 However, a chance meeting with a fur trader on his voyage had inspired him to join the North American fur trade as well.After working at his brother's shop for a time, Astor began to purchase raw hides from Native Americans, prepare them himself, and resell them in London and elsewhere at great profit.He opened his own fur goods shop in New York in the late 1780s and also served as the New York agent of his uncle's musical instrument business.