As part of the entertainment portion of the ASG regionals in St. Charles, the St. Louis ASG chapter arranged for a tour of the Tacony headquarters. Tacony, as we learned, distributes Baby Lock sewing machines and sergers, and manufactures Simplicity vacuums and Regency ceiling fans, as well as distributing several other things. Oh, and owning Nancy’s Notions. I was astonished at the resources the Tacony people put into the tour — the CEO, Ken Tacony, greeted us, then, when the group was split into 4 tour groups, the CEO and the president each conducted a group. After the tour, half a dozen Baby Lock folks showed us what they were up to, and then the CEO drew names for a truly amazing door prize drawing. In all, I figure that they had a dozen people spend three hours on a Friday afternoon with us, and that doesn’t include the time spent getting ready for us.
And did they every get ready! They pulled out all their samples and hung them on the cubicle walls all through the facility! Everywhere we walked, there were gorgeous examples of sewing, quilting, and embroidery. We heard that even the employees were kinda excited about the decor.
And then, as we were leaving, they handed each of us a major bag of goodies:
Several of us were saying on the bus afterward that the tour was great and the goodies were awesome, but what was the most surprising thing about the tour was learning about the vacuum cleaner division. Simplicity is apparently a high end line, and the CEO told us that they got a bunch of their machines on Consumer Report’s best buy lists. And the bonus? They’re manufactured in the US! I spoke to at least one person who was going to find a local source and check them out.
I hope the total good will and eventual sales turn out to make this effort worth their while — we sure appreciated all the work they did for us!
May 5, 2008 at 12:16 pm |
Julia,
Thanks for the kind words. Getting ready for your group’s visit was a labor of love for our people. We all understand that you and your sewing friends are what keeps us in business.
I provide support to all our selling and marketing divisions, not just sewing, but I watched Baby Lock and Sewing Central, and many others getting ready for your visit and, as you mentioned, they did a tremendous amount of work. They also enjoyed doing it. Your visit was such a big deal that they even gave me a Baby Lock shirt to wear for the occasion. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I wasn’t part of the tour.
Thanks again for visiting the St. Louis area and Tacony Corporation. Come back any time. You’re always welcome.