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Details are below in Thursday's post.
Staff Profile #2 - Philip (with CWDkids since the beginning)With Father’s Day coming up on Sunday, we thought it only appropriate to do our second staff profile on the father of CWDkids, Philip Klaus, Jr. Below is Philip’s perspective on the history of CWDkids.
From left to right: Nathalie, Oliva the King Charles Spaniel, Will, & Bennett
with Granddad Philip
In April 1987, I was heavily involved in both our family’s textile wholesale business and my small chain of children’s apparel retail stores when the textile business began to head in a very different direction. Our distributorship, Richmond Dry Goods, was about to lose two of its largest customers, Caroll Reed and J.C. Penney in the same year.
It was then that I faced a big decision on what direction to take the company. One call from Caroll Reed would prove to be the catalyst for diving into the catalog business. They called me to confirm that they were eliminating children’s apparel from their catalog and something, call it a gut feeling, made me respond with “Can I buy your mailing list?” They said yes, and with those six words the CWDkids catalog was born.
It was not an easy road. While I had a background in sales and my partner, Susan, had experience as a retail buyer for a major retail chain, there was much to be learned including how to photograph the merchandise, print and mail the catalog, predict response and fulfill orders.
That first mailing, I had the contingency plan for a flop, but I was not quite prepared for the influx of orders that began to arrive. In fact, after 2,500 orders were received, we had to shut off the phones and enlist the help of family and friends to help pick and pack the orders that had been placed. We learned a lot from that initial experience and 20 years later, I am proud to say that CWDkids is still going strong.
In those 20 years, my own family has grown as well. My son, Jim, who worked as a teenager in our Small People retail stores, is now President of CWDkids. And my daughter, Ashley is married and has three children of her own. All three grandkids have modeled for the catalog. My own experiences as a father and grandfather as well as those of our loyal staff have helped me stay on top of new trends in the kids market and have made CWDkids more successful than I ever imagined.
To those customers who have been shopping with us since the beginning, thank you for your loyalty. And I hope that those of you who have just begun your families will enjoy shopping with us for many years to come.
Philip’s Tidbits:
- I am an avid golfer. My favorite course that I have played has to be Grandfather Mountain Golf Club in Linville, NC. It is unbelievably beautiful and an incredibly challenging 18 hole layout.
- My favorite activity with my grandkids is our annual family beach week at Hilton Head. I wouldn't miss if for anything!
- For anyone just starting a business, the advice that I would give would be to follow your gut, have great people to work with and don't give up. The road is not easy... if it was there would be more people on it.
Thanks to Betsy for emailing us with a photo of her two cute kids! She says: 
