‘Christmas in May’ during Berkshire meeting

It’s not called “Woodstock for Capitalists” for nothing.

A major part of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting’s allure is the shopping. Make that the deals.

After receiving a Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry and Gifts catalog recently, “Berkies” Bette and Jerry Perkins of Omaha hatched a plan: “Let’s go before everyone else does,” Bette recalled with a smile. They got to the store Monday afternoon — just hours after special shareholder pricing began.

Both planned to look at watches. Bette has had her eye on an Omega, and as a shareholder there is no better time to buy. And they collect Swiss Army knives. Earlier, they agreed, is when the selection is best.

“We wanted to get here before the whole shabang,” Bette said.

Jerry added: “We’ve been here in the rush also. It’s a madhouse. People are happy. It’s quite an event.”

Preparations called for 7,000 meatballs at the Friday night cocktail party for Berkshire shareholders. Last year, more than 20,000 people filled Regency Court Mall and the courtyard for the event.

And that’s just the start of it all.

“We look at it as Christmas in May. It’s equal to the entire holiday shopping season,” said Adrienne Fay, director of marketing for Borsheim’s. And this year, for the first time, exclusive deals will be available at the Saturday expo and Buffett himself will be behind the case selling jewelry to customers Sunday afternoon.

That loyal, captive commerce audience takes a lot home when it leaves Omaha. In nine hours during the Saturday meeting last year, according to Warren Buffett’s letter, shareholders stocked up on 1,053 pairs of Justin boots, 12,416 pounds of See’s candy, 8,000 Dairy Queen Blizzards and 8,800 Quikut knives.

“But,” he wrote: “you can do better. Remember: Anyone who says money can’t buy happiness simply hasn’t learned where to shop.”

Buffett has used each of his letters to shareholders since the one penned in March 1986 to plug the deals available in Omaha during the annual shareholders meeting.

In that letter he cut to the chase. “And bring money: Mrs. B. promises to have bargains galore if you pay her a visit at the Nebraska Furniture Mart after the meeting.”

Two shareholders heeded the call, according to the next year’s letter, each purchasing a $5,000 Oriental rug.

Since, meeting-related commerce has exploded, with Buffett and the meeting’s planners making it as easy as possible for shareholders to part with some cash while they’re in town.

By 1988 two of the city’s best known local retailers, both of which have Berkshire ties, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim’s had school buses bringing shareholders in from their hotels.

Less than a decade later, discounts to shareholders were the norm for both retailers, and an expo of information and wares from Berkshire companies was an official part of the meeting.

That expo has grown from the Orpheum Theater lobby to fill all 194,300 square feet of exhibit space at the Qwest Center Omaha with everything from bricks and tools to gems and a talking gecko. Shareholders can snag a specially designed pair of Justin cowboy boots, get an insurance quote, learn about owning a fraction of a private jet or get a Chairman’s Snack Size box with 15 pounds of See’s peanut brittle, Fruit of the Loom T-shirts or Furniture Mart area rugs at a deep discount.

Special shareholder pricing and no sales tax for some items shipped to states that don’t require it make for major bargains. But out-of-town guests do their part for the Omaha economy, too, visiting restaurants, staying in hotels and buying those use-it-right-now items — from jewelry to books.

Independent local bookstore the Bookworm has been part of the meeting since 1997. Manager Diana Abbott said it has been the busiest two days of the year for the store since.

“It’s really interesting that Warren Buffett has gone out of his way to hire small, hometown companies to work with him, especially when he doesn’t own them,” Abbott said. “He could do other things and he never has. We’re really lucky.”

Buffett selects the books carried at the Bookworm booth in the expo himself, Abbott said, and takes it very seriously.

As a result, it’s not uncommon for the store to get calls from investors around the world seeking information about what’s on the list before the meeting, or to see repeat customers who are building a business library they plan to leave for their heirs.

Fay, of Borsheim’s, said many shareholders are sentimental about their meeting purchases. She, for example, will always know she got her Justin boots at the 2008 meeting. Associating those memories, and the loyalty shareholders feel to Berkshire Hathaway brands, she said, makes this annual meeting different from any other — and gives a serious boost to the associated retailers.

While many shareholders take advantage of easy, on-site packing and shipping options at the expo, some have other plans.

Bob Batt, executive vice president at Nebraska Furniture Mart, recently recalled a customer who opted to skip shipping a newly purchased top-of-the-line Oriental area rug.

“She said ‘Bring it in your car and load it into my jet.’ She made a request and we said no problem,” Batt said. He made the delivery himself and the rug got back to Manhattan without a fuss.

Batt said the Mart has seen its sales to shareholders skyrocket since 1997. That was the first time shareholders were offered employee pricing and their purchases could be tracked as a group. That weekend, shareholders spent $5.3 million at the store.

The Saturday of the shareholders meeting, the weekend as a whole and the week of the meeting together hold every sales record possible in the company, Batt said. The deals are good in the Omaha store only, not in Kansas City, Des Moines or online.

And sales grow every year. In 2006 the Furniture Mart saw $30.9 million in sales to shareholders. In his letter, Buffett wrote: “This is more volume than most furniture stores register in a year.”

Last year, he wrote, $33.3 million in sales was recorded during Berkshire meeting week.

During shareholder week, Batt said, “We have everything from asking for a discount on a $9 CD to people who spend $100,000. This (the annual meeting) is the greatest economic event that Omaha sees all year. This is number one and we’re very proud of it.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1037, michaela.saunders@owh.com

twitter.com/SaundersM

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