Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240712

Thats not what an equal partnership looks like. If you have an opinion, he has to listen to it. If i cant help her step up as a leader and restore this business to order, its doors will close forever. You got somebody else to write a check . Howard well just keep going on the way we are. Lemonis and you will not survive. My name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everythings gonna change. Everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. In 1996, with the help of his best friend, robyn coval, Howard Nourieli opened bowery kitchen supplies, a store serving professional chefs and home cooks alike. Howard robyn, why are these here . Lemonis the two soon married and started a family, and bowerys reputation grew, its vast selection making it one of new yorks premiere kitchensupply stores. Man aah lemonis but then the marriage fell apart. Now howard and robyn cant stop fighting over inventory, over management issues, over everything. Robyn what is this . Lemonis the store is losing money, and theyre out of cash. Howard robyn, god damn it robyn [ sighs ] lemonis located in manhattans popular chelsea market, bowery draws tons of foot traffic. And its focus on both commercial and retail customers makes it a very unique concept. If i can whip the store and its owners into shape, i think bowery can go nationwide. If you are into knives, this place has every knife you can think of. But as i walk through the store, the merchandising is really unclear to me. Theres [bleep] everywhere. Its kind of tight in here, huh . Man yeah. Lemonis merchandising is an organized plan of displaying product in categories that allows the consumer to know where theyre going and what theyre looking for. Geez. A glassware section, an appliance section, a cutlery section its not here. Everything seems random. Howard welcome. Lemonis im marcus. Howard marcus, im howard. Im the nice guy, usually, and this is robyn, my partner. Robyn im robyn. Lemonis hey, robyn, how are you . Nice to meet you. Robyn nice to meet you, marcus. Lemonis so how long have you guys been in business . Robyn 20 years. Lemonis how did you guys get in business together . Howard we knew each other since high school. Lemonis okay. Howard best friends. Robyn this is my exhusband. We have two human children, and bowery kitchen is our first child. Lemonis you guys are 5050 . Robyn yes, absolutely. Lemonis whos in charge, between the two of you . Robyn howie. Howard i would say me. Robyn only because its just like howie maybe started the business, but im not allowed to touch the knife wall. Howard yeah. Lemonis this place is big. Howard yeah, we can take you around and show you. Lemonis i would love to see. How many square feet is it . Robyn 4,000 square feet. Lemonis it looks kind of junky to me. Customer comes in, no directional signage. Howard holy [bleep] look at all these knives. Thats a real deers foot. Lemonis that is nasty. Howard thats a real machete. You dont see that in williams sonoma, do you . Lemonis a machete makes sense for cutting through brush or maybe even a martialarts store, but for a kitchensupply store . Yeah. Not so much. Would you like to buy one . Man no. Lemonis do these have good margins . Robyn yeah. Lemonis like, if you had a wall of aprons. Howard mm. Robyn that would be amazing. Lemonis how important do you think that window is to you . Robyn very. All the glassware used to be in this window. Howard which i hated the glassware. Robyn he hated it. He made us move it. So i was like, okay, okay. Howard people dont come here to buy glassware. Robyn no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Howard i hated the glass. Lemonis did you sell more glass when it was out here . Howard we sold more glass, yes. Lemonis i feel like im getting a good inside look into how both of them think about their business. Robyn understands the real estate and the value of really using the space to sell products. Howard hes just not into the glassware. Howard the knives make us much more money than the glass. Lemonis the business does how much overall in revenue . Howard 3 million. Lemonis of the 3 million, how much comes from knives . 1 million . Howard 1 million. Lemonis thats good. Thats a third. You know why . Because theres a great display. Theres a product knowledge. Its the effort and the commitment to it. How much revenue got generated last year in this quadrant . Robyn theres no merchandise here. Lemonis one metric in measuring a retailers success or its performance is to calculate its sales per square foot. And in my opinion, bowery has real room for improvement. In the last year, bowerys done about 3 million in sales across 4,000 square feet, or 750 a square foot in sales. By using their space more effectively, they could raise that number dramatically. Take this window, for example. By using the space to merchandise product space that wasnt used before not only are you gonna generate revenue, but youre gonna attract people into the store just by the visual merchandise. And decluttering the space would make it easier