Code,911072
Subject,Steve Presser
Date,?
Interviewer,?
Abstract,"Steve Presser, owner of Big Fun, describes his life in Cleveland Heights, being owner of a toy store, and his love for Coventry. He begins by giving a brief history of the path he took to owning Big Fun. He also talks about the renovations and construction he did to open the original store and then the current store. After that, Steve discusses his affinity for locally owned business and his affiliation with the ""Cash Mob,"" which is a group of people who go to locally owned stores and spend money.He ends by talking about how special Coventry is and how each store and restaurant has a story."
Tags,"University Heights, Belvoir Elementary School, Wiley Jr High, University of Michigan, Gearity Elementary School, Cleveland Heights High School, Chicago, Goodies, Uncle Fun, Sideshow, Big Fun, toy stores, Kinsman Lee Bowling Lanes, Coventry Poultry Market, High Tide Rock Bottom, Pee Wee Hermann, Carl Jara, ""Fencespiration"", Turtle Park, walkable neighborhoods, local business, Park Synagogue, Cain Park, Jungle Jim's Grocery, New-old stock, investment, Cash Mob, Coventry Street Fair, Coventry, La Cave du Vin, Grog Shop"
Special Notes,
0,Sound Check; Introductions - grew up in University Heights in the fourth house on the street; typical grid like pattern; Went to Belvoir Elmentary school which is now Gearity Elementary School and then Wiley Jr High
1,He graduate from Heights High in 1976; Went to University of Michigan was going to go to medical school and decided not to; moved to california but realized it was not the place for him; he moved back to cleveland and worked with the developmentally handicapped
2,"Always liked working with people, worked there for 2 years; married a girl that he was in love with since the seventh grade"
3,Opted to persue another career: stock broker for 7 years; He was always involved with people with disabilites;
4,"Created a company called access design group, describes his position; Good job but not lucrative; He has always been a collector"
5,"He went to a store in chicago called Goodies, describes his first experience, which he calls an epiphany,"
6,Describes the store; he became friends with the store owner; one day he calls the owner and he tells him he wants to open up his own toy store; Describes the value of warehouses that are filled with stuff
7,"He told his friend (the owner of Goodies) and they went through the warehouse together which helped start his store Big Fun, which opened official on April 1, 1991"
8,Describes the Coventry Location; Describes his first warehouse before they renovated it-good story about a rat
9,Slight interuption; Describes working with the city planning division-had a rebate and loan program; tells about the investors in his business
10,Describes the renovations in his first building-the floors came from the Kinsman-Lee bowling lanes; the fixtures came from a five and dime store
11,Continues to talk about his first place where he spent 14 years;
12,It was next door to the Poultry Market; Describes the first summer that he spent there-how they shared a dumpster with the poultry market and crows flew out of the dumpster on a hot day
13,"He freaked out when the crows flew over him; he then moved across the street and took over the High Tide/Rock Bottom space, which was a great store; value of having a basement"
14,"Likes the space; it required a redesign, but not that much; only use half of the lights;"
15,He had the idea to paint the ceiling a graffiti version of the Sistene Chapel; got a large group together and figured out if it would work and it did
16,"For the floor of the new building: painted it the ""yellow brick road"" and used bold Kindergarten colors"
17,Designed the store around an old refridgerator and beauty cases; the store took shape and he was still doing work through 2012
18,"He describes the process to get his neon sign via reclamation art; Describes the panel around the door, which he had an artist friend do"
19,"Creation of a large lunchbox artwork; loves Pee Wee Hermann; Carl Jara, famous sandsculpter, also made a piece for the store"
20,"Had a mural of a sideshow commissioned; and now his wife is doing a window display-she does reclamation art and did ""Fencespiration"""
21,Connection to Cleveland Heights: Lived on Euclid Heights Blvd; describes Turtle Park;
22,Describes the move from one side of Coventry to the other-comical and like a circus with all of the boxes they had to move; Loved Cleveland Heights-wanted to start a family there
23,"Cleveland Heights ""a walkable neighborhood""; His kids went to Cleveland Heights public schools just as he had and his parents had"
24,Accepted an invitation to the Cleveland Heights High Hall of Fame;
25,He is involved with Heights Arts and is a founding member; mission: educate community of the importance of arts-responsible for benches and planter areas of coventry
26,Loves Cleveland Heights because of its activism; He has been master of ceremonies at the Spelling Bee of Cleveland Heights
27,Goes to Park Synagogue; Loves Cain park calls it a jewel; Loves the sports teams in Cleveland Heights
