More milestones 
On November 2, 1995, Mrs. Kathryn Bricker of Sarasota,
Florida, called to order a Slim Shirt Pocket Briefcase. She was our one-millionth
order. Two months earlier, we had introduced our first Professional &
Corporate Sales catalog, whose customers now include prestigious universities,
media companies, law firms and laboratories.
|
|
|
The Levenger Webstore in 1996
|
On July 31, 1996, we launched our virtual store (the one
you see pictured to the right). The following year we doubled the size
of our first bricks-and-mortar store, in Delray Beach.
Book publishers
With all the tools for serious readers that we created, one had eluded
us: the book. So in September 1998 we launched our publishing imprint,
Levenger Press, whose unofficial motto is, "Life is too short to make
common books."
We take a great delight in bringing our customers such authors as
Winston Churchill, Alexis de Tocqueville, Robert Louis Stevenson and
Samuel Johnson, in beautiful volumes meant to be treasured.
‘First, we must get them to
State Street’
Early in 2003, I was thumbing through a new book of quotations
and came across this one:
|
Twelve
things to remember:
|
1. The value of time
2. The success of perseverance
3. The pleasure of working
4. The dignity of simplicity
5. The worth of character
6. The power of kindness
|
7. The influence of example
8. The obligation of duty
9. The wisdom of economy
10.The virtue of patience
11.The improvement of talent
12. The joy of origination
|
It struck a chord, because those are the kinds of
qualities we try to live by at Levenger. I circled it as a quotation
to remember.
The author of those sage words was Marshall Field, the founder
of one of the greatest retail enterprises in our country and of
the Chicago store that still bears his name. Marshall Field had
wanted a new downtown shopping mecca for the city, and he knew
precisely where it should be: “First,” he said, “we
must get them to State Street.”
A couple of months after I’d come upon that quote, we
got a call asking if we would be interested in putting a Levenger
store inside a major department store. The inquiry came from Marshall
Field’s, inviting us to become part of their reinvention
of their department store on Chicago's State Street.
And so the first Levenger Store outside of our Delray Beach
headquarters came into being, on the first floor of that venerable
Chicago landmark, Marshall Field's. It opened in September 2003.
Back to Boston
Seventeen years after Lori and I first set up shop in the spare bedroom of our
Belmont townhouse, we came back to Boston, and in a bigger way.
Levenger's first freestanding store opens in The Shops at Prudential Center,
in downtown Boston, in June 2004. What a joy to be back where we began, and with so
much more to offer our customers.
On to Memphis
In 2006, we moved our warehouse from our Florida headquarters to Tennessee. (Our Customer Service team followed in early 2007.) By having our distribution center in a more central U.S. location, we’re able to deliver our goods faster to our customers and our stores.
And into Virginia
Our store at Tysons Corner, Virginia, which opened in December 2006, is close to America’s capital. A beautiful mix of warm oak and cool marble, the store’s design reflects the yin and yang of Levenger. We’re both high tech and low, one part nib and one part mouse.
From Delray to Boca
In November 2007 we moved our Florida store from Delray Beach to neighboring Boca Raton. Though not far away in miles, it is infinitely closer to customers, as our store is part of the elegant Town Center at Boca Raton mall.
|
|
|
Steve with mentor and friend
Ric Leichtung
|
Mentors
How tidy one’s history looks when summed
up this way! But there was a learning curve, of course. And we have been
amazingly lucky to have had gracious, wise and inspiring mentors along
the way.
Leo Weiss of the MIT Enterprise Forum in Washington, D.C., inspired us
into entrepreneurship. Master direct marketer Ric Leichtung helped us
cut our teeth on direct mail, teaching us more than the basics of list
rentals and merchandising. A tour of Levenger’s offices includes
a stop at the Leichtung Library. Engraved on the plaque on the door is
this message: “Dedicated to Ric Leichtung, Levenger’s Mentor
and Friend.”
|
