![]() By the end of the 1950s he had succeeded in growing sales from $2.3 million at the start of the decade to more than $10.5 million. He also transferred his business model to other services, creating a while-you-wait shoe repair operation. He became involved in the making of key chains, which led to the manufacture and selling of jewelry. He also earned the newspaper moniker, the "king of keys."įar from satisfied with his dominance in the key-duplicating field, Cole began to diversify in the 1950s. It was at this point that he bought the Curtis operation as well as his old employer, National Key, whose name he assumed. By 1950 Cole had built the Curtis key business into the country's second largest key retailer. Cole also benefited from the postwar economic boom that led to increased home and automobile ownership -and, thus, a growing need for duplicate keys to open doors and start engines. He found a profitable niche, providing the level of training, inventory control, and customer service in the highly profitable key duplicating business that the department stores simply could not provide. ![]() Cole developed strong ties with Sears and other department stores, such as Montgomery Ward and Kresge, leasing space in their parking lots to offer key-making shops. His first shop operated out of the parking lot of a Cleveland Sears, Roebuck & Co. After spending nine years at Cleveland's National Key Shop, where he rose to the rank of general manager, Cole left in 1944 to work for another Cleveland company, Curtis Industries, tasked with establishing a key retailing business. It was with keys that he was to make his fortune. After a year at the Ohio State University, Cole went to work as a salesmen for Waldorf Brewing Company from 1933 to 1935, at which point he became involved in the key business. The company was founded by Joseph Edmund Cole, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, born in 1915. Until 2006, Things Remembered was part of Cole National Corporation, whose roots date to the years following World War II. Based in Highland Heights, Ohio, Things Remembered is owned by GB Merchant Partners, LLC. The customer base comprises three categories: wedding, business, and general. Things Remembered sells its gift items through approximately 650 stores and kiosks, located primarily in shopping malls, and through catalogs and the Internet. The company also sells personalized gifts through a license with the 32 teams of the National Football League, including framed prints, shot glasses, and blankets. In addition, Things Remembered offers such items as leather goods, glassware, religious items, pens and stationery, clocks, frames, desk accessories, lighters. The company specializes in gifts, such as jewelry, that can be personalized through onsite engraving. ![]() ![]() Things Remembered, Inc., is a privately owned retailer of gifts for all occasions, whether they be weddings, baby showers, birthdays, job promotions, graduation, or general holidays. Private Company Founded: 1967 Employees: 4,000 (est.) Sales: $300 million (2005 est.) NAIC: 332812: Metal Coating, Engraving, and Allied Services (Except Jewelry and Silverware) to Manufacturing 5500 Avion Park Drive Highland Heights, Ohio 44143 U.S.A.
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