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4
MERCURY page 49
2.9%
financing
up to 48
months '
Less Rinke Discount . . .$3,100
Less Factory Incentive . .$2,500
Less Rinke Discount . .$6,100
Less Factory Incentive ..$2,000
Less Rinke Discount . .$6,500
Less Factory Incentive . .$2,500
ante set it apart, as did its washa-
bility," Louis said.
Business tripled in a short
time, putting Mercury at the fore-
front of the interior wall paint
market.
While Louis headed up the
manufacturing end of the busi-
ness, Nate handled administra-
tion and Myron, although he was
educated as an engineer, headed
the sales department.
Once they moved from their
12th Street location into a man-
ufacturing plant on Lyndon Av-
enue, Louis, Myron and Nate
pretty much ran the business, by
then known as Mercury Paints.
"We were more or less suited to
what we did," says Myron, a past
president of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek. "Everybody took care of his
own department."
Coming home to assume a big
role at Mercury was not an ad-
mission of defeat for Charles
Soberman. At 29, he'd been work-
ing in New York City as a corpo-
rate lawyer for five years. Law
didn't inspire him, but the fami-
ly business did.
It's obvious his sentiment runs
deep: His office at company head-
quarters on Schaefer is filled with
beautifully luminous black and
white photographs, quaint old ex-
terior signs from paint companies
and fine art paper constructions,
all around the theme of painting.
"We've prided ourselves on the
level of service we provided, con-
sistency of qunlity and a high lev-
el of employee training," Charles
says. 'We were lucky to be here
during a rapid expansion. We
didn't see the same kind of future
as we did the past."
He hired about 90 percent of
Mercury's employees, who now
number 110. Sherwin Williams
hired many of them, while others
found jobs elsewhere. Charles and
Paula brought in consultants to
teach resume writing and inter-
viewing skills to the remaining
employees, many of whom have
been with Mercury for 10 years
or longer.
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Charles, a Huntington Woods
resident, believes low employee
turnover has a lot to do with the
company's progressive attitudes
and policies. Mercury was among!
the first to offer full medical ben-
efits, including dental and opti-
cal.
"It's taken many years for oth-
er companies to catch up with us,"
he says.
Then there was the tremen-
dous amount of goodwill Mercury (—/
showed to the community. It was
a "Business Buddy" to the Jew-
ish Association for Residential
Care, providing paint for group
homes, and over the years do-
nated to the Attic Theatre, the
Detroit Zoo, the Michigan State
Fair and other cultural institu-
tions and projects.
"I had a policy of never turning
down any legitimate charity,"
Charles says, adding that he has
urged his successors to maintain
as strong a commitment to the
community.
Paula Milgrom had been
working at the Fresh Air camps
when she joined Mercury in
1977, a year before Chuck re-
turned from New York. She
started in collections and credit,
eventually took over personnel
administration, and brought the
company into the computer age.
During the past year, Paula has
been running the plant at its 27-
year-old location on Schaefer in
Detroit.
"Only some guys in the facto-
ry have been here longer than
me," she quips.
After Mercury officially
changes hands, Paula, of West
Bloomfield, plans to work in con-
sulting and benefits, but she
doesn't know where.
"I look at it as declaring a new
major," she says.
Charles, who also holds an
MBA, is teaching classes at
Wayne State University's busi-
ness school and plans to edge into
business consulting.
"This is a good stage of my life
to start a new career," he says. [11
758-1800
If traveling west on 1.696, exit Hoover, follow Service Drive to RINKE. If traveling east on 1.696, exit Van 0}(e;
take to second bridge past Van Dyke over expressway to RINKE
Open Mon. 7-9pm, Tues. 7-7 pm, Wed. 7-7 pm, Thurs. 7-9 pm, Fri. 7-6 pm
MASTER
DEALER
DEDICATED TO
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ELRNF
TAD
CMVT
ISL
Exchange
Sept. 3
Sept. 13
NASDAQ
'13.50
'12.75
NASDAQ
NASDAQ
'20.62
'36.43
'17.62
'23.25
NYSE
NASDAQ
NYSE
Elscint LTD
Elron Electronics NASDAQ
NYSE
Tad i ran
NASDAQ
Comverse
First Israel Fund NYSE
'13.25
'9.12
'12.00
'25.50
'35.25
'10.50
'40.56
'18.13
'14.38
'9.25
'11.38
'27.50
'38.75
'11.50
Change
+s2.63
454.13
+s0.50
+51.13
450.13
+s2.00
4-'3.50
+51.00
Source: Allen Olender, Prudential Securities, West Bloomfield.
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