Ellis Mintz, 82 - N.O. furniture magnate
Louisiana Lou
Bold moves paid off for low-key executive
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
By John Pope
Staff writer
http://www.nola.com/obituaries/t-p/index.ssf?/base/obits-33/1137481286176100.xml
Ellis Mintz, a local businessman who built his family's furniture
business into an internationally recognized force by working hard and
anticipating what customers wanted, died Saturday at Presbyterian
Hospital in Dallas. He was 82.
Mr. Mintz, a lifelong New Orleanian who had evacuated to Dallas before
Hurricane Katrina, was the former owner and chief executive officer of
Hurwitz-Mintz Furniture Co.
He had a simple explanation for his success in what can be a roller
coaster of an industry.
"You have to stay ahead of yourself," he said in a 1989 interview. "You
have to anticipate what's going to happen next. . . . You have to keep
up with what's going on. That's the only way you can survive in a
business like this."
Mr. Mintz entered the family business in the 1930s by working summers in
the warehouse.
In 1946, three years after earning a bachelor's degree in business at
Tulane University, he took over Hurwitz-Mintz at 211 Royal St. from his
father, Morris Mintz.
Mr. Mintz took charge just in time for the post-World War II building
boom, and was ready for the demand from new families who wanted
furniture and accessories for their new homes.
He grew his business by buying the building next door on Royal Street
and three more just a block over on Chartres Street, using the latter
purchase as warehouse space until he made it part of the store in the
1970s. In that decade, he opened Units, a contemporary furniture store
that, until its closing in 2004, served as a companion for the Royal
Street store, known for its more traditional furnishings.
Although he admitted that times were tough just before the Korean
conflict in the early 1950s, Mr. Mintz's business prospered again when
the oil industry boomed. When the oil slump hit in the 1980s and local
business shrank, Mr. Mintz changed his focus to the still-thriving
tourist market, showing off his wares on two streets in the
tourist-thick French Quarter.
It may have seemed audacious, but it worked. In the late 1980s, the
tourist share of his market rose from 5 percent to 20 percent in five years.
"The economy was falling apart here," he said in the interview. "What
was I supposed to do? Wait until it got better? That's crazy. We went
after the tourist market, and it is one of the best things that ever
happened to us."
In addition to having money that local people lacked, tourists had time
to shop for things they wanted, Mr. Mintz said.
Mr. Mintz, whose cousins operated two other furniture businesses,
Lafayette and Mintz & Mintz, deliberately kept a low profile.
"He's not a gigantic public figure," said Sandy Maslansky of the Better
Business Bureau in the 1989 interview. "But he doesn't have to be. His
business speaks for him."
He retired six years ago, said his son, Mitchell Mintz.
At his death, the company employed about 200 people.
Its headquarters is at 1751 Airline Drive. Katrina-related damage forced
the closing of the Royal Street outlet, but it is scheduled to reopen,
possibly as early as the end of February, once repairs are made,
Mitchell Mintz said.
Mr. Mintz was a donor to many local institutions, including Tulane
University, Congregation Beth Israel, the New Orleans Opera House
Association, Temple Sinai, the Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans
Ballet Association, the Touro Infirmary Foundation, the Jewish
Federation of Greater New Orleans, the Jewish Community Center and the
Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife, Elaine Levy Mintz; a
sister, Bella Mintz Goldberg of Dallas; two brothers, Saul Mintz of
Monroe and Albert Mintz; and a grandchild.
A funeral was held Monday at Temple Sinai, 6227 St. Charles Ave. Burial
was in Hebrew Rest Cemetery.
Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.