for the consumers to get around the store, finding specific departments. Now, thats the easy stuff. I think if you do a few changes, that sales per square foot can go up by at least 100, or an extra 400,000 a year. I dont want you to take this the wrong way, but it feels like a Hardware Store for kitchen stuff. Robyn i think howie was responsible for tons of things that dont sell. We had to find space for all the [bleep] that we have. Lemonis how much inventorys in the whole place . The longer you take, the more i know youre making it up. Howard its about 600,000. Robyn i was gonna say half a million. Lemonis how often do you do inventory . Robyn not often enough. Howard not often enough. Lemonis how do you keep inventory . Howard i dont know. Ill see something missing, and ill put it on an order. Robyn honestly, we dont really do a proper inventory because our Inventory System is weird and it doesnt work right. Howard yeah. Lemonis and okay. This is the first time ive ever heard about an Inventory System that where you scan the store with your eyes. Do you have a pencil and a piece of paper . Because its not great, but its better than nothing. Hi, im marcus. Howard marcus, lorraine. Laurie lorraine. Lemonis lorraine . Laurie laurie, people call me. Lemonis laurie . Okay. Nice to meet you. We were just having a discussion about inventory. How much inventory do you think is in the. . Laurie oh, gosh, we have to have at least 400,000. Lemonis well, thats 200,000 less than they thought was here. Let me just chat with laurie for just a minute. So, are you the general manager . Laurie yeah, because i manage most things. Lemonis whats the biggest challenge . Laurie one hand saying one thing, and then the other hand saying another. Lemonis who are the two hands . Laurie howie and robyn. Lemonis okay. Which one of them is here more . Laurie honestly, robyn. Lemonis robyn. Where is howie . Is he surfing . Is he playing cards, golfing . Laurie no, i mean, sometimes, hes out with clients or hes traveling. Lemonis when i first met robyn and howard, i learned that howard was the one in charge, but what im finding out is that hes there a lot less than robyn. It doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Howard these are the two receiving areas. Lemonis laurie told me youre not here all the time. Howard i take a lot of vacation time, though. Lemonis you do . Howard i do. Lemonis when you say a lot, what does that mean . Howard two weeks every three months. Lemonis are you [bleep] me . Howard im not [bleep] you. Lemonis you take two months off a year . Howard i do take two months off a year. Lemonis but youre a Business Owner. Howard yes. Lemonis in a struggling business. Howard yes. Lemonis two months . howard yeah. It runs on its own, basically. I mean, laurie, i have robyn. Thats why you have a partner, you know . Lemonis all right, well, im gonna get back inside. I dont want to take any more time off. Howard okay. Lemonis i dont know how a Business Owner can take two months off. Howard you cant get over that, huh . Lemonis i cant get over it. Ive never seen it. I mean, im in awe. Howard i like to take my time. Ill tell you why. cause you only have so much time on this planet. Why shouldnt i do something with my kids, something myself, traveling. Lemonis but youre also a Business Owner. I mean, you choose to own a business. Howard yes. Lemonis sometimes you make sacrifices. Howard but i choose that business not to own me. Robyn i feel like sometimes, hell go away for all and weve been here. And then hell come in and start, you know oh, this howard you take time off, too, now. Robyn this is my xanax bottle right here. Roger the front of the store is all howie. The knives are all howies business. We dont do any knifeordering. Its all howie. Lemonis stay away from it. Roger yeah. Lemonis or you get cut. Roger or you get screamed at, you know. Lemonis when hes here. Roger when hes here. Lemonis is that a big issue for some of the employees, honestly . Roger we actually quite like it when hes not here, to be perfectly honest. Lemonis you do . Roger yeah. cause howie can come in and say, i dont want that there, you know, get rid of it. Lemonis you do it and you spend all day on it, and the you turn around and its. Roger that is so souldestroying. Lemonis could you grab all of your Financial Data . And id like to sit down and go over it all with you. Howard okay. All right. Lemonis all right . You want to go ahead and grab it . Howard yeah, yeah. Lemonis all right, great. Lets start with the profit and loss statement. Howard so january through december 2015. Lemonis total revenue 3,136,00. The cost of goods is 1,381,000. Gross profit 1,755,000. Total expenses 1,876,000. Leaving you with a loss of 121,000 last year. The two single biggest expenses are the payroll at 583,000 and the rent at 405,000. Can i see a Balance Sheet . So when i look at your assets, the line of credit is 111,000. The line of credit is a liability, not an asset. Lets talk about the liabilities. 196,000 of payables. Nearly 130,000 of it is past due. 111,000 to chase. 