|
|
|
Accidental Entrepreneur
Richard Greene didn’t set out to own all his small businesses gracing
the Guilford Green. He simply followed his muses
|
Business New Haven
11/30/1998
By: Fiona Phelan
|
Richard Greene believes he has had as many lives as he has businesses. And, adds the Guilford artist, businessman and entrepreneur, he has many lives yet to live.
Among his current businesses are the Greene Gallery, Accent on Frames, the Bistro on the Green, the Greene Art Gallery and his outdoor Sculpture Garden. All these are found on the corner of Whitfield Street on the green in Guilford.
In the aggregate, Greene says, the businesses generate about $1.5 million in annual revenues. Greene discreetly declines to give further financial details about the businesses. Combined, the businesses employ about 30 people, mostly part-timers, he says.
Richard Greene came to manage and own all of these businesses after joining the Merchant Marine to earn money for college. He then decided to join the army so that he could take advantage of the G.I. Bill as a means of attending college.
After serving briefly in Korea toward the end of that conflict he was discharged and set off to pursue his real interests - art and sculpture - at the University of Grenoble and the British Institute of the Sorbonne in France After marrying his first wife in France, Greene unexpectedly returned to Guilford and became involved with his parent's gift shop. Although he has four brothers and four children, none of them are involved in what started as a family business.
Founded in 1946 by Greene's parents, the Greene Gallery was the first part of the small empire in Guilford. The barn red-colored historic house boasts an eclectic array of the finest American and international home and decorative accessories.
Artfully arranged in the six-room shop are fine china and silverware, as well as classic and contemporary gifts. Antique furnishings and reproductions provide the backdrop for bedding, paintings, stationary and a myriad of household trimmings. All of these items are personally chosen by Greene and his business manager, Fran Harkins.
“She is like an angel that came down from heaven,” Greene says of Harkins. “Without her the last five years would have been hell.”
And it's a mutual admiration society. “He's quite a visionary,” says Harkins in return. “He keeps us hopping with all his ideas.”
Those last five years inflicted profound changes on Greene's life, not all of them welcome. He endured a protracted divorce from his third wife which, he claims, left him almost bankrupt. “I'm only just starting to turn things around,” he says.
Now, Greene is focused on the future. And he has many plans, including expansion of the Greene Gallery.
“I'd like to knock out a few windows in the back and build a greenhouse where customers can buy beautiful potted plants to give as gifts,” Greene explains.
And, not satisfied with that single project, Greene is negotiating to purchase a building off the Boston Post Road in Guilford that was formerly home to the Shore Line Newspapers.
If successful, Greene plans to turn this venture into a community and cultural arts center. This facility would be home to the International Sculptors Guild, a non-profit group founded by Greene for the purpose of providing a place for artists and sculptors to exhibit their work and for the public to be exposed to a variety of works from around the world. He would also like to start an artists' exchange program, Greene says.
For the moment, however, Greene is content to exhibit an array of American and international artists at the Greene Art Gallery on Whitfield Street. Housed in a converted barn, the Greene Art Gallery is one of the largest private galleries in the state.
Greene manages to attract the many international artists and sculptors who exhibit their work at the gallery mainly by word of mouth, he says. As an artist and sculptor himself, he often travels to view exhibitions around the world and advertises his gallery in a gallery guide. He also reviews slides of artists' work and decides whether to represent that artist.
“There is a broad range of abstract, contemporary and impressionistic work in the gallery,” Greene notes. “I've just returned from a trip to England with three large pieces of sculpture for exhibit - one of which weighs 75 pounds.” All of the pieces in the gallery are there on consignment by the artists, he says. At the moment none of Greene's own work - mostly sculptural - is on display at the gallery.
The gallery opened in 1976 when Guilford officials asked to use Greene's barn to display works of art by past and present Guilford artists in celebration of the nation's bicentennial. Greene readily accepted the idea, and even after bicentennial fever ebbed, the gallery flourished. At one time, he says, he sold a painting for more than $35,000 from the gallery.
Now, once again, Greene has ideas for expansion. He says he'd like to open a gallery in New York and one in the South, perhaps in Asheville, N.C.
“I enjoy every aspect of these businesses,” says Greene. “It's varied, so it's not boring. I really have a great deal of freedom. I do whatever I want and what I do for the business happens to revolve around the things I enjoy - art, and food.”
Greene collects ideas and inspiration for his business during his forays to visit his children (two live and study in France; the other two are here in the United States). On his travels, Greene says he often discovers new and interesting artists or unusual giftware and recipes. Each of these he brings home to his little corner of Guilford.
One of those corners, the Bistro on the Green, opened in 1991 and attracts a thriving lunch and dinner business. Given Greene's love of art, the walls of the restaurant are a natural showcase for a variety of original works that are there on loan.
“This is just a little sideline,” Greene says of the restaurant. “The restaurant is quite unlike any other in the world. I have gotten in the kitchen and tried my hand at just about everything. In the summer, when our chef left, I even tried a little cooking.”
Secluded behind the restaurant and the Greene Art Gallery is an outdoor sculpture garden. Spread over three acres are a variety of metal and stone sculptures, a gazebo and a small house built of hay. In the summer, there is dining on a brick patio.
Not content merely to operate his properties for business, Greene also offers his buildings, and his artwork, for fundraising on behalf of good causes. He has hosted a fundraiser for Tibetan Buddhists from Old Saybrook, to raise money to save Faulkner's Island, and a recent fundraiser for the Women & Family Life Center of Guilford that featured “Men Who Cook.”
Greene is also passionately involved with Guilford's Vision Project - a long-term, comprehensive planning document for the town. He recently ran for the town's Board of Education on the Libertarian ticket. Although the he did not win a seat, he was the highest vote-getter for his party. Greene is also actively trying to curry interest in preserving the Griswold Airport in Madison.
“Air travel is the way to go,” he says. “Airports like the Griswold are going to become vital to the survival of people along the shoreline. It's not something we should let go without a fight.
“I still feel like I'm 25,” says Green, “and I plan to live until I'm about 93, so I expect to be able to accomplish all the things I want - in this lifetime.”
For someone who never planned on settling in Guilford, Greene certainly seems to have become a fixture.
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
