. So, the company’s gotten much more complex than it was when we first
started.
NORM: Well you have an interesting business philosophy,
what do you call it?
JANE: The "sure no problem"
NORM: Where did that come from?
JANE: Okay, well I read one of Jim Collin’s first
books, which was called "Built To Last" and it said if you want your company to really
be something you have to have a philosophy. And at that time I couldn't think of anything
that was simple enough that we could all understand. So I came up with “sure no problem” and
it has served us well all these years. Every employee. and I have 110 of them, understand
that “sure no problem”, whatever the job is we all just pitch in and do it. Whether
it's taking care of the customer, taking care of each other, and so on and so forth.
NORM: Customers and employees are very important
to you. Don't you say you package everything that goes out of the company as if your grandmother
would be opening it?
JANE: Right that's what I have to say to the people
that are packing it. I say pretend this is going to your grandmother, what would you
like it to look like? You're the most important person in the company because you're the last
person to touch my customer.
NORM: Tell us how your company functions. What's
your first contact with a potential customer and then how do they actually make a purchase?
JANE: Our customers get catalogs from us in the
mail or they find us on the Internet or on amazon like anything else today it's coming
from all different places. We spend a lot of time saying where did this customer come
from? We don't even know anymore because there is so many different things hitting and switching,
but that's business.
NORM: Well, you’re both Western New York Natives...
Well, Larry you were born in Mt Vernon and grew up in Buffalo?
LARRY: Yep, that's right!
NORM: Jane, you're a Rochester native, you've spent
your entire life here. You both give a lot back to the community, so when you talk about
your businesses, Larry, Buckingham Properties has a mission statement. We just heard how
Jane feels about her employees, what makes you a little different other than just going
out and about making a buck or just being successful?
LARRY: Well from a business perspective, I believe
money is how you keep score, but that's not really the business we're in. We're in the
business of satisfying customers’ needs. We sell what I call our square feet, if you
need square feet we've got it for you. And over the years we've done basically the same
thing that Jane believes in, which is taking care of our customers, our tenants - servicing
them well, being responsive to their needs, just like any other business. It's just that
our product is a little different.
NORM: But you've taken on some very tough projects.
It's not just the easy redevelopments. You started out doing, I believe, some projects
on the west side that people didn't think could be developed, am I correct?
LARRY: Yes, when I started we had no money, so the
only product we could buy was inexpensive product which was an old industrial warehouse.
Now I grew up in Buffalo in an old industrial neighborhood, so old buildings didn't scare
me at all. So in the process of doing this we developed a niche and a marketplace expertise
for people that needed value property - not high prices, but reasonable dry space. And
over the years as companies went out of business in Rochester or changed, we were able to buy
these factories up, clean them up, chop them up, reposition them and rent them to multiple
tenants. As the tenants started growing, we would buy more property and move them into
that, so we've been able to service our growing customers over the years.
JANE: He's being very humble, you know the truth
is he's a visionary, because he'll look at an old building and he'll go look at the potential
and I'll go “What?” He sees things that other people don't. He takes an old property
and he knows exactly what he can do to it, it's great!
LARRY: Thanks!
JANE: I'm very impressed!
NORM: I think we're all pretty impressed! Let's
us about Buckingham Commons, now that was an old building next to Frontier Field, next
to the railroad tracks that certainly had been vacant for a long time. What did you
see in that building?
LARRY: Well, Buckingham Commons was really an easy
project to look at. It was in an area of the city that was next to Frontier Field, it had
great location, and it had something very unique. If you stood on the roof of the building,
you could see buses, trains and cars! And I always remember living in New York being
able to do that. So I thought, well, this is a great opportunity for somebody who likes
watching trains go by. So we bought this abandoned building for a modest sum of money, we repositioned
it by completely redoing it, made it a combination of office and residential. And the first thing
we did is we put bleachers on the roof, so they could go out and watch the ball games,
and it's been a terrific success!
NORM: Has it been your most successful project?
Or is there one that really stands out in your mind?
LARRY: Umm, it's been very successful but I don't
think you'd call it most successful. That depends on how you want to measure success.
If you want to measure in terms of is it vacant at all, no, it's got a waiting list in terms
of residential tenants and the office spaces are full, so it's been successful.
NORM: What about your favorite project, what would
that be?
LARRY: I actually believe my favorite project was
the conversion of the Michael Sterns factory on 87 North Clinton because this was a building
that was so far beyond saving that if I thought about it twice, I should have just tossed
a hand grenade into it, and started over. But I got stubborn and we got lucky, we got
a lead tenant, we got creative in what we did over there, and now the neighborhood has
sufficiently turned around that it's okay to be there. So it worked out.
NORM: Does he ever ask you about your thoughts before
he takes on a project like that?
JANE: Well, he's the visionary as I said. But what
he does is he comes home and says “You know, I saw this building, and I'm not sure, and
it's gonna be a big project and what do you think?” and I go, “Sure go for it!”