185,000 to mark. Howard thats my brother, yeah. Lemonis thats a loan from him . Howard yes. Lemonis so the total debt is 492,000, and theres 30,000 in the bank. The business is in the hole right now. Howard the 185,000 thats not due right away. I can pay that off very slowly. So were not. You know. Lemonis you say youre not choking . Howard were not choking. Lemonis can you close for a week to do inventory . Howard no. Lemonis okay, then youre choking. Robyn the money that howie borrowed from his brother went into goods knives that howie purchased from france, from china. It wasnt really a discussion that was had as partners. Lemonis you felt like you were left out of the decisionmaking, yeah . Robyn it happens, you know, but ive been dealing with it for 20 years. Lemonis does it make you feel insignificant . Robyn of course. I feel like its still howies business, like im still working for him. I mean, im there, like i sweat and bleed there. Howard this is my business. You know, i started it. You know, were 5050 because i gave her 50 . Unfortunately, i have a partner, and i overstep it. Robyn i do love him. Hes my best friend. Were much better friends. Howard i think more than marriage, friendship is much better. Robyn were much better friends than husband and wife. Lemonis and that happens. Youve proven that you can generate revenue. Youve proven that you are a horrible merchandiser. And youve proven that you are a fighter and that you survive no matter what. So i want to make an offer. 350,000 for 40 of the business. Robyn its been just him and i for 20 years. Now the two of us together, we have more of a percentage than you, but individually, you own more of our business than we do individually. Howard im not interested in giving up 40 . Im interested in giving 30 . Lemonis and so just like you dont want me to have 40 so that you have 30 , i dont want you to have 35 and 35 so i have 30 . Howard okay. Lemonis because quite frankly, im writing the check that keeps the doors open. Howard not necessarily. Lemonis you got somebody else to write a check for 350,000 . cause if you do, theyre gonna take howard well just keep going on the way we are. Lemonis and you will not survive. Howie, why would you be ordering knives . Howard ill get approval. Dont worry. Im gonna ask for approval. Lemonis are you being a dick . Puts its customers a wiin charge . Rier well, the good news gets shared. And it gets rated 1 for customer satisfaction. But dont just take our word for it. Take theirs. Its your wireless. Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Lemonis quite frankly, im writing the check that keeps the doors open. Howard well just keep going on the way we are. Lemonis and you will not survive. You cant lose money and have pastdue payables and stay open. So my offer was 350,000 for 40 . Your counteroffer is what . Robyn to be equal partners. I feel its probably more comfortable. Lemonis i can live with that. Ill accept your counteroffer of 350,000 for 33 . I want to remind you of something. When you take my check, im 100 in charge. Howard and what does that mean . Lemonis youll see. Robyn oh, my gosh. Lemonis do we have a deal . Howard we have a deal. Give it to her. She handles the money. Lemonis ill see you bright and early. Robyn thanks, marcus. See you tomorrow. Howard im looking forward to it. Lemonis i thought maybe we could just meet up here as a group. Howard yeah. Lemonis so i wanted to let you guys know that we made a deal yesterday for me to invest 350,000. With that being said, when i look at the people fantastic. When i look at the process disaster. I dont know where the departments are. I dont know whos in charge of merchandising. I dont know whos in charge of inventory. But what i do know is that despite all those things, you guys kick ass. Question is how much better could it be . Howard right. Lemonis i did not do this for one store. I think there could be, with the right floor plan and the right system i think there could be 20 of them. And i think this could be a 50 million business. Were going to establish departments and make visual merchandising an important part of what we do. Ill give you a good example. Were gonna develop a Glass Department with a specific anchor brand. One of the ways that you improve the credibility of your business is to anchor each one of those departments with wellknown brands. The credibility that you have as a brand retailer will spill over into the products that dont have established brands with really good margins. When i look at the linens and the clothing, i think you can do a better job of really being in the wardrobe business for chefs. But were not gonna make decisions solely with our gut anymore. Were gonna let the data tell us, this is what we sell. This is what we dont sell. And the things that we dont want to be in they need to get liquidated, and we need to turn that inventory into cash. And were gonna spend money on putting in a new pos system that actually ties to quickbooks. Laurie thank the lord. Robyn thank god lemonis and probably in three weeks, were gonna shut down for at least a week to do that. Ready to go to work . Laurie yes, absolutely lemonis okay, great. We have to take a hard look at what sells and what doesnt. So here are the departments. Remember that the total revenues a little less than 3 million 2. 