Lucky Breaks
Mobile mechanic, going for broke, Beanie Baby boom.
By David Doran
The crash of breaking glass is bad news for most people, but
music to the ears of Bill Marhoefer, 46, and his wife, Michelle,
39. That's because repairing fumbled figurines and shattered
sculptures is bread and butter for the owners of Broken Art
Restoration.
All the pieces started coming together in the early 1980s when
Bill, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, apprenticed with
an artist who specialized in repairing and restoring antique art
objects. In the two years Bill worked there, his mentor had only
one client--a large Chicago antique dealership--but that one
client's steady stream of business kept the art restorers both
busy and profitable.
Realizing a larger market for this type of service existed, Bill
borrowed $1,000 from his father and opened the business with
Michelle in 1980. The couple brought in business by canvassing
Chicago antique dealers. Within a few weeks, they had such a
backlog of clients that their average turnaround time to repair a
piece is now eight months.
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