Billion Dollar Painter: The Triumph and Tragedy of Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light by G. Eric Kuskey

Author:G. Eric Kuskey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781602862456
Publisher: Weinstein Publishing
Published: 2014-09-08T14:00:00+00:00

When I was invited, my role at these seminars was to give a presentation about the licensing aspect of the gallery business. I told people about the licensed products available for sale in the galleries. I demonstrated how they could offer calendars, books, and other Thomas Kinkade collectibles for sale, and how these small licensed items would bring a first-time buyer in to buy a trinket, who would later return to buy the actual art; once a customer was inside, the magic could take effect.

Over time, I looked into countless faces of prospective gallery owners and saw their rapturous looks; I saw the joyous expressions that told me they had been utterly won over by the magic of the experience. I was one of them. After watching many of Rick’s presentations, touting the virtues and profit potential of owning a Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery, I went home with starry eyes and explained to my wife how we really needed to think about opening a signature gallery of our own. That we just couldn’t lose with the numbers being what they were, and the potential of earning into the millions. My wife looked at me, a hand on her hip, a smirk on her face. She said, “Eric, you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid.”

The morning after the seminars were completed, the final and most important event of the weekend came: a meeting in which a contract to open a gallery of their own was offered to each couple. It was time to sign on the dotted line and make a full commitment; an investment that in some cases exceeded $150,000.

The requirements set out by the contract to run a licensed gallery were extensive—so extensive that the contract was over a hundred pages long. A minimum inventory had to be purchased, oftentimes totaling over $100,000. The gallery had to be built in approved venues, malls, or storefronts, and furnished and built with approved materials and approved construction companies. It had to be designed to replicate the Thomas Kinkade Corporate Owned Galleries, with specific prescribed floor plans and layouts. Gallery owners also had to agree to the pricing policies of the company, offer the works at prescribed prices, and agree that if they were to deviate and discount any of the works separately, they would automatically lose their license and were expected to burn their entire inventory.

The opportunity to license a gallery was so exclusive that if the candidates for a signature gallery didn’t sign a contract right then and there in the offices of the Thomas Kinkade University, they could forever lose their chance to buy into this miraculous business. It was made clear that scores of people were applying for the same privilege. There were wait lists, and people were being turned back. Only a limited number of galleries were to be opened; it was now or never. The signature gallery candidates were each interviewed. They were told the process was very selective, and not everyone was considered. In fact, many more candidates were turned down than were allowed in.

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