An Enterprising Couple
A retired husband and wife launch a second career in the antiques business.
By William Reddig

Some officers and their spouses retire to a life of leisure. Others opt for separate second careers in civilian life. Capt. James Glover, usn-Ret., and his wife, Sharon, are pursuing a joint second career in the antiques business in the sleepy town of Prairie Grove, Ark.

Their current lifestyle may not appear as glamorous as when Jim, a jet pilot, was in the Navy. Before he retired in 1998 with 31 years of service, Jim was stationed in Hong Kong as the U.S. Embassy military attaché. Sharon served as a community liaison and ran her own interior design shop. Before Hong Kong, the Glovers had several equally exciting postings in Europe.

"Now we couldn't be happier," says Jim. "Working side by side, we haven't had a second thought of changing, nor nary a regret."

The Glovers had worked up a detailed flight plan to prepare for retirement and began to execute it. "I knew my Navy career wasn't going to last forever," Jim says, "and that I couldn't stand to make retirement planning a last-minute thing where we didn't know exactly where we would be going or what we would be doing."

Whenever they were on stateside leave, the Glovers toured likely U.S. retirement spots. Ten years before retirement, they bought a dream home in northwest Arkansas.

Similar long-range financial planning made Jim's release in Jacksonville, Fla., worry-free. For decades he'd put 10 percent of his income into savings, funded iras, and created a highly diversified investment portfolio. As he neared retirement, Jim took the Navy's one-week career-transition course. He also signed on to TROA's Internet job search and became a TROA life member.

The Glovers felt they had a strong security net when they ventured into the antiques business. First, they leased space in a Jacksonville mall and opened Southern Chic Antiques. Seed money came from the sale of Sharon's Hong Kong business; they needed only a few thousand dollars to start. Sharon drew on her own appraisal and sales experience, and Jim acted as chief financial officer.

Later, they purchased a two-story building in Prairie Grove, site of a Civil War battlefield park located just 12 miles from Fayetteville, Ark. They restored it while living in an apartment they built in back. They moved their Jacksonville business to the renovated building and continued to buy items from Europe and Asia, as well as Arkansas.

The Glovers' enterprise became a magnet for other antique shops and was featured in the local newspaper. Last year, the Prairie Grove Chamber of Commerce voted Southern Chic Antiques its Business of the Year. "We've been able to turn a profit ever since we first rented a space at that Jacksonville mall," Jim says. "We don't take any salary, of course, and all the profit is being plowed back to build the enterprise further."

Altering their original retirement plan, the Glovers also sold their northwest Arkansas dream home and bought, and are restoring, a Victorian-era house on the highway into Prairie Grove.

The Glovers are too busy restoring rooms, sprucing up furniture, and selling antiques to yearn for their traveling days in the Navy. "I don't know where my passport is these days," says Jim, "and, in fact, I don't want to know."