Thinking Big

Alfred did.

Alfred grew up in Beverly, Mass., population 30,000. And he was always up for new adventures. When he left high school he joined the Navy and became an underwater welder. Well, after the war, Alfred returned home and figured maybe he’d should try something else other than welding. So he did … he purchased a fruit stand … but Alfred wanted to make it bigger .. so he expanded it into a full supermarket that sold all kinds products to young families in the rapidly growing town … thenn thinking even bigger … he marshalled a whole bunch of resources from some local partners … and opened his own department store in Beverly with a couple of twists … first he sold brands names for less which brought in lots of people … and second he sublet parts of his store to other entrepreneurs who sold shoes and hardware supplies and other items … but Alfred made the ownership of those departments invisible. To the customer it was all just one big store with Alfred’s name all over it. Well the store was a big hit in Beverly so he expanded … and within ten years his department store was the leading offprice retail chain in entire the country.

Today, over 60 years after Alfred opened that first store there are now over 1,000 of them across the US and 60 in Canada too. And they are still named after Alfred … Alfred Marshall … Marshalls

Marshalls is a great idea because thinking big and then acting on it can take you places you never thought you’d go.