Eugene Kalkin: Cut from a Different Cloth
Eugene Kalkin entered the University of Vermont as a pre-med student in 1947. By the time he graduated four years later, he says, “I realized I wasn’t cut out to be a doctor.” But he was cut out to be a retailing entrepreneur, as his future success would demonstrate.
Returning to his native Forest Hills, Kalkin enrolled in a master’s degree program in retailing at Baruch in 1951. While the transition from northern Vermont to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan “was a bit startling,” he recalls, his year at Baruch was productive and enjoyable, thanks in large measure to Dr. John Wingate, the director of the retailing program and head of a cooperative work program at Baruch. “We attended classes in the morning and worked in the afternoon,” Kalkin says.
But his retailing career got off to a less-than-encouraging start: Hired by a textile jobber, he was fired two weeks later. “I guess I was still wet behind the ears, and the owner didn’t have too much patience,” he says. Then a Baruch classmate, Edward Brancati (’51), pointed him in the direction of Allied Purchasing Corporation and a $40-a-week opening in its floor covering department.
Kalkin remained with Allied until 1958. He left to lease the retail linens and domestics department of Great Eastern Mills in Little Falls, N.J., acquiring 50 percent ownership, which he sold in 1975. That same year he established a group of specialty stores, Linens ‘n’ Things, and expanded it into a chain of 55 stores with sales of $85 million before selling it in 1983 to Melville Corporation. Later, in 1990, he founded and ran Kalkin & Co., an upscale home furnishings company in New Jersey.
Kalkin, who is 76, has been retired since 2002, dividing his time between homes in Bernardsville, N.J., Martha’s Vineyard, and Palm Beach, Fla., and is “working hard at learning how to relax.” He and his wife, Joan, have two children and five grandchildren.
“There are so many things that I loved about retailing—the ebb and flow of the seasons, the daily interactions with customers, the opportunity to travel to suppliers and trade shows all over the world,” Kalkin says. “It’s been a wonderful way to earn a living.”
“My year at Baruch was a formative experience in many ways,” he says. “It gave me the tools to start out in what became a very rewarding career.”
—Bruce Felton
