A Chat with Steve Singer, president, Hartford York
CS: So you hope to expand your merchandise mix to allow you to boost circulation?
Singer: Yes, it should open up new prospect universes for us.
CS: Have you had any mentors over the course of your life?
Singer: Yeah, I've had a number of mentors. I guess the mentor from whom I've learned the most about mail order retailing is Charlie Silver. He was an SVP at Genesis several years ago. He's an industry veteran, been in the industry for 30 years or so. He's at Bloomingdale's now and he's on the speaker's council at the DMA. I learned a lot from Charlie, particularly about circulation strategy. Charlie is a great guy. I think 30 years is not a mis-statement of his time in the industry. I think he was with J. Crew at the very beginning. He was my immediate superior when we sold Lilliput to Genesis, and I learned a lot. It was ultimately a bad business decision, as Genesis went bankrupt, but during the course of the few years we were associated with Genesis I learned a lot from Charlie. We ramped up circulation at Lilliput dramatically. If I have a mentor in this industry, it's Charlie.