28,"Describes the concept of Big Fun: ""Things you dont need but gotta have."" Come shopping and leave smiling;"
29,Says his store is not only about collectables; non descriminatory - has many girls toys; many employees were longtime customers;
30,"wants to remain mom and pop-which is why he is very vocal about saving places like coventry; ""Importance of a local neighborhood vibrant"""
31,Says his parents were very involved at different stages of the store; His says his kids have not been as involved-theyve helped but not to the point of taking over
32,Describes himself as a comfort food restaurant that does not sell food; describes the various departments in his store-vintage games and gag gifts to name a few
33,The presentation of the store is overwhelming and thats the way he likes it; did decoupage on the floor and laminated it
34,"His friend Ed Frankl from Goodies and later Uncle Fun and Sideshow said, ""our store should be the safe place on the monopoly board"" leave the stess at the door; honored with many awards"
35,"Playboy.com voted them one of the 20 coolest stores in the world; describes a Jungle Jim's Grocery, which was also on the list"
36,His store was subject of a Cash Mob raid; describes what that was like and how much fun he had; Put coventry on the map-raised awareness about mom and pop
37,Cash Mob is all about recognizing local businesses and networking; describes how cash mob was started-way to infuse money into neighborhoods
38,Shows the impact of what Cash Mob did in his store; relates it to what a flash mob is
39,"Most of what Flash mobs were about were artistic, music filled, but the bad type of flash mob is where youths run through businesses destroying without regard; Cash mob is supposed ot be the opposite"
40,He says the impact of Cash Mob is greater than any business collective they have tried within the last three years
41,"Opened in november of 1990, in a place which is now next to coventry cats; did this to sell things while they were renovating their builidng-opened April fools 1991"
42,"Did not have a ""first"" customer; the point of the first day was for people to come in and be over whelmed"
43,"Willy Wonka was a large influence; First opened up had a lot of ""new old stock"" which is old items that haven't been seen in 50years;"
44,The first day he knew he was going to be successful because of how the people reacted when they came in
45,The most fun things in the store: happens outside of the store when he gets to go through house sales and warehouses looking for new toys
46,Warehouse digs are the best because of the mystery; People also bring in toys to sell; He loves toys from the 40s and 50s
47,Describes this toy they had from Western Germany; the most expensive toy: $3000 transformer that was mint and still sealed who he told to a broker that supplies the stars
48,"These stars buy these toys as an investment, not for joy; he prefers that people buys these toys for joy; can buy toys for $500 but also for 25 cents"
49,They try to cover all ages and price ranges; He chose Coventry because it is a unique neighborhood; wife's parents were caterers on coventry
50,Says it was very ethnic many years ago; these immigrants had their businesses on the first floor and lived on the second; Coventry has gone through many changes but it has always retained its mom and pop feel
51,"Coventry is a ""cool, hip place"" Says Tommy is a great friend, along with Mac's books and other promote artists and cultural events"
52,Says the north end is now great for clothing; it has always had an artistic feel to it; have summer street fairs-its a fun place to go
53,"It is fun for kids, young adults, and grandparents; people of all ages can come and enjoy themselves;"
54,"Coventry is very unique, not another neighborhood in cleveland that is like Coventry-daytime and evening-other places are strong in the evening or the weekend; talks about the summer street fair-used to be the whole weekend-not anymore"
55,Brought back the summer street fair and made it more family friendly; Describes the events-jugglers and face painters; also brought in the arts
56,Some issues have arised-people who do not respect the fair and they are evaluating whether or not they will do the street fair again
57,"Big Dog theater and his experiences: loves music, but also loves the comedy that goes on there; would like to see more people aware of it"
58,Coventry park by the school shows music
59,Grog shop and La Cave du Vin - great places and award winning; great staff and describes where la cave is-very european feel to it
60,Grog shop and how long it has been there-many big bands of today got their break at Grog Shop;
61,Describes how many people the grog shop can hold; describes other award winning restaurants on coventry upset that Hunan is leaving
62,American Apparel and Blush are some of the merchandisers that are there; All of the restaurants and the stores are award winning
63,Coventry is special because it is walkable and there are many places to go; End of Interview
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