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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2001)
IBS i Page A8 b Jlortlanà (Pbsrruer ■ H September 26,2001 minority business V / v z X s p e c ia l e d itio n Shifting from Hard Times to Great Success A Decades-Old Family Business Learns to Adapt for Survival by J oy R amos and R on W ebf . r T he P or plan d O bserver F o r o v er three decades, the K nauls fam ily had built up an im pressive clientele through their food and entertainment busi ness, and then later w ith a h air studio. Just to econom ically survive, they ’ ve had to “shift gears.” W hatever the K nauls fam ily ventures into through their businesses, they leave a national im pression. T heir ties to fam ous people is obvious w hen you step into their hair studio, G e n e v a ’s S hear Perfection, located at 5601 N .E. M artin Luther King Jr., B1 vd. O ne wall is dedicated to their association w ith w ell-known entertainers, professional athletes and politi cians. S tanding out in these pictures is the ever-present Paul K nauls Sr. w ith his naval hat and beam ing smile. The opposite wall is littered w ith honors and articles w ritten on them about their exemplary service and comm unity involvements. The first family business started by the Knauls family was the C otton C lub in 1963, located at 2125 N. V ancouver A ve. It w as one o f the “hottest” m usic night clubs in Portland, fre quented by blacks and w hites. M usic artists on -th e-rise got their start at the C otton Club. M any o f them later w ent on to becom e nationally renown. B usiness from the C otton C lub w as so profitable that the K nauls opened another club called P a u l’s in 1965. It was located at 125 N. Russell. T he dow nfall o f the C otton C lub occurred w hen M artin Luther King, the fam ed civil rights leader died. B lack and white club-goers w ere not as likely to be seen together. Segregation w as again on the rise. P a u l’s m et the sam e fate o f closing because E m m anuel H ospital w as expanding out, m aking it necessary for the hospital to buy out the business. W hat rem ains o f the area is an em pty street block. The Knauls fam ily kept up their interest o f running a club by opening G eneva’s in 1970. A fter over 20 years in that business, they grew tired o f doing it. Opportunity “knocked on their door” w hen U nion Ave. was given anam e change to M artin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and a small building along the busy street was for sale. It took som e serious convincing by K nauls Sr. to get his w ife G eneva to consider opening up a h air studio there. T he fam ily spent one year renbvating the building that once housed W in ch ell’s D onut Shop. In 1991, G en ev a’s S hear Perfection w as opened. The family business currently em ploys thirteen stylists and barbers, including son Paul K nauls Jr. and a granddaughter, Cherice. Besides servicing celebrity clients, G eneva’s gives fine ser vice and w arm hospitality to anyone w ho com es in the door - fam ous or not. P rofessionals such as the K nauls give hope to o ther busi nesses, exem plifying that not only can you succeed as entrepre neurs, but you can also survive ever-changing financial tim es through hard w ork and good planning. The Knauls family (from left) Paul Sr., Geneva and Paul Jr. in front o f their nationally renown hair studio, Geneva's Shear Perfection that's located In northeast Portland. The greatest part of America's wealth lies with family-owned businesses. Family firms comprise 80 to 90% o f all business enterprises in North America. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver • Soft Real Estate Market Might Provide Benefit for Small Firms NEW YORK (AP) — Your small business has grown so large that your office or build ing is just too small. And maybe you’re in a part of the country with a depressed real estate market. It might be a good time to consider buying or leasing bigger quarters— after you ’ ve done a lot of business analysis and careful shopping. Recently, the Federal Re serve reported some softness in the commercial real estate markets in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta and Dallas areas. The Fed also said there were more vacancies and fall ing lease rates in California, the result of the continuing cutbacks among Internet and technology companies. Lower rents or asking prices means business owners are in a stronger bargaining position when dealing with a landlord or seller. But even in areas where com mercial real estate is strong and rents and prices are high, there are ways to find a good deal. Real estate experts say cur rent market conditions in some areas favor sm all business owners, particularly when it comes to leasing. “A year ago or two years ago, a lot of people couldn’t be bothered with you,” said Tamie Thompson, a prin cipal with Spaulding & Slye Colliers, a real estate firm in B o sto n . Now , “they want to fill those little spaces and if you’ve been a stable business around for a long time and good about steadily paying your rent, y o u ’ll find landlords more will ing to rent.” Fallout from the dot-com crash has made space much more available in parts of the coun try where high-tech co m p an ies were clustered. Often, the space is being re * « H IT COUPON I f GOOD F5 > *20% OFF »NY REGULAR PRICEDC CA/TETTE, OR LP k www. musicmlllenni M IL L E N N IU M I A S I S I 1)1 J I S S I B U R N S ID I 5 0 3 -2 3 I S92G I 4 N ( )l< I I I W I S I S O I N W 2 .3 i< l » 0 3 2 IS O U ». 4 sublet by companies that rented more space than they needed based on growth projections that have now been discarded. Thompson said the glut of space some landlords have is making them more inclined to negotiate not only on price but on improvements to the prop erty and other lease terms. Even in the stronger mar kets, small businesses can find better terms, said Linda Stoller, director of the Center for Real Estate at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. “If companies are willing to be a little less centrally located to highway access or be in buildings that don’t have the cachet that others have,” they ’ 11 find rents arc cheaper, she said. “If I were a small business owner, I would be looking,” she said. Bill Gladstone, a real estate agent in Harrisburg, Pa., said business owners will find bet ter terms in what he called Class B buildings, those that are a step below the brand- new, glossy office towers. If you’re thinking of buying, perhaps the most important bit of advice you can get from a real estate professional is not to rush into anything.
