The Republican from Springfield, Massachusetts (2024)

January 27, 1992

Publication:

The Republicani

Location:

Springfield, Massachusetts

Issue Date:

Monday, January 27, 1992

Page:

17

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Union News MONDAY JANUARY 27 1992 Jg Arts and Entertainment Television 17 Examining Now have an encore Small capitalization stocks turned in an inspired perfor mance last year their rise of 46 percent as a group easily overshadowing the stocks of bigger companies The question is whether still more where that came from true that small cap stocks traditionally do best in periods of low interest rates when the nation is coming out of recession and in election years But back to back years at that lofty performance level are difficult to predict with any certainty cap stocks should continue to outperform larger cap stocks in 1992 for I believe we began a five to seven year positive cycle in November of said Claudia Mott di rector of Small Capitalization Stock Research for Prudential Securities are becoming more comfortable buying stocks at these lower prices since not many of them want or can afford to pay for a high priced stock no matter how blue chip it Her favorite group is finan cial services because small banks have performed well and By ANDREW A LECKEY "Successful investing have the write offs of big ger institutions She also likes technology because price levels are currently quite attractive Meanwhile she has cooled a bit on the health care group be cause its earnings momentum has slowed with any snippet of bad news capable of driving down prices Capital spending firms in heavy machinery and industrial equipment are too economic sensitive while utili ties are too defensive at a time when the market looks strong cap stocks can contin ue to perform well so long as interest rates stay at current said Alan Radio port folio manager of the $1 billion asset idelity OTC Portfolio und up 49 percent in Continued on Page 19 Our children our country WASHINGTON or thirty years 1955 through 1985 CBS television led off each weekday morning with Kanga an inspired educational program that kept attention without sex or vio lence Today despite the valuable license the government gives CBS and the three other com mercial networks to broadcast into our homes they do not de vote a single hour a week to pre educational pro gramming On public tele vision Sesame Street still holds forth but even PBS had a new idea for TV in more than thirty years What has the demise of Cap tain Kangaroo got to do with the economic prob lems? Plenty Dr Ernest Boyer of the Carnegie oundation for the Advancement of Teaching put it this way in testimony last week before the Senate Labor Committee: is my deep conviction that education and the econ omy are inextricably inter locked and if we do not begin to invest more fully in our hu man resources most espe cially in our youngest children both the economic and civic vitality of the nation will de By HOBART ROWEN Economic impact Next to parents says Boyer is perhaps a most influential But in that responsibility the indus try and its government regu lators have struck out Respon sible American businessmen increasingly understand that the deficiencies that later show up in the work force begin to take root in kindergarten or be fore Teachers surveyed by the Carnegie oundation reported that 35 percent of American kids more than one in three are not ready for kinder garten Worse by almost a 2 1 margin these teachers find children less prepared now than those who started five years ago Consider this mind boggling statistic from Boyer: The Continued on Page 19 Millionaire Roddick places passion first this: Best book by a CEO Best written business book Most spiritual and liberal business book Most practical and conservative business book Best business book for 20 year olds pondering the future The winner is: by Body Shop International found er Anita Roddick (Crown Pubs) The first Body Shop opened on March 27 1976 at 22 Ken sington Gardens Brighton En gland At end Roddick stuffed the take $225 into her dungaree pocket Later that year Ian McGlinn provided Anita and her husband Gordon a desperately needed $7000 Today stake is worth $250 million great advantage I had when I started The Body Anita Roddick writes that I had never been to busi ness The secrets of business as she sees them never darken school doors To wit: 1 had to name a driving force in my life I'd plump for passion ev ery Roddick adds that twin ideas of love and care touch everything we Love? Care? Roddick hasn't found much of either among her competitors: world of retailing taught me nothing Huge corporations (are) dy ing of boredom caused by the inertia of their Peters on excellence Body Shop lives by a decid edly more energetic premise business of business is to keep the company alive and breathlessly Roddick writes protect the work force to be a force for good in our society and then after all that to think of the (sharehold Alternatively companies are in business solely to make money you can't fully trust whatever else they do or say The whole sense of fun is lost the whole sense of play of derring Body Shop succeeds by edu cating customers shunning the usual cosmetics industry hype prefer to give staff infor mation about the product anecdotes about the history and derivation of the ingredients and any funny stories about how they came on Body Shop Continued on Page 19 aE 1 4 MHBI 4 si 'V? Ik Jmbmsbmi LJjfl Kv fll JilK! fl Hr JHL JBMfc: jMH 1MW HflRSr fl I fl Iflflflflflflflflf flKjSgMa Staff photo bv rank Usin ALL IN THE AMILY The Moriarty family has owned News in Palmer for 21 years the ultimate mom and pop variety store The Moriartys are left to right behind the counter Robert Moriarty the father Sean Moriarty a son and in front of the counter left to right Erin Pincince a daughter Robin Dembkowski (Not a Moriarty but another store employee and to the Moriartys) and Robyn Ottomaniello another daughter Convenience with charm Mom and pop variety stores offer items friendliness By TOM SHEA Every day retiree Robert Plattner walks the