The Purple Monkey

Yep, I said that...."Purple Monkey."  Here he is:

Now that I have your attention....The Purple Monkey is a huge antique store in the Village of Weedsport, Cayuga County.  I have driven by it countless times on my way to a friend's house and the NYS Thruway exit 40 which is just a mile down the road.  It's western Onondaga County's jumping off point to Rochester and Buffalo.  I've been told that the four corners a block away is the busiest intersection in Cayuga County.

So I've driven by, but never stopped.  The store sells antiques, and I have more interest in selling than buying, so I've driven by.  Last year one of my clients needed a place to sell her grandfather clock, and the people at the Purple Monkey were the only ones who generously took it in and picked it up even.  That kindness stayed with me.

But the Purple Monkey is now for sale, and I have the listing, my first since joining Berkshire Hathaway. It's an amazing place, and once I went in I was hooked.  Between the store itself and the building next door known as the Weedsport Mall there are 53,000 square feet.  Much of it is retail, another good portion is warehouse, but there are other businesses leasing in the mall, apartments, and a workshop stocked with tools.

 The Purple Monkey
dwarfs the truck!

             
                      The Mall is right
                      next door.

Not only are the buildings included in the listing, but the entire inventory and business.  There are literally thousands of items in the store.  The sellers have worked the business for over two decades, building up their database and molding their work to fit the technology that exploded.  They are not just a storefront, but an international business with clients all over the world.  They sell through ebay as well as the old-fashioned way of opening their doors five days a week.  They tried advertising, but so many people showed up their small staff couldn't handle it all.

You could do it too.  They've made a great living at it but are ready to turn it over to the next generation. They fully expect a team to come in and take it all to a different level.  They envision ten people selling online, another crew working the store - longer hours, more advertising, opening the third floor also.  Perhaps a different crew could travel to shows like Brimfield in Massachusetts.  There is enough inventory to last years, and more still comes in every day.  The mall could be a FedEx store, or another showroom.  So many options!  So much expansion is possible!

If you have the drive, the vision and the energy or even just the curiosity, check out http://purplemonkeyantiques.com for more photos.  Also look at the listing:  ML#S352999.  The price is 2.5M - but the earning power of this business could be so much more.

                        Stay tuned.....too much information for just one blog!