8 million. Robyn this is 2015, or this is yeartodate . Lemonis june to june. Robyn okay. Lemonis so bakery 245,000. The Bakery Department makes up almost 10 of the whole business. Howard yes. Lemonis big deal, right . Howard thats a big deal, yeah. Lemonis beverage only 22,000. Every square foot costs the company money, but all this space is dedicated to less than 1 of the business. Howard yeah. Lemonis and so we want to look at how do we make every square foot make money . Just like theyre wasting the window up front, theyre also wasting the wall here with a product that barely sells. You see, in order to really make sure this space works, you have to develop a merchandising plan a planogram and you want to use the sales data to determine what departments gonna be there, how its gonna be organized. So we have to eliminate that department. And quite frankly, if a department should even exist at all. Textiles. Howard its the aprons. Lemonis 57,000. It means theres opportunity there. The glassware department did 130,000. How big should that department be that Glass Department . Jenny i mean, when we had everything outside, it was really good. Robyn yeah, like, boxes full. Cases, cases, cases. Lemonis why did it go away . Roger howie didnt like it in the front. Howard i didnt like it. Lemonis and then the knife business only 457,000. You said it was 1 million. Howard i was wrong. Lemonis you were wrong . Howard yes, i was wrong. Lemonis and so you have all that wall space in the front the most important part of the store for a department that does half of what you thought it did. That may have to shrink. Or maybe the knives go in the back. Howard i dont agree with it. You lose a lot of knife sales. And most people that come in the store theyre like, wow, look at the knife, and they come in further. Lemonis we want to use more of the walls. Okay, so maybe shrink the knife department. Robyn wow. Lemonis so we know that the Bakery Departments great. Gadgets is a major department. We can make a bigger deal out of that. Bottles and glass we can make a bigger deal out of that. So heres what were gonna do, guys were gonna liquidate stuff. Any time youre gonna put on a liquidation sale, you have to have a purpose behind it. Folks, head on in. Everything must go. I want to generate cash. I want to see what product sells and doesnt sell. I want to watch how the customer navigates through the store. I want to watch how the staff interacts with customers. [ conversing in spanish ] lemonis but more importantly, if im going to renovate this store, i dont want to spend 50,000 hiring movers to pack it all up. Id rather generate the cash and solve all these other problems and get questions answered. Howard this cant be here, though. This you cant sell for a dollar. I dont know what this table is, but its not this is not selling for 5. Suddenly, howard starts racing around this place trying to save what he calls his precious inventory. Hey, roger. Roger yes, sir . Lemonis what are you noticing . Well, heres a news flash. How many people are buying things . Roger nobody yet. Cant even give it away. Lemonis nobody wants it because you bought a lot of junk. Roger i blame the ordering department myself. Lemonis so you see the point . Inventory management is what kills people. Its like even at a dollar, people dont want it. Man what do you want to do now . Howard i want to make an order for the epicure. What about the sixinch . I got it lemonis howie, why would you be ordering knives . Howard because we dont have a certain knife that people ask for. Lemonis i mean, today you have to order it . Howard no, im just preparing the order. Lemonis but shouldnt we wait until we see how the whole howard ill get approval. Dont worry. Im gonna ask for approval. Lemonis are you being a dick, or. . That business will eat itself alive if the two of you cant work together. Robyn im just so used to it. Im just like. It will die. Lehoward ill get approval. U be odont worry. Es . Im gonna ask for approval. Lemonis are you being a dick . Howard no, im not being a dick. [belches] lemonis its obvious to me that howards just gonna do what he wants to do. Everybody heres working, trying to liquidate stuff, and im watching howard. Reorder knives . What are you doing . Howie, can you help me get people in, tell them that stuffs on sale . Howard im not gonna stand out there yelling for everybody to come in. Im sorry. I cant do that. Lemonis and so everybody else will just solve this problem that youve created . Howard 40 off everything in the store today. 40 off. Come on in. Lemonis store liquidation. Everything must go. Howard brandnew items 40 off. I dont like doing this. Roger neither do i. Robyn 20. 