David Einstein was the quintessential all American entrepreneur.
In Part 1 of ‘David’s Dream’ we told you about his beginnings and how he displayed amazing salesmanship and customer service even as a child. By the time the Second World War ended in 1945, David not only saw tremendous opportunities, he acted on them with typical verve and vigor.
COFCO’s first inventory:
Amongst his first sales, as a now self-employed business man, were a horse blanket, an airplane propeller, a Vornado fan, and a ”government spec” piece of office furniture.
Quite an eclectic inventory! All these items were in the trailer he’d bought from Brewster Aeronautical. Brewster Aeronautical was an aircraft factory in Long Island City for whom David had worked. After World War II, it closed its doors and David was out of a job.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, David saw a pathway to his dream and quickly purchased the last load of miscellaneous “stuff” being sold off by Brewster. He brought his ‘swag’ to Philadelphia where he established his own surplus company (Commercial Surplus).
We wish we had a record of exactly what his first sale was, but one thing we are sure of – Dad was no doubt elated and the customer left happy as well!! As we mentioned in Part 1, he had the ability to delight his customers – in fact, one of Dad’s first clients in 1946 was National Freight (NFI) and we are delighted to tell you that they are still COFCO clients today!
And so began the enterprise we now know as COFCO, the acronym for Commercial Office Furniture Company! Look out for Part Three of David’s Dream which will be published in April.
