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Disco Joints & Teddies (Reprinted from the Canadian Teddy Bear News - Fall 2004 issue, page 20, with permission from Patricia Atchison, Publisher.) Disco Joints and Teddies, one of Canada's oldest teddy bear supplies stores celebrates its 20th Anniversary in business this year. Their history is one of continuity, which has led them to become the major supplier of teddy bear making supplies in Canada, with sales in all parts of Canada and throughout the world. Owned by Karen Meadows, Disco Joints and Teddies is a full time business operated out of the basement of Karen and husband, Chris Meadows' home. Always busy, doing everything from taking and filling orders, packaging products, arranging shipping, bookkeeping, ordering inventory and inventory management, Karen finds she has little time for other aspects of the business, which is where Chris takes over. He works part time, designing and maintaining the website, making up price lists, doing much of the marketing and promotion, helping to come up with new ideas, and searching out new products and suppliers. They do call on one employee, who works at most a couple of hours a week packaging products, and stocking shelves, and helping out if a show is coming up. The operation of Disco Joints and Teddies is close to the heart of its name, derived from the discs used in the cotter pin joints and screw joints which are the foundation of the business. Let's delve into this company's past to understand their successes of today. Disco Joints and Teddies was created by Karen's mother, Shirley Voelker, who started out by making teddy bears. "Anyone who knows Shirley, will know that she is pretty humble and doesn't like to talk about herself let alone her accomplishments," comments Chris. "In fact she is considered one of the pioneers of the teddy bear industry in Ontario and possibly Canada." Twenty years ago, teddy bear making in Canada was very much in its infancy and Shirley found supplies expensive and difficult to find, so she found a manufacturer for the discs used in the jointing system that she was putting into her bears. She had to order huge quantities of them and also found that she could get a better price if she bought large quantities of everything. Shirley went ahead and made the purchases selling the excess supplies at shows and through club sales along with her teddy bears. The demand soon became great enough that she started a supply business and called it Disco Joints and Teddies. Shirley continued making teddy bears and selling supplies and found the supply business growing by word of mouth. "Most of the suppliers that we use today are the same as the ones Shirley started with 20 years ago," explains Chris. "Usually when Karen and I would go visit Shirley, we would have to visit with her while she was filling orders or making teddy bears. The phone would ring several times while we were there, making visits difficult." After 14 years, Shirley decided that she wanted to retire from making teddy bears and running Disco Joints and Teddies. She is completely removed from the company now, enjoying her seventies in retirement between her summer cottage and home. "When she was going to close the business down, Karen and I felt that she had developed something important and that it was shame to see all of her hard work go to waste. So with my support, Karen decided to take over Disco Joints and Teddies in 1998. I still don't know how Shirley was able to do everything that she did since it takes one full time and two part time people to do it now," says Chris. Shirley started Disco Joints and Teddies to provide low cost supplies to teddy bear makers by buying large quantities of supplies and repackaging them into smaller quantities. This remains the purpose of Disco Joints and Teddies today, as Chris explains, "We sell pretty much everything to make bears including the joints (3 different kinds), glass eyes, safety eyes, pearl cotton, thread, patterns, felt, mohair, synthetic fabrics and much more. Most of our sales are from shows or by mail order either phoned or through the internet. We do welcome people to visit us at home but ask that they phone first to make sure that we are home so they aren't disappointed." Since taking over the business, within the last six years, Karen and Chris have seen a real shift where business is being done more through the internet than at the shows. Chris defines it this way, "Anyone who has continued selling bears has started selling on the internet as well. When we took over from Shirley, our business was 100% Canadian and one of the first things we did was build a website to increase our exposure around the world. In 2000 we set the website up with a shopping cart which has increased our business in the United States to approximately 40% of our sales. We have sold supplies all around the world including Australia, Norway, Hong Kong, England and more since starting with the website. Karen and Chris have never made teddy bears professionally, but they have both made them. Even their kids have made one. Chris smiles, "I would consider both of us vision-ally challenged where what we envision in our minds never seems to take form in reality. I think it is important that we make them once in a while to understand what the supplies are used for and how they are used. We much prefer to buy a teddy bear if one catches our eye. We wouldn't call ourselves avid collectors but we do have a modest selection of bears that we have bought at the various shows we go to." Disco Joints and Teddies rely on customer feedback regarding their products and they learn a lot of teddy bear making tips from clients as well. "We are always asking customers at shows how a product worked for them and if they liked it or not. This feedback is very important to us for selecting the right products or changing suppliers if we need to because of quality concerns. A lot of ideas for new products or new uses have also come about by talking with our customers. Most of our products are purchased direct from the manufacturers wherever possible and not from distributors which reduces our costs so that we can pass on that savings to our customers," says Chris. Always eager to grow and offer customers the best products, in February 2004, Karen purchased the remaining inventory of Haida Supplies located in Maryland US. Their company was based on a similar philosophy as Disco Joints and Teddies. Along with the inventory purchase the company was able to obtain access to Haida suppliers, which included mohair direct from a mill in Germany. The Steinlein Mill of Germany has been very cooperative in providing Disco Joints and Teddies with mohair that they can then sell for less money than the major suppliers in the US. "We find that the quality of this mohair is outstanding, which will be a major benefit to the bear maker. We really are excited about the mohair and plan to continue expanding this line," says Chris. When asked if there are any special plans in celebrating their 20th Anniversary, Disco Joints and Teddies have none, other than recognizing it, but Chris offers an open invitation, "We will be having our Open House again this year which has become a highly anticipated event by our local customers in Ontario. Customers travel from all over Ontario to attend. Every year we open our house and convert our entire basement into a store. We have about eight tables of supplies and we always have a huge amount of mohair that is specially priced. It is a lot of fun with some customers spending the whole day visiting with each other. It gives us an opportunity to clean house and to visit with our customers." Future plans of Disco Joints see the company continuing to expand into the US market. "Next year we plan on selling at some of the shows that are within driving distance of Ontario. Both Karen and I are open to new ideas for products. We plan to handle the growth of Disco Joints at a pace that we can manage. We don't want to become so big that we lose the personal touch," explains Chris. Disco Joints and Teddies has established a reputation for fast, friendly service and quality products. "Working with Chris and Karen is an enormous pleasure. They are fun, honest, efficient and extremely accommodating. They sell a wonderful product and never hesitate to bring in new and different items for us to augment our soft sculpture creations. They are always upbeat and very knowledgeable about the products and the world of teddy bears in general," says long-time customer and teddy bear artist, Dianne Blencoe. "I have been buying bear bits from Disco Joints and Teddies ever since I discovered the world of teddy bears in 1995. Every show I have even attended in Canada I have stroked a piece of mohair or two from first Shirley and now Karen's table." Chris sums it up nicely with this comment, "It has been a lot of fun over the years and we have met some fantastic people. It is a lot of fun watching our customers develop their talents. We really enjoy seeing what people can create with our products. We have made some great friends and look forward to making many more. We hope to continue providing the products that inspire you all for many, many more years to come." P.O.
Box 468
Phone 1-519-699-5762 Email disco@discojoints.on.ca
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