Franchises do well despite corporate bankruptcy

A PR guy I know dropped by the other day to sell me on a story idea.

During my talk with this PR guy - we’ll call him "Neil Gordon" - our conversation drifted onto the topic of his former employer, eAuction Depot.

The company, which helps you sell your stuff on eBay, is no longer a corporate franchising entity.

It is, in fact, bankrupt.*

Seems that a “difference of opinion” between the two head honchos – Joe Testino and William MacDonald – resulted in a falling-out of sorts. That resulted in Mr. Testino’s buyout , and that ultimately led to the corporate parent’s insolvency.

While the corporate parent is going through the bankruptcy court wringer, the individual eAuction Depot locations – including the two local stores (in Augusta at the LePavilion shopping center and in North Augusta at Martintown Plaza) – are operating independently and, from what I gather, are doing quite well.

So what’s the point of all this? Not much, really, except that Augusta lost another chance to birth a major retail chain.

The demise of the eAuction Depot franchise system reminds me of two other one-time Augusta-based chains, Pickles & Ice Cream maternity apparel and Golf Augusta Pro Shops.

Both were started here, both grew into a sizable number of locations (about a dozen for Pickles; a couple dozen for Golf Augusta) and both no longer exist as Augusta-based corporations.

When you get down to brass tacks, the most prolific chains this city has ever birthed was jewelry store Marks & Morgan (whose 137 stores were acquired for $160 million in 2000 by the owner of the Kay and Jared jewelry chains) and steakhouse Western Sizzlin’ (which once had 600 franchise locations and was sold in 1988 for $95 million to a California investment group).

I’m not sure which Augusta-area company will emerge as the “next big thing,” but if I had to bet on it, I’d say Dino’s Chicago Express (Greek/Chicago-themed grub; two Columbia County locations) or TakoSushi (Tex-Mex/Asian concept; locations in Augusta, Aiken and Greenville, S.C.).

I hope I didn’t just jinx them.

SEE WHAT’S IN STORE: It’s national chains galore out at the newly refurbished Augusta Mall. I intended to avoid the place until mid-January or so – when the crowds and construction associated with its new lifestyle center expansion should subside – but found myself there last Monday accompanying my spouse on her recon mission for a new evening dress.

I have to say that for a Monday afternoon, the place was hoppin’.

I rarely see any friends or acquaintances at the mall, but on this particular day I spotted eight people I know: two co-workers and their child; a former co-worker; an Augusta lawyer, a local father-son development duo and a credit union executive.

The new stores are nice, too. My wife even found a dress she liked. She would have bought it, too, if the store had had her size on the rack (which it didn’t) or if the sales staff would have made available to her the appropriately sized one worn by the store mannequin (which they didn’t).

Their loss is my wallet’s gain.

THE DEAL(ER) MAKES THE DIFFERENCE: My home is not for sale, but if someone came along and offered me twice its market value**, I’d be willing to sit down at the bargaining table.

That’s the situation over at Bobby Jones Ford. The dealership’s owners, Frank and Bud Lawrence, say they are in no hurry to relocate, but acknowledge they have been in informal talks with a real estate developer who is interested in their 20-plus acres at the intersection of Wrightsboro Road and Bobby Jones Expressway ( across the expressway from Augusta Mall). The off-and-on talks during the past 18 months have generated much grist for the rumor mill. The most common rumor is that a big-box, warehouse-style retailer (Costco anyone?) has its sights set on the tract.

“We’re going to do what’s best for Bobby Jones Ford,” Bud Lawrence said. “What may be best is for us to relocate to a new facility.”

MONSTERS OF ROCK: Work is well under way at Martin Marietta Materials’ Augusta quarry (the big hole you see when strolling the Augusta Canal towpath) to modernize the plant and boost its production of rock, gravel and sand from 2 million to 6 million tons a year. The $20 million equipment upgrade is expected to be completed by early 2009 and will make the 150-year-old quarry one of the nation’s single-largest producers of aggregates.

IT’S A PLASTIC WORLD: Demand for engineered plastics must be on the rise, because Solvay Advanced Polymers is investing more than $100 million to boost the production of its plastic polymer resins at its two U.S. plants, one at 3702 Clanton Road in south Augusta. The Belgium-based parent company said the investment will increase its Augusta plant’s production of 4-4 dichlorodiphenyl sulfone monomer, a compound whose English translation is “really, really tough plastic, like the kind you find under the hood of your car.”

XETHANOL’S AUGUSTA BIOFUEL REFINERY: Day 454. Not a drop.

* Which goes a long way toward explaining why I haven’t seen any cars outside the company’s River Watch Parkway offices in quite a while.

** Heck, even one and a half times. Oh, and closing costs, too.