Determined to pursue his dream as an artist and small businessman, Alfred Lavery left the security of his union carpentry job last spring to try and sell brightly painted bulls in different sizes and colors from a cart just around the corner from Merrill Lynch’s iconic bull on Wall Street.
His timing could not have been worse. While possible customers include the tourists who continue to crowd onto the narrow streets, thousands of people have lost their jobs in the buildings that rise up around his street vendor cart and overall consumer spending has plummeted.
Yet Lavery, 52, remains upbeat amid all the talk of an economic downturn as he looks out over his collection of hand painted bulls. They are mounted on blocks of wood and pieces of marble with plates that read: “Positive thinking,” Priceless.”
“The key in any new business is that you’ve got to believe in what you do,” said Lavery. “When I get here I am one of the happiest people on Wall Street.”
There is no shortage of street vendors who sell New York memorabilia to tourists in the city, but Lavery insists that he is not a typical souvenir vendor. He strongly believes in his business venture and he is deeply passionate about his bulls.
While roughly about half of his customers are tourists, Lavery said the other half is made up of corporations and charities that want to buy his customized bulls. He wakes up at 6 a.m. almost every day to write proposals to build his corporate business.
“I have a special edition that I am starting for the Fire Department of New York,” he said.
As part of his effort to drive sales, he tries to strike up conversations with almost every passer by and then give them a talk that can last up to ten minutes about the symbolism of the “Charging Bull” that the Italian-American artist Arturo Di Modica gave as a gift to the people of New York after the 1987 stock market crash. He is also always ready to talk about the New York Yankees and conversations about baseball have led to sales.
“I'm a big Yankees fan,” said Alana Anderson, who works at nearby Summits Security forum and walks by Lavery’s cart almost every day. “So I would stop and haggle with him over prices. I know that there are other street vendors who do sell the bulls, but it’s almost like a generic quality.”
Anderson and her boss were also able to help him get his first big corporate deal. They decided the bulls would make great gifts for clients and for guest speakers at the company's conferences, so they commissioned 30 customized bulls.
“Al makes sure that he can customize them for you so that it fits your business or purpose,” said Anderson.
