Risks & Rewards
Background: Larry Levine founded and runs Impulse Wear, the wholesale company that spawned Eden Lane. Started in 1987, this wholesale business sells heat transfers for athletic wear and heat transfer equipment and paper, while the Eden Lane catalog division sells gifts and apparel to consumers.
About Eden Lane
Catalog established: 2002
Headquarters: Main offices are in Blacklick, Ohio, and catalog operations are in Columbus, Ohio
Primary merchandise: Gifts and apparel
Annual circ: More than 8 million
Primary demographics: Women age 40 and older
Why he started a catalog: Diversification. “Eden Lane was my response to Sept. 11. I thought my regular wholesale business would suffer a bit, and because of that, I took a risk and diversified,” says Levine.
Additionally, he says, the catalog is an opportunity for him to flex a little creative muscle. Having performed both as a standup comedian and a musician, he says the desire to touch an audience — in this case via a catalog — remains appealing.
His creative endeavors: “I’ve written for Jay Leno on ‘The Tonight Show,’ and I used to do a talk show in the Midwest. And I compose music. I’m a guy who has to create.”
How the catalog got started: Levine reveals he had long thought about starting a catalog and naming it after the street on which he grew up. And while he started the wholesale company in his basement with only his dog by his side, Levine had the benefit of 15 years in business when he expanded his main operations in Blacklick, Ohio, and opened a catalog call center and distribution facility in Columbus, Ohio.
Greatest initial challenges: “Learning a new industry and understanding the real business behind the business. Coming up with a business model and a personality for the catalog wasn’t simple,” he says. “Marketing comes easy to me; it was the basic business that was tough. Fulfillment, phone center, software, all of that we had to learn.”
How he learned: “I brought in talent — people who were experienced and had a lot more knowledge than I do in these areas. And I turned them loose,” he says.
Greatest current challenge: Web development. “We have a lot of issues with our Web site. … We’re looking to replace internal and external software this year. It’s a major league job, but it’s hugely important. I want to invest in technology to help us.”
Key points to his success:
* ”I love challenges, and I’m a creative guy, so when I do something, I do it with a lot of enthusiasm.”
* Taking chances. Citing the poor economic climate in which he started the catalog, Levine admits it was a tough decision to expand his wholesale business. Still, he felt the opportunity to try something new was worth the risk.
* Learning to fail. “I always tell my son that the best hitters in baseball hit only three out of 10. You have to learn to live with that. There’s failure out there, and you’ve got to learn to deal with it.”
What he loves about cataloging: “I like the excitement of sending a catalog out — it’s seeing it go out and seeing how people respond. It’s that almost immediate validation — or invalidation — of your ideas. It’s a lot fun.”
His definition of success: A living, thriving, growing business. “I’m lucky. I’m excited to come to work every morning. It’s profitable and still growing, and it’s fun to work in that kind of environment.”
