A Chat With May’s Profile, Suzanne Vlietstra, president of Hobby Horse Clothing Co.
CS: Has there been any interest in acquiring names from a co-op database?
SV: You know what, that’s so far beyond our radar at this point. One of the problems that we have, because we think of ourselves primarily as manufacturers, the software we tend to run our company off of isn’t very computer-oriented. It’s more manufacturer-oriented. And that’s been a huge stumbling block for us … trying to integrate. You recommend me a software package that does garment manufacturing, distribution at wholesale and retail, cataloging, and Internet. It doesn’t exist. So we have several things pieced together. And we, in terms of analyzing our lists and results, are doing everything wrong. All I know is we mail catalogs and people buy stuff.
CS: Is there anything you’d like to add, last comments?
SV: Just that I’m the luckiest person ever born to be born when and where and who I was. Because you couldn’t do this any place else than this time and place in the United States.
Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.
