A Chat With February’s Profile, Mike Stopka, President/Owner of Design Toscano

CS: What factors contributed to the success and growth of Design Toscano in its formative years?

MS: It sounds like a cliché, but working 24/7. Just working hard and making good decisions. My analytical and system skills definitely helped in this industry. Having staff who understood the merchandise, knowing our niche. Many companies veer too far away from their niche and they lose what they’re good at. Some people say, ‘Why don’t you go up to $100 million in sales?’ I say, ‘You can’t. This is the size niche that we’re at.’ You can define the niche differently, but by definition a cataloger is a niche business. If it wasn’t a niche business it would be a brick-and-mortar, a chain. But it’s not. You’re looking for niches in cataloging and now the Internet.