LARRY: So the real answer is that I ask Jane about
everything, and we discuss it, and I now named Jane "what the heck Glaser" - because everything
I talk about doing she says "Sure, why not! What the heck - go for it!"
NORM: What about you - do you ever get asked about
adding new products or marketing?
LARRY: Well I used to get asked a lot because I used
to write the copy, do the production, do the layout, do the photography, help with the
merchandising, but as Jane’s company has grown, she has real people doing the work.
People that are way better than I ever was, so now I'm relegated to going to trade shows
and give my two cents on a particular product.
NORM: Oh come on, he must have a great idea that
you're still doing?
JANE: Oh yeah, I mean we're pretty - our dinner
time is composed of "What do you think of this, what do you think of that?" and we just
banter back and forth. We've always been like that, we just share what we're doing and looking
for the others opinion.
LARRY: And I'm always looking for product, I love
going to old hardwood stores in different cities, poking around and finding those little
nuggets and gems that people have forgotten about.
NORM: You know you talk about people liking to do
things together. You're both pilots, how did that happen?
JANE: How did that happen? Well, its part of our
whole relationship, it's always been – well, what you can do I can do. So he learned to
fly and I was scared to death, and I was like, “What is going on here?” So I was like
if he can learn to fly, then I guess I can learn to fly. And so we both became instrument
pilots - he's a commercial pilot and it's been a wonderful experience because we've
gone all over. We've been to Europe, and Alaska, and you know, it's just a fun thing that we
share!
NORM: That's great! Probably one of the most recognizable
developments you're involved with now is the redevelopment of the Genesee Hospital, I guess
the entire area there. You've moved your headquarters over to Alexander Street, what do you envision
there when all that is finished?
LARRY: Well, Alexander Park, which is what we now
call it, is a 16 acre tract of land that was the old Genesee Hospital, plus we have acquired
about 25 buildings in the immediate area. If we are successful it will be a designated
recognized area in the city that will be known for its vibrancy and for its commercial activities.
So we are working hard to be the link between East Ave. and South Wedge. We are developing
residential, office, and commercial opportunities over there now, and we think it's about another
5 years before we're finished.
NORM: Is this the biggest project that you have
ever been involved in?
LARRY: It is. Yes, but we have got several other
very large projects on the drawing boards, notably Midtown, redeveloping Midtown Tower.
And we are working on a very large project, believe it or not for the last thirteen years
in Brighton, which is a 146 acre mixed use development which is working its way through
the process now.
NORM: Where would that be in Brighton?
LARRY: That would be on the basically on Brighton-Henrietta
Townline Road between Winton and Clinton.
NORM: But somehow you find time to give back to
the community. You're both involved with boards and different things that obviously matter
to you. Well, why is that important? I’ll start with you Jane.
JANE: I’ll tell you an interesting story. When
we were in our thirties, the Camp Seneca Lake where we first met called us and said they
wanted us to make a donation - they wanted us to buy a canoe and donate it to the camp.
And that was our very first thing we ever gave back to the community. It cost us a thousand
dollars and it was the Jane and Larry canoe. And at the time we really, we had never been
involved in that way and it sort of was the starting point for us to get involved in all
the different areas. As a matter of fact we were one of the first people on the phones
for the WXXI Auction.
NORM: Oh that’s right.
JANE: Did you know that?
NORM: Well, you are still involved with the station
which we very much appreciate, but there’s many other things you do.
JANE: But the very first auction we were there answering
the phones.
NORM: And did you give product from your company?
Was it actually up and running at that time?
JANE: No, it was before.
NORM: So you have been a longtime supporter of the
station.
JANE: And we've always felt it's important to give
back. And we go to, but we have never been on the same board though together. We pick
different boards.
NORM: And is that by design?
LARRY: Yes, it is.
JANE: A little bit too much togetherness.
NORM: And Larry, you are also involved in the Jewish
Home I believe, that’s one of the things you have given a lot back to.
LARRY: Yes, actually Rochester’s been terrific
to us, so it’s important to give back to the community both for ourselves and for the
future generations to keep Rochester vibrant as possible.
NORM: Speaking of Rochester, you said that Rochester
is ready for its third wave, could you tell us what you were thinking about that?
LARRY: Well, before I came over here today I started
thinking a bit more about it, and I realized that what’s going on in Rochester - people
talk about Kodak and the demise of Kodak - it's just an ongoing evolutionary process in the
city’s history. Rochester used to be the flour city, f l o u r; then it was the flower,
f l o w e r city; then it was the men’s garment industry; then it was the shoe industry
- I mean it goes on. We were optics in photography and now we are evolving into something new,
so it’s just an ongoing process.
NORM: And it sounds like there’s going to be an
ongoing family business in Buckingham.
LARRY: Well, I certainly hope so. We've got our two
sons, Rick and Ken, are both involved in the business and working very hard in important
roles in the companies. We are growing, and we have got outside partners now coming, and
we are just busy, and Rochester is just a good place to do business.
