2/22/2010 8:22:00 AM A Real Recession Find Flea markets are big business in a slumping economy for former Springfield Tool and Die owners
Sherry Rawson, left, her brother, Shawn Gott and mother Patricia Gott run two Springfield flea markets under the name STD, which stands for Springfield Tool and Die. The family previously owned the machine shop, but switched to flea markets when profit margins for smaller shops began to shrink.
STD Flea Markets
Owner: Patricia Gott Founded: 1990 Address: 505 E. Trafficway, Springfield, MO 65806 and 1820 E. Trafficway, Springfield, MO 65862 Phone: (417) 883-5373 E-mail: pat.gott@att.net Products: Antiques, collectibles and everyday items 2009 Revenues: $370,000 Employees: 12
By Janice Mason Contributing Writer
Patricia Gott thinks she has a bead on a recession-proof business: flea markets.
According to Gott, owner of STD Flea Markets, the recession may have helped her business. The owner of two Springfield locations recorded 2009 revenues of $370,000, 10 percent higher than the previous year and continuing the growth since opening the first market in 1990.
“It has steadily increased,” she says. “I think it’s because of the times. It’s a flea market, and you get bargains.”
The flea markets are owned by Springfield Tool and Die Co. Inc., which explains the use of the acronym, STD. Though the machine shop is no longer in business, its name lives on, albeit with peculiar attention.
“In 1960 when it was incorporated Springfield Tool and Die, the people we did business with … would write the orders to STD,” Gott explains. “When it closed and we decided to open a flea market, it seemed the natural thing to do because the building we were starting it in was Springfield Tool and Die Co. We thought about it. Do we change the name? We thought … people would remember it. It catches your attention.”
Through the years, tourists stop and get their picture taken in front of the sign for fun, drawing more attention to the business.
It was recently featured as a joke on the Dec. 14 “The Jay Leno Show.” During his Headlines segment, Leno asked, “Who knows what you’d pick up there?”
Gott keeps a sense of humor about it. “How many people get free advertising on ‘The Jay Leno Show’?” she says.
Flea market fluke Going from a machine shop to flea markets wasn’t a natural transition. It was a fluke, Gott says.
She and her husband, Terry Gott, purchased Springfield Tool and Die Co. at 651 S. Kansas Expressway in 1960, after he worked at the machine shop as an employee.
The shop made and repaired large equipment for manufacturing companies, such as Dayco, constructing huge pressure vessels that were used in production of belts and other items.
Twenty-seven years later, they closed Springfield Tool and Die under pressure from oil companies that started bidding against the local machine shop. After leasing the building for a short time, the couple decided to go into the flea market business.
“We still had this big building, so what do you do with it?” Patricia Gott says. “It was nothing we ever sat down and planned out. It just came along.”
After opening the flea market in 1990, business grew to the point that vendors had to sign a waiting list for space. The Gotts later moved the flea market to 1820 E. Trafficway in July of 1992 and added a central location, 505 E. Trafficway, in October 1996.
After her husband died in 2000, Patricia Gott became president, operating the company from her home office. Her son, Shawn Gott, and daughter Sherry Rawson help run the flea markets, open 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily and until 9 p.m. on Friday. Gott works full-time, and Rawson helps out when she is not running her own business, Sentencing Option Services Inc.
Penguins to pineapples Roger Dugger, manager and vendor at the east location, has worked at the flea market for 13 years. He commutes 60 miles from Mountain Grove to work at the market.
“This isn’t just what I call a job, it’s a lot of fun,” he says. “I consider Pat and her family, my family. Until something comes along later in life, this is my life.”
According to Patricia Gott, business is booming with 2009 revenues of $196,000 at the central location and $174,000 at the east location.
Patricia says it’s a simple business. STD leases approximately 400 booths and pay the vendors twice a month, keeping 10 percent of the sales, plus the rent. Monthly booth rates range between $45 and $80.
“That pays the bills,” she says. “Both stores did much better this year than last. It has done well during the recession.”
Merchandise includes antiques, everyday items, cookware, clothing, furniture, books, videotapes, musical instruments, used computer equipment and collectibles.
“There are a lot of collectibles and people are always looking for whatever they collect, whether it’s penguins or pineapples,” Patricia Gott says. “There’s just no telling what you’ll find. Name something and we’ve probably had it at some time.
“You can sell anything," she adds. "I know this now because once we had a clock made out of a pile of cow manure that was dried and shellacked and it sold, I tell you. If you can sell that, you can sell anything.”
