A long and winding road: Michael McKee's small-town Beatles museum is heading for the big time

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, May, 1998 by Erika Germer

Michael McKee's small-town Beatles museum is heading for the big time.

In Stanardsville, Va., 20 miles north of Charlottesville, you will find 276 people, a couple of gas stations, a pizza parlor, a Dairy Queen, and "the only registered Beatles museum in the entire United States."

But not for long. Michael and Lynn McKee are about to hit the big time: They're moving McKee's Beatles Museum to Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach, where they hope to attract 50,000 to 75,000 visitors a year, up from 16,000 in Stanardsville, and make the museum their primary source of income. The McKees have come a long way since they hung a batch of Beatles posters to cover the unpainted walls of their print shop.

Michael McKee is actually on his second collection of Beatles memorabilia. He was 10 years old in 1964, when the Fab Four appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, and as a kid he collected the usual Beatles albums and trinkets. As an adult he expanded his collection of records, posters and photographs when he worked as a designer for a Los Angeles record label.

But he gave it all away in 1981 and headed off to visit a friend in Charlottesville. When the friend borrowed $800 and didn't pay it back, McKee found himself stranded.

GROWING PAINS. He took a job with a local printer and eventually set up a business of his own in Ruckersville, 15 miles north of Charlottesville. When the landlord neglected to make needed repairs, McKee hung the Beatles posters, from a new collection of memorabilia he had started to accumulate. One of McKee's friends observed that the shop looked more like a museum than a print shop, and the idea stuck. By the time McKee moved to nearby Stanardsville for more space, the museum collection was squeezing out the printing equipment.

The McKees found that opening a museum wasn't as easy as hanging a few posters on the wall. They spent hours on the phone and fax machine, working out legal details with lawyers in the U.S. and abroad to make sure they weren't infringing on any copyrights. "Our phone bill for the two-week period before we opened was 70 cents short of $400," says Michael.

The McKees took $14,000 out of their savings to pay for advertisements and promotions, including $2,500 for TV commercials that aired in the surrounding counties of Virginia. For the first 11 months they didn't sell any souvenirs, and they never charged admission (although they will in their new digs). "At the beginning we didn't intend to make a profit," says Michael.

A GOING CONCERN. But the McKees couldn't escape success: Their museum attracted national media attention, and at one point, 12 larger communities in Virginia were vying to persuade them to relocate.

Each of the surviving Beatles has contributed to the museum's 1,000-piece collection, as has Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow. On display are about 150 records, including first pressings, studio masters and gold records; photos and posters of the band; and other Beatles artifacts. McKee recently agreed to purchase John Lennon's 1963 stage suit and hopes to display it when the new museum opens. Although McKee picked up some of his records for as little as 50 cents apiece at yard sales, he has been offered as much as $25,000 for one piece in the collection. "But I don't want to sell it," he says.

Especially not when the museum shows signs of becoming a going concern. When McKee started selling T-shirts and key chains, he made more money that month than he did from his print shop. "This is going to be our livelihood," says Lynn. As an act of faith, their new museum won't contain any printing equipment. kiers could h