streets of Palmer a different route every day Sometimes a walk up and down the hills of Oak Knoll Ceme tery Other days it might be a stroll through the flatlands of downtown Palmer What change is the des tination: News '(his favorite variety store can joke here be among Plattner can pick up my newspaper anywhere in town I walk by a lot of stores Dairy Mart Cumberland arms Jane Alden CVS but really nice to walk into a place where everybody knows your name and you might hear a good There as many neighbor hood variety stores (sometimes known as spas or smoke shops) a staple of urban American neigh borhoods since the 1920s any more They have been replaced in many neighborhoods by chain va riety stores The ones that have survived and flourished like in Palmer Orchard Variety in Indian Orchard and Va riety in Springfield do so with hard work ingenuity and charm The Massachusetts State Lot tery hurt either Lottery gets people into the store and maybe they remem ber birthday this week and pick up a card or they need a loaf of bread and a half gallon of said Roger Zepke owner of Orchard Variety variety stores work is simple: people look for convenience we offer conve No variety store owner would say what kind of revenue and store volume The Lottery produc es for his store The line in front of The Lottery machine at especially on a Sunday morning when the only lines longer are communion lines at church speak volumes about the lure of instant tickets and Me gabucks Robert Moriarty owner of said variety store own ers would survive without the lot tery would be harder no he said Lottery is a leader and we have to advertise our leader But we are always adjusting Always trying to get the right mix to bring people into the store and keep bringing them back Twenty years ago when I bought this place tobacco was a big item now not but some thing like baseball cards and car ds in general have exploded not unusual for a kid to ask for a box of cards instead of a pack Things change We adjust not that hard to pick up trends be cause on the front lines We are with the people with the cus tomers every day We know on their on minds is the economy Moriarty said used to be the weather and he added are scared Bush could be in trouble if the Demo crats ever got their act Talk of the depressed economy translates into fewer sales pro prietors said They count on a va riety special mix neces sities and inexpensive small pleasures to withstand the downward pressure of the econ omy That means that at Vari ety in the Pine Point neighbor hood of Springfield one can get birthday candles hosiery and play video games have variety in this variety said Richard Barrington who bought the store 15 years ago put the video games in about 10 years ago and you believe how popular they were Now video games are everywhere but we still get a crowd in the back of the store ev ery day after school a new gener ation of variety store The old generation of variety store customers will be pleased to know: still sells penny can dy At one would be hard pressed to find anything priced over $10 but one can find one of the better magazine racks this side of Boston or New York stocks the irreverent the esoteric magazine along with five boxing magazines biker mags and racks of health publications not to (3G Variety stores as a rule remain decidedly mom and pop A place as Robert Plassner said where they know your name know what you want in your coffee and know how to share a good joke mention the usual magazine sus pects also offers AX ma chine services and toilet paper At Orchard Variety one can pay utility bills and rent videos The video selection is deep and eclectic they stock the movie Teller Get a cult comedy magic adventure starring Penn Jillette and Amherst Teller Variety stores open early and Orchard are open at 5 am) and close late (Orchard turns out the lights at 10 pm and at 9) convvenient for working said Diane Dinelle of Three Rivers a waitress at the Palmer Restaurant like this are open before we go to work You can get your (lottery) tickets cigarettes newspaper and see a friendly face all before work might even scratch a ticket and win so much money you even have to go to Speaking of work no one in the variety store business says this is hard work just long Barrington said Moriarty who bought 21 years ago said he never plans to retire too much he said Moriarty admits he say that if he was still working in car dealerships has been a Palmer mainstay for more than years Zepke a former third shift worker at Pratt Whitney before he bought Orchard Variety £1 years ago said there is a romance to the job job all about dollars and he said one of those perfect jobs if you are a Sb called thrive in a variety store environ is staffed by the Moriarty family At one time or another all seven of children worked there Presently Erin Rp byn and Sean are regulars behind the counter along with Robin Dembkowski who has worked at the store 10 years just like part of the 14 year old grandson Nicholas Ottomaniello also helps out on Sunday mornings stuffing newspa pers Orchard Variety pulses with 18 full or part time workers It is a different kind of variety store Since it moved to its Main Street location it have the mom and pop ambience of other variety stores bigger brighter and has a beer and wine license But variety stores as a rule re main decidedly mom and pop A place as Robert Plassner said where they know your name know what you want in your coffee and know how to share a good joke our county economic indicators Unemployment rates Note: WMa fiflufe are unadjusted fx seasonal vanatbne Source: Mass Dept of Employment A Training (in percent) state 115 WMass 105 i i i i i 75 4X4 I i 8 5 t4t4 4 4 4 I I i i 5 5 444 I i I I i i i i 1 1 i i i i i i 1 r1 A A WMass construction spending (tn millions) Does not include ranklin County Source: Dodge A MJ JASON Average rate for 30 year fixed mortgage at WMass banks (in percent) 100 95 9 0 85 0 MAMJ JA 1991 Union News charts I I i i ill iii i Vi i i i i i i i I 1 By ANDREW A LECKEY By HOBART ROWEN By TOM PETERS 1991 1991.

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