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Executive Profile: Marty
Allen
RÉSUMÉ
Name: Marty Allen
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Party America
Background: Allen left Williams-Sonoma, Inc
for Party America in 1996. He led the Alameda-based company into
and out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in six months. He has overseen
two acquisitions of competitors. With annual sales of $225 million,
Party America has 300 stores nationwide offering party supplies.
Education: Bachelor of Science degree
in management from Nichols College in Massachusetts.
Residence: Oakland
Essential business philosophy: To win.
Best way to keep competitive edge: Never
be happy in second place. Losing is for the other guy.
Guiding principle: Love your customers.
Without them you have no business. We have a huge emphasis
on customer service. I believe in the concept of 1 percenters.
You can't do anything 100 percent better than anyone
else, but you can be 1 percent better in 100 different
areas.
Yardstick of success: To have mentored
one or two good people in your career.
Goal yet to be achieved: Running a $1
billion company. We're 25 percent of the way there.
JUDGEMENT CALLS
Best business decision: I took a
100% commission sales job right out of college in a tough
industry. The industry was comprised of independent representatives
with very exclusive territories, so it was a one-on-one gladiator
type of situation for getting business. No sales, no food on the
table. Soon, I ate very well.
Worst business decision: I hired my best
friend. I knew better. I had history working against me
from hundreds of other people. If you look at all partners
that have friendships, they all fall out.
Toughest business decision: I fired
my best friend and lost a 25-year friendship.
Biggest missed opportunity: Becoming
a Navy pilot when I was in college. I had my pilot's
license and loved it and had the opportunity to go into
the Navy.
Mentor: Tom Peters. I read every book
and listened to every tape and have been to most of his
seminars. I think he gets the concept of customers.
Word that best describes you: High energy.
Yes, it's two words. That's what you get with high energy.
TRUE CONFESSIONS
Like best about job: Talking to
customers and working with my employees. That is what business
is all about.
Least like about job: Failing a customer
or losing a good employee.
Pet peeve: Toll booths. They create
traffic jams.
Most important lesson learned: A secret
beyond one is never a secret.
Person most interested in meeting: Larry
Ellison. He plays to win and does - period.
Most respected competitor: If I use
all retail as a competitor, which is not totally fair,
I respect Williams-Sonoma. They execute well. Merchandising
and store execution; they do it very well.
Three greatest passions: Sailing, photography
and woodworking.
First choice for a new career: Navy
fighter pilot. OK, I guess I am too old today, so maybe
running a small five-star resort in New England. I would
want to make it a six-star.
PREDILECTIONS
Favorite quote: "The only thing
common about common sense is that it is not very common." -
Mark Twain
Most influential book: "Why Men Don't
Listen and Women Can't Read Maps", written by Barbara
and Allan Pease.
Favorite cause: National Rifle Association.
I believe in the freedom of people to bear arms.
Favorite status symbol: L.L. Bean.
Favorite movie: "Gladiator",
with Russell Crowe.
Favorite restaurant: Tante Marie's Cooking
School in San Francisco. It's not a restaurant per se;
you go there and cook your own dinner.
Favorite vacation spot: On the Colorado
River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You've got to
take a rubber raft and spend a couple of days to get
there. Right when you're in the center, there is no better
place on earth.
Favorite way to spend free time: Driving
my Austin Healey on a winding country road and ending
at a bed and breakfast for the night.
Automobile: 1966 Austin Healey
-Eric Young
More Articles:
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Chain
Store Age.com - Main & Wall Conference - Growth Strategies:
Buy or Build
During
one of the more popular Main & Wall
sessions, Marty Allen, CEO of Party America, and Dale Merrill, president
and COO of Kiddie Kandids, discussed the differences in external vs.
internal growth tactics. Both retailers have led their respective companies
through aggressive and successful growth cycles, but Party America
relied predominantly on acquisitions, while Kiddie Kandids grew organically. Read
more
>>
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San
Francisco Business Times - Party America - Celebrating booming
business at its stores
A little partying never hurt a business. At least that's what Marty Allen has
found in transforming a small company on a downward spiral into the second-largest
party retailer in the United States. Read
more >>
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RIS Editor's
Note - Culture Vulture
The dominant theme at the recent Retail Executive
Summit in Las Vegas was corporate culture - what it means,
how it works, where leaders fit into it and, ultimately,
the impact it has on the success of the organization. Several
speakers hit home runs with this topic including former Wal-Mart
executive Michael Bergdahl, Best Buy SVP John Thompson and
Tractor Supply CEO Joe Scarlett. But the speaker that hit
a grand slam was Marty Allen, CEO and President of Party
America, ... Read
more >>
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Party & Paper
Interview - Marty Allen CEO Party America - The executive
behind the chain's comeback gives his take on the industry. The
story of Party America as it relates to CEO Marty Allen reads
a bit like a Horatio Alger tale. Despite the fact that the
company declared bankruptcy shortly after he assumed control
in 1996, under Allen's watch Party America bucked the odds
and not only recovered, but soared. First it acquired Paper
Warehouse in 2003, then Party Concepts the following year.
