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The city of Venice, a beach hamlet and hub for snowbirds and retirees, is where the action is Thursday nights.
The auction action, that is.
Indeed, the Venice Auction Company Inc., which sells anything and everything, from Jet Skis and toolboxes to clown paintings and couches, has turned the auction into a theatrical event. Led by owner Joe La Raviere, the firm's auctions, which sell goods on consignment, have become see-and-be-seen happenings. All 250 seats are filled by the 5 p.m. start time, says La Raviere. Some people come from Naples and Longboat Key, and others wait in line to enter.
There's a thriving business behind the scenes, in addition to the show. La Raviere says annual revenues are up 15% the past two years, to about $1.7 million in 2012. The company has nine employees.
Says La Raviere: “It's a great time to be in the auction business.”
So great that La Raviere recently set out on a supersized expansion plan. First, he bought a new building, a onetime flea market and used furniture store. The building, on U.S. 41 Bypass, is 40,000 square feet — a whopping increase over the 2,500 square feet the firm previously occupied in downtown Venice. It also increases the firm's parking spots, from nine to 285. The building cost $3 million.
“We were out of room and we were out of parking,” says La Raviere. “This was a costly move, but it has been really great so far.”
The move also means La Raviere can expand the business model. That's because in the past the business was built around word-of-mouth auctions. Now the company has ample space to sell furniture and an assortment of home accessories, both used and new shipments that La Raviere buys from overstock orders or bulk wholesale purchases. Those items, which line the floors and walls, are separate from the weekly auctions.
For the auction side of the business, La Raviere and his staff hunt all week for the consignment lots. Some of the items, like jewelry or kitchen tables, come from local residents aware of the auction who seek to sell things on consignment, quickly. The firm seeks out other items through the Internet and local connections. The company charges a 10% buyer's premium on each auction purchase.
La Raviere has owned the auction business since 2003. He bought it from his brother, Matthew La Raviere, who now runs an auction company in Virginia. Matthew La Raviere bought the company from the original owners, who founded it in 1983.
Joe La Raviere, though, has been into auctions and the art of the sell since he was a teenager. One of nine kids, La Raviere, who grew up in Sarasota, graduated from auctioneers school in Ocala when he was 16 years old in 1978. He then traveled the state, working cattle auctions on a freelance basis. “I loved the auction lingo,” says La Raviere.
That experience is why La Raviere, now 50, knows he has to put on a good show, not only have good items to sell. That's why his auctions are fast-moving blurs of entertainment and commerce. He usually sells three or four items a minute — a pace that belies the slow-it-down Venice vibe.
“The biggest killer at an auction is downtime,” says La Raviere. “We don't want people to start looking around and waiting. I'm in the business to make money, and in this business time is money.”
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