Swiss Colony hopes for sweet retail sales
Monroe, WI – It’s been years since Swiss Colony’s chalet-style stores and kiosks disappeared from shopping centers. The Monroe-based company isn’t bringing them back, but it has launched an initiative to put some of its sweet catalog products on store shelves around the country.
“It’s one of the next natural stages for our future,” said John Baumann, president of the catalog retailer.
The company sees the rollout in stores as a way to boost sales and gain attention from young people who may not have heard of Swiss Colony. The initiative is just the latest in a series of efforts that have kept the business strong in spite of the recession.
People typically think cheese or petit fours when they hear the name Swiss Colony. But these days food is just 15% of the company’s business.
So much has happened since the company was founded in 1926 as a mail-order cheese business that in June it changed its name to Colony Brands Inc. to better reflect its diverse nature. These days, the direct-to-consumer retail operation sells everything from NASCAR gear to evening gowns. Paula Dean pie cutters, thigh gliders, Cuisinart coffeemakers, dining room sets, glassware, jewelry, a Honeybunny rotating sprinkler, cameras, MP3 players – name a category and you probably can find it in one of the company’s 12 catalogs.