Meanwhile, same-store sales snowballed at an impressive rate,
with the company posting a 6.6 percent increase for its fiscal
year ended Jan. 31, 2005. Read
more >>
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Selling
Halloween: Party America - Still Partying
Party America's President & CEO says his company's
recent successes are at least partly attributable to his decision to
strengthen its Halloween segment. Read
more
>>
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Retailing
Today: Party America is Gordon Brothers First Major Foray Beyond
Liquidation Services
Gordon Brothers may never shake its reputation as
the company failed retailers call when they need to clear out inventory
and pay creditors, but sometimes the 100-year-old firm finds a retailer
in need of a resuscitation rather than liquidation. That was the situation
in which Gordon Brothers found itself five years ago when it bought
the bankrupt chain of 26 Party America stores. Read
more >>
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Press
Release - Party America Sets Seven Consecutive Sales Years
and Record Profits
Party America, a 290 store leading retailer of party
supplies nationwide, announced today for year ending January 31, 2005,
system-wide sales increased 86 percent to $160,597,849. Same store
sales for the chain increased 6.6 percent. Read
more >>
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Chain
Store Age.com - Profiles of Leadership: Marty Allen CEO/President,
Party America
Shortly after Marty Allen joined Party America,
Inc., as chief executive in 1996, the company filed for bankruptcy.
Six months later, the retailer emerged stronger than ever and has yet
to turn off the afterburners. Read
more
>>
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Greetings,
Etc.: Party Awards Article
Third Annual National Party Retailing Awards Presented
at Chicago Gala Event; New Party Retailing Hall Fame Established, First
Member, Marty Allen, Inducted. Read
more >>
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RIS
News Case Study - POS Answers SOS - Technology facilitates
turnaround at Party America. - Today Party
America is the second largest party store chain in the United
States and brings in sales of more than $160 million annually.
Yet, just over nine years ago, the company was bankrupt. In
1998, current President and CEO Marty Allen took over the reins
of the company and, after aggressive structural changes and
an immediate investment in retail technology, pulled Party
America out of Chapter 11, in record time. Read
more >>
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RIS
Special Report: CEO Roundtable - View From The TOP State-of-the-store
insights into critical issues shaping retailing from five leading
CEOs. Marty Allen, CEO of Party America, which has grown from
30 stores 18 months ago to 300 today. Read
more >>
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Retail
Merchandiser - Party America Purchases Party Concepts
Party America, a 124-unit leading retailer of party
supplies, announced that it has acquired Party Concepts, the third
largest party supply retailer with 170 units in 35 states, for
$16 million dollars. Read
more >>
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East
Bay Business Times - Retail: Healthy going into strong season
Marty Allen, president and CEO of Party America is
a veteran of the retail world, where he served a stint at Williams-Sonoma.
Allen could have taken an easier route than taking over the helm
of Party America. Read
more >>
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California
CEO - Party America's Turn Around Success
In 1996, Marty Allen, who is known for his ability
to turn companies around, took control of a failed merger between
Party America and Party World. Read
more >>
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Oakland Tribune - Party
America To Buy Rival Chain
Alameda retailer Party America has agreed to buy bankrupt
rival Paper Warehouse and its franchising division for $7 million.
Party America will add more than 100 party-supply stores in the deal,
tripling its yearly revenue to $150 million, Chief Executive Marty
Allen said Friday. Read
more >>
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East
Bay Business Times - Allen brings turnaround to party
Marty Allen is nothing if not realistic about his role
at revived Party America, a 36-store retail party good chain that has
emerged from bankruptcy to five years of fun and profits. Although
the company's organizational chart pegs him as its president and CEO,
his business cards simply read: "Marty Allen, chief listener." "I chose
to put 'chief listener' on my cards partly because I'm just not big
on job titles," said Allen, who took over the top spot at the Alameda-based
company in 1996, and today makes himself available to listen to 600
employees and an occasional customer - whether satisfied or irate. Read
more >>
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Confectioner
Cover Article - Celebrating Candy At Party America
Hearing Party America described as the "nation's No.
2 party chain" doesn't sit all that well with the folks at the company's
Alameda, Calif., headquarters. Sure, Party America is second in size
to the 506-store Party City chain, but the committed, upbeat staffers
at Party America don't think of themselves as second-class citizens
in the realm of party goods merchandising. And rightly so. The chain
is a merchandising award winner on the retailing fast track. Thanks
to a series of acquisitions made in the past two years, Party America
has grown from a regional chain of 36 stores to a national chain of
300 stores in 45 states. Read
more >>
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East
Bay Business Times - EXCLUSIVE REPORTS - Party America Whoops
It Up
The celebration has started at Party America, the party
good chain that reported a gaudy 86 percent increase in sales for the
fiscal year ending Jan. 31. Total sales at the privately held Alameda
company came in at more than $160 million. Same-store sales increases
were up a healthy 6.6 percent over
the previous fiscal year. Read
more >>
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