Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.misc From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Learningsmith provides store for curious minds Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 14:12:10 EST Message-ID: Lines: 87 \SE C;MONEY \HD Learningsmith provides store for curious minds \BY Betsy Pisik \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Marshall J. Smith, the Massachusetts entrepreneur, wanted instant credibility. WETA, Washington's public broadcasting affiliate, was strapped for cash. Their joint project, WETA Learningsmith is, in Mr. Smith's description, "a general store for the curious mind" with an emphasis on educational and creative wares. The 5,000-square-foot store, opening today in Tysons Corner Center, carries an assortment of books, games, computer software and music. Its 6,500 items are divided into 11 "discovery areas" - "Socrates' Sandbox" is just for preschoolers; "Quarks to Black Holes" is strictly science-related. In the "Tower of Babel," for example, the selection of foreign-language items go way beyond dictionaries. The French version of Monopoly is beside French flashcards, audio and videotapes, computer programs and the best-selling book "French for Cats." "The underlying concept is that we don't sell product lines per se, but learning areas," said Mr. Smith from his Belmont, Mass., office. In addition, the store stocks Chinese puzzles; jazz recordings; CD-ROM disks; chemistry sets; books on sign language, cooking and math; and anything related to dinosaurs. Make-it-yourself kits for pinatas and African masks are just shelves away from globes and "the world's hardest jigsaw puzzle." In addition, a tenth of the store will be used to market WETA and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) merchandise such as videotapes of "This Old House" and memberships for WETA-TV Channel 26. The Tysons Corner store is the fourth Learningsmith and the only one outside the Boston area, where WGBH, Boston's public broadcasting affiliate, is a partner. WGBH owns 25 percent of the Learningsmith Corp., the stores' parent company. Unlike WGBH, which invested close to $1 million in Learningsmith, WETA has no financial stake in the company. Like WGBH, the Arlington-based station has a licensing agreement allowing the store to use its name and logo in exchange for a percentage of all merchandise sold. Learningsmith will also buy ads in WETA's viewers' guide, and underwrite programming. WETA's first-year revenues from the Tysons Corner store should be "moderate," said Mike Soper, the station's senior vice president of marketing and development. "We don't know how successful the store will be, but if anyone thought this would be the magic bullet to fund WETA, they'd be wrong." In addition to Channel 26, WETA also operates WETA-FM (90.9), and produces original programming for PBS stations. WETA's 1991 operating budget was $18.5 million, excluding production of national programming. Memberships account for $10 million and corporations about $2 million. The federal government kicks in an additional $2.6 million, said Mr. Soper, with a variety of sources making up the balance. Revenues from WETA Learningsmith, which Mr. Soper declined to speculate on, will be "just another piece of the pie," he said. WGBH has had "good returns," said Andrew Griffiths, senior vice president of finance for the Boston station. He said sales were "picking up" and exceeded their projections of $50,000 in first-year royalties, a projection based on one store instead of the three that opened. "A very successful store is not going to yield a fraction of what we need," said Mr. Griffiths of his station's $120 million annual budget, including national productions. "But we still think it's a sound investment." He says they hope to open a store in Springfield, Mass., near sister station WGBY. The PBS tie-in "gives us instant credibility, lifts us right up," said Mr. Smith, a longtime supporter of public broadcasting. He says his commitment to lifelong education matches public broadcasting's, making their partnership a natural one. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM