Bob Page founded Replacements, Ltd. in 1981. Located in Greensboro, N.C., it has grown over the past 24 years to become the world's largest retailer of discontinued and active dinnerware. Its 300,000 square feet of facilities house an inventory of some 10 million pieces in 200,000 patterns-some more than 100 years old.

A 12,000-square-foot showroom located midway between Greensboro and Burlington is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visitors can purchase their choice of a wide array of beautiful products and special sale items, browse the shop's museum display of more than 2,000 rare pieces of china and collectibles or take one of the free tours offered daily.

Replacements, Ltd. is a thriving business today, providing a livelihood for some 600 employees and generating about $70 million in annual sales. The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings, when Page and a single part-time employee celebrated first-year sales of just $150,000.

"The business started as a hobby that I loved," Page relates. "Creativity was a key in making it what it is today because it allowed me to imagine a way to turn my hobby into a business."

A venture that started out as a hobby has grown into a thriving business for Bob Page.

As the '70s progressed, Page found himself devoting more and more time to his hobby, often staying up until the wee hours of the morning to fill the growing number of orders he was booking. He turned his attic into an ersatz warehouse, crammed full of the china and crystal treasures he amassed on his weekend merchandise hunts, and his bedroom did double duty as an office.

"The two driving factors behind my decision to launch Replacements as a full-time business venture were that I loved to shop the flea markets and I hated my job," Page recalls. "Every time I returned home from one of my shopping trips, a different friend or neighbor would ask me if I could help them find something."

Page decided to take the plunge in 1981, resigning from his job with the state and hiring a part-time assistant. He began placing small ads in shelter magazines such as Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens, and the response was overwhelming. His list of customers and potential customers skyrocketed. Initially, Page and his assistant recorded requests for custom dinnerware on 3x5 index cards, but by 1984, with sales approaching $4 million a year, Replacements began a conversion to computers.

Today, the company's information technology network consists of more than 550 personal computers connected to two mainframe servers. It processes a database of information on more than 10 million pieces of inventory, 200,000 patterns and 4.6 million customers.

The system also keeps track of the 100,000 new pieces of china, crystal and silver shipped to Replacements every week via a network of more than 1,000 independent suppliers. After careful inspection by one of the company's "carbon-based" experts, each piece is assigned a location on one of the 50,000 shelves lining the walls and interior spaces of two large warehouses.

The IT network takes over again at that point, logging each piece of new inventory into the database. A specially developed software program then matches appropriate pieces with customer requests.

Next, combination customer notification/order forms are printed and either mailed or emailed to Replacements' customers, notifying them when pieces in which they have an expressed an interest become available. About 4 million notifications are sent out each month, 1 million via the U.S. Postal Service and about 3 million by email.

Its database contains detailed information on more than 10 million pieces of inventory.

Replacements was a thriving business when mail order was still, well, mail order, but it was the arrival of the e-commerce era that really opened up the company's full potential. In June 1998, Replacements launched its first Web site-www.replacements.com -and the business was changed forever.

"The Web site made it possible for customers to identify and register their patterns online, and to receive free information regarding a wide range of tableware and collectible products," Page explains. The arrival of the Internet age made Page's former hobby easily accessible to a whole universe of new potential clients.

Slightly fewer than 2,000 Web-surfers visited the Replacements site during its first month in operation. These days, it plays host to more than 1 million visitors a month. Within four years, direct and indirect sales from the Web site were accounting for more than 50% of the company's annual revenue, and it continues to grow.

While Replacements.com has been honored as a "Top 25 Web Site" by Internet Retailer magazine-putting it in the company of such leading Internet retailers as Amazon.com, L.L. Bean and eBay-the site was designed not by a "geek squad" of technology specialists, but by Page and an internal team of employees.

In independent benchmarking performed by Purdue University's Benchmark Portal Web site research team, Replacements.com outscored the Fortune 50 Web Site Composite Average in categories including home page design, navigation and overall design.

Along with its expansive inventory management and order processing functions, the site includes a large image library, an in-depth dinnerware knowledgebase, an online tour, pattern identification tools and more.

Replacements expanded its reach even further last year, inking a deal with Amazon Services Inc. to make its products available through the massive Amazon.com e-commerce portal.

It's easy to see reflections of Page's creativity in his company's unique business model and its award-winning Web site and IT network, but it also manifests itself in other areas that may be less visible but play an important role in Replacements, Ltd.'s success.

Human resources is one of them. "The philosophy of Replacements has always been to provide superior customer service," Page says. "We bend over backwards to accommodate our customers."

Page has been so successful with Replacements that he almost makes it seem effortless, but nothing could be farther from the truth. He has faced and overcome myriad obstacles and challenges over the past 24 years. Some of the biggest have involved cash flow, dealing with government agencies and personnel issues.

"The biggest mistake I remember making was listening to consultants on the matter of a road I built leading to our business," he says. "They advised me to dedicate the road to the state, but that decision ultimately cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars and a lot of grief. From this I learned it is sometimes better to trust your own instincts than to take the advice of others."

Hard work and attention to detail separate successful businesses from good ideas.

"The number one lesson I would give to others is to do something you love for a living," he advises would-be entrepreneurs.

But he is quick to add that it's important to stay grounded in reality. "You have to have ideas and dreams," Page says, "but it is hard work and attention to detail that separate successful businesses from good ideas."