December 09, 2009
Contact: Don Boldt, General Manager, (937) 304-5308 (cell)
Treasure Aisles, (513) 539-4497 (office)
 

Foreign Officials Find a Treasure Full of Information at Local Flea Market

Monroe, OH – Treasure Aisles welcomed 34 officials representing 22 countries to their Market on Sunday, December 6th. The group of Officials is in the U.S. attending an International Purchaser Course at the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (DISAM); a division of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB). The planned visit to the Market provided the Officials with an opportunity to experience Entrepreneurialism at its very core within a retail environment.

DISAM provides professional education, research, and support to advance U.S. foreign policy through Security Assistance and Security Cooperation. The course that this group of primarily foreign military students attended provided training on laws, policies, and procedures governing U.S. security assistance and security cooperation programs as well as U.S. culture and society, to include how various U.S. businesses operate. DISAM normally trains about 4,000 people per year, to include approximately 200 foreign students, through 17 different resident courses and a
number of different outreach programs. Some of the countries represented by foreign officials in this group were from South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

“During their visit, the foreign students attended a presentation concerning the history, structure and culture of American flea markets, the impact these markets have on the community and the entrepreneurial potentials for the vendors,” stated Don Boldt, General Manager of Treasure Aisles. “This was a valuable experience for the students as well as our vendors,” added Ryan Levin, Vice-President of Levin Service Company. “They toured the Market, talked with the vendors, did some shopping of their own and truly learned first hand how our Market is an incubator for small business.”

Lieutenant Colonel James Toomey, DISAM Deputy Director of International Studies,
orchestrated the visit and extended his appreciation to Don Boldt and Treasure Aisles for their support. LTC Toomey stated that, “One of the key goals of our organization and the course in which these students are participating is to build good relationships between the United States and our many foreign partners overseas. This visit to Treasure Aisles certainly helped to accomplish this, and demonstrated true Midwestern-American hospitality; it also educated them on an important facet of our business activities and economy...and also gave them a great opportunity to find some real Christmas shopping bargains!”

Levin Service Company owns and operates Treasure Aisles, which is located at 320 N. Garver Road, Monroe, OH 45050 (513) 539-4497, I-75 @ SR 63, Exit 29. The Market is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 5pm year round.