58. Howard so we did 15,000 already. Lemonis we cleared a lot of cash, and we got rid of a lot of stuff. Alan, how are you . Alan nice to see you again. Stephanie hi. Lemonis hello, stephanie. Today, im bringing in my design team to go over the changes i want to make for bowery. I want to make sure this store feels warm and inviting and has a really good Customer Experience with good signage and really defined departments. So this could be a knife sharpener right here. From an entrance standpoint, we want to light this bad boy up so that its more vibrant and bright. In two weeks, the store is closing. Howard yes. Lemonis the key is i dont want to pack up one box. This should literally become a flea market. Howard yeah. Lemonis theres no more stocking the shelves. Its a rummage sale. Robyn nothing. Done. Howard okay. Lemonis if everything goes, then you rebuild the store. You start over. While this merchandise may be selling for lower margins, its been sitting here for years. Id rather have the cash in my hand so i can reinvest it into inventory that actually sells. Lemonis would you like one of these at 40 off . [ both chuckle ] [ horn honks ] robyn this is garbage. Roger this is rubbish. We dont need any of this. Theres plenty of stuff to go through. Lemonis weve already liquidated 250,000 of merchandise, but with a week left before we close, we have a long way to go. So im stopping by to check on the progress, and while im here, i want to talk to robyn and howard about the new departments we want to create. Robyn hey. Lemonis hey, how are you . Robyn how are you, marcus . Lemonis stuffs starting to move. Robyn [ groans ] lemonis hello, roger. Roger good morning, sir. Lemonis i wanted to get you and howard together to talk about the pos and the product that were gonna order. So lets grab howard and have a chat. Robyn i dont think hes here yet. Lemonis okay. Weve got to lay out the design, and we have merchandise to order. And howard doesnt show up. Fine. No problem. Robyns in charge. Robyn if a chef comes here, he should see a robot coupe on our wall. Lemonis what is a robot coupe . Robyn its like a really highend food processor. Lemonis made in america section. Robyn yeah, i definitely lemonis love that. Robyn during the holidays, id like to have a giftwrap station. Lemonis very smart. Robyn kids cooking section cause everybody likes to cook with their kids. Like, little aprons, little hats. Lemonis love that idea. And you have all the vendors for this . Robyn yes, yes, yes, yes. Lemonis no problem. Hey. Howard hey. Lemonis how are you, buddy . Howard i wasnt feeling too well this morning, yeah, so. Lemonis okay. So let me give you a little summary. Howard okay. Lemonis what we were talking about is building robyns dream store. I think some of the ideas, quite frankly, are phenomenal. Like, an electronics wall with the most basic to the most elaborate. Howard yeah, we need people that know about electronics, and we dont have enough people on the floor that know about electronics. Lemonis do you Like Electronics . Robyn like i said i dont think howard where we before and coming to this new store, are we gonna be able to fit all those pos in here . Lemonis robyn, i thought you and i could go take a walk outside away from here. Robyn okay. Lemonis after watching howard dismiss everything robyn is saying, i thought it would be a good idea to take robyn outside and maybe have a chat without howard. I think my biggest concern is i dont know that howard necessarily can appreciate what it is that you do. Robyn im just so used to it. Im just, like. Lemonis exhausted. I want you to get more comfortable with forcing him to respect your voice. If you have an opinion, he has to listen to it. Its not okay that you want to put the glasses up front and because he decides he doesnt want them there, he gets to take them down. cause thats not what an equal partnership looks like. That business will eat itself alive if the two of you cant work together. It will die. My money will be gone. Our deal will be gone. Everything will be gone. You can tell that robyns almost convinced herself that howards opinion matters more than hers. But she has the respect of the staff, and her ideas are really good. So shes gonna have to put her foot down. Robyn now, this was just off my head, but i broke it up by department and started thinking, what are the things that i would like . Howard you cant keep doing that. I think it should be online, not in your notebook. Thats all im saying. Okay . Robyn im just thinking. This is just my ideas. Howard yes, but you can look through the list to get an idea. I dont think in your head, you remember 397 vendors. Robyn no, but you know what, i remember the most important ones. And i think we need to start fresh. Why shouldnt we be able to, like, sprinkle the higherend item . We want professional chefs to be like, theyre real deal. Howard bowery kitchens not about highend stuff. Robyn im not talking highend fufu, okay . I mean, high end, like having one. Howard fufu. Robyn having one robot coupe so that it represents howard whats the use of having one robot coupe . Robyn just to [bleep] have it howard how much is that robot coupe gonna sell for . Are we gonna be able to price it . Robyn it doesnt matter. We have one [bleep] robot coupe. Were not stocking 20,000 