We were lucky to catch up with Seymour Mondshein recently and have shared our conversation below.

Seymour , appreciate you joining us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

Prior to covid, we were an event based business, selling a majority of our goods at cash and carry, retail art show throughout the country, covid changed that,

Thankfully, we were very aggressive in growing our mailing list and more importantly, our email list.

Selling on the internet has been part of our marketing plan since 1998, when we opened our first free standing e commerce website. The synergism between a freestanding website and a weekly newsletter have dramatically grown our e-commerce sales, and have made it possible to successfully market our item without attending retail cash and carry events.

So thankful for every person on our email list.

Seymour , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the son of a holocaust survivor, who was a European trained furrier, when the Nazi marched in to Poland in 1939, they enslaved my father and forced him and his company to continue manufacturing for the needs of the Nazi military. They made leather coats for the Nazi, while imprisoned and close to starvation, but this saved his life.

After the war, my father was able to immigrate to the United States, where he worked in the fur industry in New York City, until he saved enough money to start his own business, in Newark, New Jersey.

My father, Abraham Mondshein and my mother lived and worked in their little store until I was born, the Maple Fur Shop on Maple Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

As a child, I would spend a lot of time in my father‘s workshop with him, as his extra set of hands, I would help him make fur coats under his direction. We would cut and sew, stretch, and pin the first to a table and and go through the many steps to make fur coat.

When we weren’t busy making fur coats, I would use scraps of fabric fur and leather to make little bags, wallets, belt pouches and mittens with his sewing machines., just for the fun of it.

When I started college, in 1970, I was unable to find a part-time job that would fit around my college schedule with my commitment to the United States Coast Guard reserve, which required me to attend weekend, meetings, one weekend a month. Most of the I applied for required working weekends.

For spending money, I started making little bags, selling them between classes in the student center of my college, This worked out really well since it fit my busy schedule.

While selling at the student center, one of my college professors, recommended that I try and sell my items at a craft fair,

The craft fair he recommended was the
First, American craft Council show, held at the Rhinebeck Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York. This turn out to be historicly on of the turning points in the American Craft Movement. Buyer from many of famous stores in the country, i.e. Barneys, Bloomingdale’s,
Showed up to shop.

It was a very successful show for most who exhibited and i was glad to be among them. The public showed up on the retail days and I sold 80% of what I made.

At the end of this event, I said to myself
“This craft fair thing might work out “. And so it did for the next 45 years, till covid.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience one customer at a time. I always felt that what I made was my best advertisement, and I hoped that my customers would become my best sales people. One bag would sell another.

It is very important to nurture your customers. I do so by making sure I keep in touch with them as much as possible. We are diligent about growing and maintaining both a mailing list and an email list. Both of these have helped us maintain and grow my business. People love our email blasts.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

We make everything we sell in a converted barn on an 88 acre farm in rural western New Jersey. It took me 20 years of traveling to auctions throughout the country to purchase all the equipment that I use in making our bags. In our works shop there are parts of many great companies that once manufactured in the USA, including Coach, London Fog and Thom McCann. I am very proud of our work space and the many items we create there. For the past several years we have been selling at our capacity.

The only downside side is that i am responsible for fixing and maintaining all the equipment, which is a job i do not enjoy, I would much rather create.

Contact Info:

• Website: Greatbags.com
• Instagram: Greatbags1
• Facebook: Greatbags1

Image Credits
Noneey