Stephen Lane: Film memorabilia collecting hobby to £35m auction business - Small Business Sessions podcast (S7E8)
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Posted: Wed 13th Nov 2024
It's time for episode eight in series seven of the Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by the business.connected online training programme and our partners Vodafone Business, Constant Contact, JP Morgan and Dropbox.
Episode eight: Stephen Lane, Propstore
Joining freelance journalist Dan Martin for the eighth episode in the series and the 100th episode in total is Stephen Lane, founder of entertainment memorabilia business Propstore.
In the early 90s, movie lover Stephen began hunting for the props and costumes that were used to create his favourite films.
His collecting hobby became a business in 1998 and more than 25 years later, Propstore has 70 employees in London and Los Angeles and more than 25,000 square feet of archived props and costumes. The business also turns over £35m despite Stephen having taken on no external investment.
Since it started, Propstore has located and auctioned thousands of famous items to collectors around the world. Items include the lightsaber used by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones Fedora, and guitars played on stage by the Gallagher brothers from Oasis.
In an insights and advice packed episode, the entrepreneur discusses:
turning a love for movie props into an actual business
reaching a £35m turnover despite taking on no external investment
how he tracks down memorabilia like Darth Vader's lightsaber and Indiana Jones' hat
establishing a business in the US
running a business during several economic downturns
the impact of winning a Queen's and King's Award for Enterprise
...and lots more!
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