NORM: Well, you've just used the keyword “busy”,
but somehow both of you find time to do all these outside activities, Jane you ran in
the New York Marathon?
JANE: Mhmm.
NORM: Are you still a runner?
JANE: Yes, but not training for any marathons at
this point.
NORM: And Larry, how do you keep in shape?
LARRY: Well, I used to play a lot of tennis and squash,
and these days I just work out.
NORM: But you also have grand children now too?
JANE: Yes, we have six grandchildren - 7,6,5,4,
and twins 3. And I want to mention that we have three children. Both boys are working
in Buckingham, but our daughter has also become an entrepreneur and she has her own Internet
site with aroma therapy products. So obviously we have had some influence over the years.
NORM: It sure sounds like it. Let me ask you both
a question - if you could change one thing about this community, what would it be? We'll
start with you, Larry.
LARRY: That’s a tough question. I think that we
tend not to look at ourselves as winners, but sometimes look at ourselves as half empty
when it should really be half full. There’s so many good things going on in Rochester,
we don’t want to let the negative things out weigh the positives.
NORM: How about you, Jane?
JANE: I think Rochester is unique because it’s
a very quiet community, you know, it’s the kind of place where people don’t show off
what they are doing. So we don’t see all the businesses that are really growing and
dynamic here because people lead very quiet lives. You know, sometimes we will go to Florida,
and we will see how people live in these fancy homes, and we don’t do that in Rochester
- and I say that as a Rochesterian, I grew up here. You know people in Rochester build
businesses and give back to the community, but they are not show offs - if that’s the
right word for it, I guess.
NORM: Is that what you love most about Rochester,
or is there something else that stands out in your minds?
JANE: I like that about Rochester.
LARRY: I do too, but I also like the people. I actually
like the variety of the weather, too. So it’s like tight shoes, when a sunny day comes along,
it feels great.
NORM: What do you think is Rochester’s best kept
secret?
LARRY: Rochester’s best kept secret - I really
think that Rochester’s best kept secret is the fact that we are really a vibrant,
healthy community that is doing terrific.
NORM: How about you?
JANE: I'd have to agree with him, I think Rochester
has so much to offer, and people from other parts of the country, they don’t even know
about us. When we go somewhere, you know, we say we're close to Buffalo. People know
of Buffalo because Buffalo brags about the terrible weather and stuff. But the truth
is Rochester is, I think, pretty special.
NORM: But we don't have a George Eastman anymore.
Is that going to change the face of the community? That there isn't someone who is going to give
back as much and shape things?
LARRY: I believe that that's one of the real tough
points that we're going to have to overcome. The days of having a product like Eastman
Kodak manufactured and controlled, and George Eastman are probably beyond us right now.
I think we have to, as a community, have to get over the fact that we don't have George
Eastman. What we have though is a void in what I would call lay-leadership, business
people who are willing to step up and make things happen. This happens to be one of my
favorite topics in life and I can tell you if I think back, when they were building Midtown,
and we had the Forman’s, and we had the people from Bausch & Lomb. Kodak and Xerox
were all very successful locally owned business people. It made it easier to get things accomplished.
I think that is one of the weaknesses of Rochester that we need to strive to overcome.
NORM: Have you seen the same thing? In terms of
the changes?
JANE: Yeah, but I’m the optimist in this twosome
here. And I always think something is going to- someone is going to rise to the occasion.
The city will survive.
NORM: The city will survive but will it thrive?
JANE: Yes. It'll thrive too.
LARRY: I think so too.
NORM: Okay, well. Thank you both for sharing your
thoughts and telling us about your businesses. And really for the way you give back to so
many organizations including WXXI - which we will say with full disclosure you've both
been active here - but in so many other organizations in the community, perhaps you're being a little
humble. I think people think of you as the kind of people who are giving back now. It's
really helping to shape the future of the community.
LARRY: Well I have to say it feels good to give back
to the community. The community has been great to us. I personally have been blessed with
the Tinkerbell theory. I have this Tinkerbell dust that's sprinkled over me and it's been
terrific. So gotta give back.
NORM: Anything you'd like to add that we didn't
talk about today?
LARRY: I think I’m good.
JANE: No.
NORM: Well, thank you both for being with us on
Norm & Company. You've been great guests. We look forward to your continued success,
because it really has meant greater success for the greater Rochester community. And for
that we all appreciate your giving back.
LARRY: Thank you. By the way, WXXI is one of those
gems that we have to work hard to make sure it survives and thrives because that's what
local Radio and TV is about.
NORM: And the Little Theater now too.
LARRY: And the Little Theater. Absolutely.
NORM: Well, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
And thank you for watching. If you missed any part of Norm & Company you can find the
show on wxxi.org and on WXXI's YouTube channel. We'll see you next time on Norm & Company.
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