howard so then somebodys gonna ask you for the robot coupe and then youre gonna have to reorder the robot coupe. Robyn so what . lemonis i was like, how can these people be asking for money . Robyn i didnt ask you for money. Howard i need money to pay the vendors. I had no idea if we were gonna be able to make payroll. Lemonis why is that . You generated 300,000. Walk to end alzheimers alzheis everywhere. Tion on every sidewalk, track, and trail across this country. All of us are raising funds for one goal a World Without alzheimers and all other dementia. Because this disease isnt waiting, neither are you. Take the first step on your walk right now. Go to alz dot org slash walk. Robyn having one robot coupe represents howard whats the use of having one robot coupe . Robyn just to [bleep] have it howard it eats up resources and shelf space. Robyn im talking about a tiny, little wall. Its like a show piece, like your [bleep] deer hoof. That represents bowery . who in the [bleep] bowery has deer hoof . Howard that knife section came a long way from where it is. Robyn yeah, but its a [bleep] mess its a mess right now. Lemonis look, im glad that robyn is standing up to howard and now allowing him to just roll all over her. But we have a time issue here, and we need these pos so the inventory can come or this store is never gonna get open. So you guys need to work together, come up with an agreedupon list between the two of you of what in the hell were gonna carry here. Howard all right. Lemonis as we think about creating departments and categories, we want to find what i would call anchor tenants in each one of our categories. Jenny this is our walloaprons over here, basically. Lemonis as you build out the departments, you want to have good anchors. So i brought robyn, howard, and roger to tilit. Theyre a premium textile manufacturer of aprons, chef coats, shirts, and it really will help establish this entire textile department. Robyn these are beautiful. Lemonis what i remember seeing is 57,000 was the total textile sales. Can you sell 10 aprons a day at an average price of 70 . Howard absolutely. Roger i hope so. Lemonis so 250,000 a year. I think if you dedicate some space, i think you could do 250,000 to 300,000. Howard i think so. Lori we stock probably 90 of the libbey catalog, which is over 1,000 items. Lemonis wow. We also need to build out robyns glassware department. Were at balter sales, one of americas largest distributors of libbey glassware, the numberone Glass Company in the americas. Howard the look of glass, you know that didnt work for me. Lori can i just tell you what my wall does . Robyn yeah. Lemonis yes. Lori 5 million. Lemonis im sorry, howie, can you come on back . This is important. Your wall does how much . Lori just this wall. Lemonis 5 million. Howard she has longtime customers, as well. Lemonis and you have a lot of traffic. Howard we have a lot of traffic. Robyn tomorrow, theyre coming to clear out more. Lemonis we finally shut the doors at bowery after liquidating over 300,000 worth of merchandise, and im swinging by to go over the plans for the renovation. Wow. But i also wanted to talk to howard about a few emails he sent me. Does anybody know where howard is . Roger eternal question. Lemonis robyn, do you know where howard is . Laurie, is howard here . Laurie um. No. Lemonis look, im not happy that i have to postpone my conversation with howard, but i cant wait to get this renovation started. Thats a great section for giftwrapping. Weve got to generate some revenue and get this store back open. Were sorting and donating the old fixtures. Man watch your step. Roger yes. Lemonis we need to clear them out so the contractors can get to work. Were adding elements like wood paneling to give it a homeandkitchen feel. And were changing the lighting, utilizing things like pots and strainers for fixtures. Overall, itll make for a more enjoyable shopping experience. Robyn good morning, marcus. Lemonis ive been geting those nasty emails from howard for over a week now. Quite frankly, theyre getting worse, and im back to have it out with him. Howie, i dont know how to combat some of the emails and texts that ive seen. Howard thats just because ive been left in the dark, and im just worried about lemonis they were pretty harsh. If i dont hear something today, im gonna chalk this up to bust and a bunch of bull[bleep] howard yes, i felt that it was bull[bleep] lemonis i cannot wait around and initiate all this work. Im coming into work every day. This is crazy. How am i gonna make payroll this week . This is bull[bleep] howard yes, the vendors i had no idea if we were gonna be able to make payroll. Lemonis why is that . You generated 300,000. Howard i came to laurie. I said, look, i need money to do this to pay the vendors. She says, we dont have it. Lemonis i know the inventory that was in this building over 300,000 was sold. So wheres the money . 