A Chat with June’s Profile, Justus Bauschinger, president/owner of Lilliput Motor Co. & Deutsche Optik

Catalog Success: Where are your companies headquartered?
Justus Bauschinger: We’re out here in the boondocks of Nevada. Northern Nevada — about 90 miles southeast of Reno. Yerington, Nevada. On Main Street.

CS: What are the customer demographics for both catalogs?
JB: They’re actually remarkably similar. I’d say 45-plus [years of age], well-to-do. On the Lilliput side, committed to really fine kinds of models and antique toys, or reproductions thereof. And on the Deutsche Optik side, in fact, I never knew until I took over the company from Mike Rifkin that there were so many optical freaks out there. Or enthusiasts, I’m sorry. I mean people that just, you know, love to get big, weird hunks of glass and and go out in the field and use them.