A Case Study of Michelle's Statuary

On October 1, 1975, Jimmie and Georgia Abdouch, owners of Michelle's Statuary of Omaha, Nebraska, were unable to decide whether or not to lease space at the North- side Mall. | The Abdouchs had been proprietors of their statue and wall plaque shop since February of 1974. Jimmie had been forced out of his refrigerator business in 1971 because of an allergy to freon, an essential element in refrigeration. From 1971 to early 1974, the Abdouchs had wandered from venture to venture unsucessfully. Jimmie and Georgia had made and painted wall plaques as a hobby in their spare time. Jimmie had also participated in various theater groups. | Some of their artist acquaintances had begun traveling to California to purchase unpainted statues. The statues were brought back to Omaha to be sold painted or unpainted through outlets such as hobby or art shops and exhibitions. Jimmie began ordering these statues from California through his friends. But the high overhead forced him to seek out Earl Orsie, an expert in Italian-made statuary. The Abdouchs learned Mr. Orsie's secret and decided to invest their remaining capital plus a $6,000 loan from the Small Business Administration into 180 molds for the statuary.

Grantor dc:publisher

Creighton University

Year dc:date.issued

1975

Author dc:creator

• Macaskill, John

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brannen, William H.

• Business--Case Study
• Omaha, Nebraska—History
• Nebraska--History
• United States--History

Statement dc:rights

• A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/123019

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cdr.creighton.edu:10504/123019