Kurt S. Adler A Time to Celebrate

We visited with Kurt S. Adler at a time of celebration for the founder of the holiday merchandise importing company of the same name. On the personal side, it was the day after his 80th birthday and the day after the birth of his newest grandaughter, Kate. On the professional side, 2001 marks 55 years of business success for a man who started out by wandering the streets of New York with a suitcase filled with samples. The formula for his success? There's no simple answer. "It's the overall thing you do," said Adler, sitting comfortably behind his desk at the Kurt S. Adler Inc. headquarters, across from Madison Square Park in New York.

However, Adler had "a lot of things to do" to get where he is today. He grew up in northern Bavaria, Germany, in comfortable circumstances, surrounded by an extended family clan. But the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s forced an abrupt change for the Adler family. To escape the persecution of Jews that seemed imminent, Kurt made his way to the U.S. An uncle who lived in New Jersey agreed to sponsor the family's entry to America, but he backpedaled when he realized that the refugees would not be permitted to bring money with them. Instead, he sponsored only Kurt, forcing the young Adler to make the long trip alone. "It was not easy, a boy of 16 coming over by himself," he noted.

Adler's sponsor housed him for a few weeks and found him a factory job. But Adler soon found a room of his own, and took a job with the Brillo company. A year later, his parents and sister, Hilda, were able to join him. Hilda still tells the story of the apartment he found for the family, which was so untenable that they had to leave after only a few weeks.

"It was very tough for us," explained Adler. "We lost everything. We were well-to-do people, and we had to take a big step down. My main aim was to reach that same social status again. It took years."

Adler continued to work at Brillo until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. But the fastidious immigrant had difficulty adjusting to basic training in Louisiana. One night he snuck out of his tent to take an illicit shower, fell into a ditch, and broke his toe. As a result, when the rest of his unit was shipped off to the Battle of the Bulge in Europe, Adler was sent to Honolulu instead. Five days later, the Japanese surrendered "because they heard I was coming," Adler joked.

Although he hated life in the army, during his 18 months in Hawaii Adler made the connections that would launch him on his successful career. In addition to playing tennis every day, Adler established contacts with businessmen and worked as their agent exporting American goods overseas, "because after the war there was a great shortage of consumer goods."

After his discharge in 1946, Adler returned to New York and went into business for himself. About five years later, since the recovering world economy made exports no longer as profitable as they had once been, Adler decided to become an importer.

After a trip to Germany, he came back with that suitcase full of samples, which included porcelain figurines and some seasonal merchandise. Several stores were interested, but when Adler told them that delivery would be in four months, they said to come back then. He did, but they had forgotten him.

Eventually, he made a few sales. But he quickly came to the conclusion that he should concentrate on seasonal merchandise, realizing that he could sell it in April and deliver it in October. "With completely presold orders, I could eliminate the risks I couldn't afford to take," explained Adler. "It's a heck of a lot easier when you have the orders in hand."

Growth came gradually. According to Adler, the biggest challenges have always been financial. "Bank financing is never available when you need it." By living carefully, he was able to keep money invested in the business and add some each year.

Adler slowly filled out his merchandise mix with such items as Santas, glass ornaments, tinsel, and garlands. Over the years he added salespeople and took on lines from Eastern European countries as well as Germany. He later added product from Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, India, and China.

Kurt Adler is also responsible for popularizing many innovations in seasonal decor. He introduced miniature lights, snow scenes, realistic artificial trees, knit stockings, and much more. Today, the company offers about 7,500 SKUs of seasonal merchandise and operates 20 showrooms nationwide.

Adler has long since regained the social status he dreamed of reclaiming as a youth. And he has his family surrounding him. His daughter, Karen, is chief financial officer of Kurt S. Adler Inc., and the plan is to turn the company over to his sons, Clifford and Howard. "They run it anyway," Adler laughed.

It is a time to celebrate, and Gifts & Dec is proud to honor the achievements of Kurt S. Adler with its 2001 Industry Achievement Award.