Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: February 28, 2003
Article Type: Journal

His senior year in college, Chuck Bernstein encountered kites being sold and flown in Maui, Hawaii, and became an instant convert. Originally drawn to the joy of the sport, he quickly saw kites as a great business opportunity. Buying $100 worth of equipment on the spot (“That was a lot of money then,” he says), he learned all about flying. The owner of the High as a Kite shop was John Harvey, who also had an establishment in Sausalito. Harvey took a shine to Bernstein and invited him to come visit him in California, work a week, learn the business. There was a kicker: “Then I’ll wholesale to you.”

Moving from Michigan to Washington D.C., Bernstein used funds his parents had promised him as a graduation travel present to set up his own kite store, with his sister and brother-in-law as silent partners. In trendy Georgetown in 1976, the Kite Site was off the main drag and held only 365 square feet of display space, but it did enjoy good timing. There was excitement in the kite world—-new Space Age materials for building kites and new types to fly, notably the Peter Powell and Steve Ediken two-line stunters.

“The concept was good, but the space not right,” recalls Bernstein of this first store, and after two years he moved to nearby M Street where the real action was. He acquired 2,000 square feet of display space—-five times what he had. “The rent tripled, but so did my sales,” he says.

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