NAME: Andy Laties, 39 / EMPLOYER: Self / SALARY RANGE: $50,000 plus
Why did you choose this field?
I got involved in working with children in 1977. I started working in children’s theater at the Yale Children’s Theater when I was an undergraduate, and after that I worked in several other children’s theaters in Chicago: the Earth Children’s Theater and Child’s Play Touring Theater.
I’ve always been interested in working with children. I really enjoy their spunk, their energy, their liveliness and their creativity. My wife, Chris Bluhm, had been working in the bookstore business, and together we opened the Children’s Bookstore on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago in 1985. Seven years into running that business, I approached the Chicago Children’s Museum about running their gift shop for them. We negotiated for several years and finally decided to do it. We then closed the Children’s Bookstore. Now, I have a contract with the Chicago Children’s Museum to run the gift shop. I work closely with the museum to determine the mix of products, coordinating them with each exhibition — that includes figuring out labeling and licensing arrangements for whatever we decide to sell.
What is your educational background?
I went to Yale for two and one-half years and then dropped out. I studied archeology there. But I probably spent more of my time doing children’s theater. My business education largely is the result of studying the materials published by the American Booksellers Association.
Describe an average day/week.
I work between 40 and 80 hours a week and always work Friday and Saturday nights. I usually get into work around 9:30 a.m. Early in the week I’m concerned with placing orders; I’m evaluating what sold during the previous week and re-ordering, especially from vendors that I can expect a turnaround time of about a day or two. I attempt to keep my inventory turning around very fast. Once the inventory is on order, in the middle of the week I’ll tend to focus on bookkeeping, and then by the end of the week on Thursdays and Fridays, I’m opening boxes and pricing and merchandising. In all of these activities I’ll be assisted by my wife and employees who help out with receiving.
The busiest time at Navy Pier is in July and August during the tourist season. I’m in a counter-cyclical business: it peaks in the summer instead of in the winter.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is working with children. I get enormous pleasure out of working with children. I love teasing children at the cash register, telling them their purchase cost $87 million or that they get $2 million in change.
I also like having the opportunity to work with an extremely strong cultural institution. The Chicago Children’s Museum is a marvelous success story among Chicago non-profits in that it went from just a couple of exhibits in a hallway at the Cultural Center 15 years ago to a magnificent family institution. I’m in a special sort of role with the Children’s Museum: I’m their front doorstep and am often providing information about the museum, so I feel like I’m a vital part of the museum’s activities.
I also enjoy that we have visitors from all over the world who shop in our store.
The worst thing?
The most challenging thing is remaining calm when parents are being mean to their children. I see parents extremely stressed when they’re at Navy Pier; some parents arrive at the Pier with their children and they seem determined to take out all of their stresses on the child, and it’s extremely disturbing.
What three attributes are essential to doing your job well?
You have to enjoy working with people. Second, because you’re working with children, you really have to like them and appreciate that you’re having an influence on the future society by working with children now. Third, you have to develop an incredible sensitivity toward business. A business is a very fine balancing act with many different components and it’s quite difficult to do. I’m the cook and bottle washer: I place orders and I open boxes; I price things and put them on the shelves; I ring up purchases; I post invoices into the bookkeeping system; I prepare taxes; I write the checks; I manage the payroll; I hire people. I’m involved in every aspect of management.
Where do you think you’ll go from here?
I’m interested in expanding the business, though right now I’m focused on making this store as successful as possible. But I’m interested in trying to grow it: either by adding additional Chicago Children’s Museum stores, or possibly working with other institutions in the city.
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What advice would you give to people interested in this area?
They should work in a museum store. There are many museums in the Chicago area and getting a part-time job working just at the cash register is essential to advancing into management because frequently people who become managers come up through the ranks. It’s also important to get some business education, so it might be a good idea to take some business courses.
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