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By Kent Larsen
Osmond Goes Retail: Jimmy Opens Memorabilia Store
PARK CITY, UTAH -- Jimmy Osmond, the youngest of the family that has become
synonymous with Mormons in music, is opening the Osmond General Store in
Park City, Utah to sell a combination of expensive show business memorabilia
and inexpensive tourist trinkets and products for the home. But Osmond, who
co-owns the store with John and Stephanie Perry, says the store is a
showplace for other plans.
The mix of merchandise may seem a little strange, but store manager Doug
Holdaway says there is logic behind the plan. He says the show business
memorabilia is meant to lure shoppers inside, where they are more likely to
buy the less expensive goods. The memorabilia includes everything from a
$2,195 toy pistol once owned by Elvis to a $3,995 pair of leather gloves
worn by Marilyn Monroe. Osmond guarantees all the memorabilia, "We worked
with a lot of these people. I got the memorabilia from them [the stars],
from their agents, and from other collectors. I guarantee it all personally.
If its authenticity is questioned, I'll buy it back."
However, the less expensive material isn't just Osmond-related goods. In
fact, those products, while there, are in an out-of-the-way corner and
aren't promoted with prominent signs or photographs. Instead shoppers find
trendy Western-style furniture and rugs, Christmas tree ornaments, bags of
specialty pancake mix and similar goods. Holdaway says the store is unique,
It's "like the Hard Rock Cafe meets Pottery Barn," he joked.
Osmond has bigger plans for the concept, however. He says the store is the
first step to an Internet-based business selling memorabilia and other
goods. He admits that he is patterning his concept after what Robert Redford
did with Sundance, "I have to have a showplace. The Park City store is a
cool, old cowboy building that serves as a nice icon for what I want to do."
Jimmy Osmond may be the most active of the Osmond brothers in business. He
owns and runs the Osmond Family Theater in Branson, Missouri, as well as a
real estate company. He also produces live entertainment shows in China and
is a consultant to Warner Brothers.
Sources:
Store Banking on Famous Name
Salt Lake Tribune 7Oct01 A2
By Jim Woolf: Salt Lake Tribune
Jimmy Osmond opens Hollywood memorabilia store in Park City
St George UT The Spectrum 8Oct01 A2
By Associated Press
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