300,785 has come in. Thats cash. And i know it doesnt cost 300,000 to operate the place a month. When i got this, i was like. How can these people be asking for money . Robyn i didnt ask you for money one time. Lemonis howard asked for money. Robyn because i knew that we had reserves for a couple of weeks. Lemonis so, when you asked for money howard they were afraid i was gonna spend it. Lemonis do you guys hide money from howard . Robyn laurie and i did hide money from him because i was afraid. Lemonis to protect you from yourself. Robyn i was protecting him from himself. Howard i was under the impression that we had no money lemonis you got to get the facts before you light the world on fire. Howard sure. Lemonis look, i dont love the fact that robyn didnt feel comfortable to tell me that she was hiding money from howard, but in an odd sort of way, im grateful that she did that because she was ultimately protecting the business. But what i think is more important is that she looks like shes getting comfortable asserting herself as a leader. Robyn i just feel that in your head, in your mind, in your body, youre the boss, and you can do whatever you want. Howard i dont do all that everything that i want. She has some control over me. I mean, i dont just do what i want all the time, but were here because of me. Robyn this is still his baby, no matter if im 50 , whatever. Its still his. Lemonis howard, if you can reverse time, what would you do differently . Howard i dont think i would have. Gone into business with her. Who makes their wife 50 . I mean, technically, its not 50 until you get divorced, right . Howard who makes their wife 50 . I mean, technically, its not 50 until you get divorced, right . Robyn so the wife became 50 , and i havent done [bleep] here. Howard if you want to take it that way, you want to put it that way. Lemonis is it the first time you had ever heard him regret ever giving you equity . Robyn no, no, no. Lemonis would you talk to your Business Partner that way . Howard i wouldnt be in business with her. Lemonis but i mean, she look, you guys have your personal relationship, and thats none of my business, but she spends more time here than you do. Thats because she cares. She does own 50 of it. And i do think its important that you respect her decisions. And so you have to be talking to her as your Business Partner. Howard theres a lot of history. Robyn hes the boss, and hes gonna do whatever he wants to do the way he wants to do it. Lemonis you got to stop. I cant continue to fund payroll and rent and not have the revenue coming in. So you guys need to make sure this gets done, especially you, howard. Hey despite all the headaches that howards been causing, were still making progress with the renovation. The rest of the fixtures are being loaded in, and as soon as we receive the new product, well be ready for merchandising. Bowery is gonna be new and improved. Hey so im back at bowery after my contractor called me and told me that everything was finished. Fixtures are done. The renovations done. Now im just hoping that the products on the shelf. Hi. Jenny hi. Lemonis how are you . Jenny good, how are you . Lemonis good. Whoa it looks cool. Jenny yeah. Yeah. Its actually really nice. I love it. Lemonis it looks like most of the areas are somewhat done. It looks like the knife department has zero done. Robyn i know we have a lot of work to do. Lemonis where is howard . Robyn i dont know where he is i dont know laurie i left a text, and i left a message. Lemonis i actually have nothing to say right now because howard knows hes supposed to be here. And he knows that everybodys working their butts off. And he knows that im tired of this behavior. And yet once again, hes missing in action. Hey, howard, its marcus. Its 1 00, and im not sure where you are or why youre not showing up. Everybodys here working hard, and theres literally a wall empty of knives. So it would be nice of you to at least call back and tell us if youre alive because i may kill you when you get here. Thanks. This is a very different glass presentation than what you used to have. Robyn yeah, i picked things that i thought were interesting. Theres a mix of price points. I got all these beakers with, like, highend. Lemonis you did a really nice job. Heres howie howard hey, marcus. How are you . Lemonis nice of you to show up. Howard yeah. Lemonis the report that im getting is that everybody and robyn are working their ass off, but you sort of roll in whenever its convenient. Howard its august. I always go away in august. I went to see my mother, and i went to see my girlfriend. Which i always do in august. The slowest part of the year. Lemonis yeah. Howard nothing else for me to do here in those two weeks. Lemonis ive put in over 400,000 between building this place out and giving you cash and paying rent. 400,000 more than what we originally agreed to, just to be clear. Howard yes, im clear. Lemonis okay, where the [bleep] are the knives . If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. Puts its customers a wiin charge . Rier well, the good news gets shared. And it gets rated 1 for customer satisfaction. But dont just take our word for it. Take theirs. Its your wireless. Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Lemonimore than what we originally agreed to, just to be clear. Howard yes, im clear. Lemonis okay, it just feels like you dont give a [bleep] howard thats not true. Thats coming off the wrong way, maybe. Lemonis ive even said to myself, does howard even want to be here anymore . Howard yes, i want to be a part of this business. Yes, i like it. But me and robyn dont see on the same page. Its constant fighting about this and that and that and that. Lemonis this place would not exist, would not be open if it wasnt for her. All of these shelves that are stocked, all of this glass would not have happened. Howard i agree. You know, i dont want to see her hurting because, you know, i have been an [bleep] im sorry. [ speaks Foreign Language ] were good. Lemonis i dont want to speak too soon here, but it appears that we may have made a breakthrough. Howards finally starting to show remorse, and hes acknowledging that robyn actually adds value to the business. And it gives me a glimmer of hope that we can actually make this work. Howard i do give a [bleep] and i want to make sure that you get to see that this is gonna be working and making the money that it needs to be so you can feel comfortable opening another one. Lemonis we really need to have that grand opening next friday. Its my expectation that youre here in the morning, the afternoon, and the night until this place gets done. Howard okay. Lemonis and that robyns not by herself. Howard okay, you got it. Lemonis its been one heck of a journey, but the new bowery kitchen supplies is officially open for business. Thats the boss right there good to see you. Hey, buddy. Howard good to see you. Lemonis it looks spectacular. Robyn you know, all the store merchandising is me. Lemonis i think it looks great. Robyn [ laughs ] lemonis when i first saw the store, it looked like a warehouse jammed with products all over the place with no rhyme or reason. Now the store looks organized, with strategic displays, clear departments. I love the gadgets. Robyn all this beautiful, fun display is all me. Lemonis and we used the area by the window to merchandise highmargin coffee and accessories. And the goal is to appeal to anybody that walks by the store. Everything has its place, and everything thats in here looks like it has purpose. The knife wall is still front and center, but its no longer overwhelming. Its organized with reduced skus the ones that sell with a much better presentation. Howard right now we have like five major brands up there. Lemonis really nice. And this is where all the tilit stuff is . Roger yeah, all across the side here. Lemonis before, the textile department consisted of aprons cramped in a very small space. Now with tilit as the anchor, we have a chefware department that offers variety and quality. And the new glassware department really shines. Last year, the glassware department in total did about 130,000. But with speciality things picked directly from libbey, that revenue should at least double. So can you pull on the system now exactly what you have and how much in each department . Howard yes. Lemonis before, the bowery team guessed at their inventory, but now with the new pos system, well never lose track of what we have in stock. Howard youll never find the same print. This is a micarta handle. Its indestructible. Lemonis howard and i dont have the same approach to business at all, and i dont expect that to magically just change overnight. But at least for now, hes showing up, hes got a good attitude, and most importantly, hes showing robyn the respect that she deserves. Its better between the two of you . Robyn yeah. Howard i think so. Im not nitpicking her about Little Things here and there. Whyd you order this . And, whyd you order that . Lemonis is that true . Robyn yeah. Howard i do have more trust in her knowledge about the different departments that i just didnt give her credit for before. Lemonis im cautiously optimistic because as long as howard steps aside and allows robyn to be the fantastic merchandiser that i know she is, this store has a ton of potential. I would chalk this up as one of the Biggest Challenges ive ever had. With bowery being much healthier financially and new processes in place, the bowery Kitchen Supply store may just open up across the country. Should we take a group photo . Robyn yeah howard yeah, lets do it on three. Thats pretty good. A tortilla makerfit. Has overcome incredible odds. George i mean, if this guy was a boxer, hed be world champ. Lemonis . Only to risk it all with his reckless behavior. Was there a fire here . Adelo its not so illegal. Lemonis he cuts corners without regard for the consequences. You cant buy this machine . Adelo here, theyre not so much allowed. Lemonis he sweeps Serious Problems under the rug. I didnt know to ask, oh, by the way, are you getting evicted . And now his beloved business is on the brink of failure. The place is bleeding. He owes people money. Its just not gonna work. If i cant get him to change his habits, this American Dream could become a nightmare. Adelo everyone told me i was never gonna be somebody. Im not gonna give up. I dont want to give up