Robert Lang, The Lang Companies, Delafield, WI

Gifts & Dec: What motivated you to start the company?

Robert Lang: My wife, Suzanne, couldn't find a calendar she liked. At the time, I was in the construction business, houses cost $200,000, and interest rates were 17 percent. I said, 'Why don't we make calendars that cost ten dollars?' I had no background, didn't even know what a transparency was. I took out a triple mortgage on our house. We published our first folk art calendar in 1982, took an ad in Colonial Homes, and sold directly to consumers. My wife and I picked up orders from a post office box and shipped from our kitchen table.

Gifts & Dec: When were you able to move the business out of the house?

RL: In 1983, I went to the Chicago Gift Show, met [manufacturers' rep] Sue Sanderson, and she suggested we wholesale our calendars. So I took out booths in Chicago, Beckman's [Handcrafted Gift Show], San Francisco, and Boston. I only had one product, so I hung each month separately. In August of that year we printed and sold 5,000 calendars. In 1984, I went full time, moved the operation out of the house and into a small building. We hired six people, and in 1985 turned a profit.

Gifts & Dec: What is it about the Lang Companies that makes them successful?

RL: In a market that's mostly about whom can copy whom for less, we offer creativity. It's our main product. There are a few proven creative companies in the industry. Most gift companies focus on one product, and when it hits they run with it. I have a different approach. We're a multi-silo company, supplying stores with everything they need from a single source.

Gifts & Dec: Multi-silo?

RL: A silo is something we build a company around. Currently, we have six silos. Our first is paper. The second is collectibles. In 1999, we created the third, candles. The fourth, Bob's Boxes, was an immediate home run. In its third year, Bob's Boxes will probably surpass our largest company, Lang Graphics, the original paper company. In June 2000 we launched our fifth silo, tabletop, and our sixth is Lang Books. A seventh is in the works.

Gifts & Dec: You're also a retailer.

RL: I opened my first gift store, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the same month I started selling calendars. I set out to build a chain of successful stores and to provide product to sustain them. Today I have 17 stores in seven states. I use our stores to test our products. It's not my goal to have only corporately owned stores. Our success is because of the support of independent retailers. I am forever grateful, and I want to continue to work with them.

Gifts & Dec: Do your retailer customers resent the competition?

RL: If they don't understand the marketplace, some might. But it's not competition. It advertises the product more. However, I can't wait for the independents to sell our products to their full potential. Our company-owned stores far outstrip what other retailers sell. We sell 15 times the average store's purchases of Lang calendars, and eight times more boxes. We had an account that bought $20,000 retail. I went into the same center, and this year my sales will be $800,000. I told the account, anything I do for this store I'll do for you.

Gifts & Dec: Have you achieved your goal of providing everything a gift store needs to be successful?

RL: I have a small store, in Delafield, Wisconsin, that is completely supported by Lang product. This year it will become profitable with sales of over $550,000. And at one of my most profitable stores, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, (more than $500 per square foot), nine of the top 11 lines are Lang.

Gifts & Dec: What do you see as your greatest achievement?

RL: Helping small stores gain profitability and pride. It's more satisfying than working with big stores that take it for granted.

Gifts & Dec: What was your biggest challenge?

RL: Capitalizing growth and expansion to reach this size with only bank financing. I have no partners. My wife's not directly involved anymore, though she's my biggest support. It's just me and my wonderful, hardworking staff.

Gifts & Dec: How are you celebrating your anniversary?

RL: We published a 20th-anniversary edition of our first calendar. It's still our best seller, even though we've grown way beyond it. And, of course, we plan to keep growing, evolving, and creating new things.