Mar 30, 2009

Chesterfield business stays on top of novelty trendsBy Joan TupponceTimesDispatch.com

Steve Barnett turns to Elissa Mast for her balloon expertise every year in the weeks before Valentine’s Day.

“Valentine’s Day is a huge balloon day for us,” said Barnett, president of Barnett’s Hallmark, which operates five area shops.

“There’s always a hot-button Valentine balloon that someone wants. Elissa is very well-informed of the trends. She’s really sharp in giving us an indicator as to how many balloons we will need.”

Mast is president of family-owned E&R Sales, a Chesterfield County-based wholesale distributor for balloons, pens and novelty trend items to thousands of customers scattered throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean.

Mast’s parents, Lois and Harry Gellis, started the company in the small living room of their Brandermill home in 1986. Their first customer was Safeway grocery stores.

“Dad was an independent multiline representative, and one of his lines was balloons,” Mast said.

Gellis decided to leave his job and open his own balloon company, which he named using the first initials of his two daughters Elissa and Randi. At that time, Gellis sold small stick balloons.

“We used to keep the air inflation machines in our living room,” Mast said. “My mom did the back end of the business, and my father did the sales.”

Sales grew quickly and, by early 1987, Gellis moved the business to Busy Street in Chesterfield.

In 1998, E&R Sales moved to its current 38,000-square-foot location in the former Safeway store at 4800 Market Square Lane off Hull Street Road near state Route 288.

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