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At least it's ready enough. Manufacturer of religious-themed items opens for shopping
By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
DALTON: P. Graham Dunn — a Wayne County manufacturer whose religious-themed gifts, art and home decor is sold by 4,000 dealers around the world — opened its long-awaited outlet store in Dalton on Wednesday.
Sort of.
After a whirlwind of last-minute construction activity and some final inspections, the sawdust was swept from a couple of rooms at the new 120,000-square foot monolith off U.S. Route 30 to allow for a month-long ''warehouse sale'' to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.
After Christmas, customers will be gently ushered out and crews brought back in to finish and polish the retail showroom and manufacturing center that promises to be a Northeast Ohio destination.
Less than 24 hours before the first early bird shoppers arrived, not a wallhanging or display cabinet was in sight as owner Peter Dunn walked through the facility, his footsteps echoing through the cavernous rooms.
His confidence that everything would come together for Wednesday was evident by newspaper ads and a direct mailing sent out even before the fire department tested the sprinkler system.
''We're Amish Mennonites,'' Dunn said with a chuckle. ''Nothing stops us. We work around the clock if we have to.''
The company was founded in
1974, an outgrowth of Dunn's interest in woodworking.
Today, the Christian theme so central to the life of this missionaries' son is carried on by 85 employees who etch religious images and thoughts into wood veneer using computer-operated engravers, cutters and printers.
The original P. Graham Dunn factory in Dalton sits along Zuercher Road, on a farm owned for eight generations by the family of Dunn's wife, LeAnna.
The area was settled by Mennonite farmers from Switzerland who sought to escape religious persecution in the early 1800s. The Dunns still live on the land, where they raised their four children.
But Dunn recognized his success was threatening the pristine environment. The 35-acre farm overlooks the stunning Sonnenberg Valley and features an 1825 pioneer house, a second home built in 1905 and a working dairy operation.
With sales growing 15 percent to 20 percent a year, many of Dunn's finishing, packaging, shipping and storage functions had spilled out into a renovated chicken house and some five other locations throughout the area, said Joe Knutson, Dunn's son-in-law and store manager.
And as local interest in the wholesale operation grew, a showroom used for distributor viewings was converted into a retail store.
''We had no intention of doing that but the public got ahold of the place and knocked on the door and we weren't going to say no,'' Knutson said.
Finally, the family said enough.
''If we keep growing like this, we're not going to have a farm left,'' Dunn said. The land was placed into a conservation easement to prohibit future development and the Dunns began looking for another site.
Five years ago, Dunn bought a 28-acre farm along U.S. 30, a well-traveled area crossed by 32,000 motorists a day, and began planning his new factory and headquarters. Ground was broken seven months ago.
''It was only a matter of time before somebody got it and developed it,'' he said. ''It was inevitable, so it might as well be us.''
P. Graham Dunn's entire operation will be consolidated at the new site, where shoppers will be greeted by a grand staircase illuminated by a massive chandelier.
The lobby — Dunn calls it the ''cathedral'' of the building — is surrounded by cherry and poplar woodwork, its wide crown molding inscribed with religious quotes.
''Shock and awe,'' was the goal, Knutson said.
The staircase leads to a series of arched entrances that divide 18,000 feet of showroom space. Here is where engraved plaques and frames, mirrors and clocks, prints and wallhangings will be on display.
Except for some books, greeting cards and dried flowers, the store will only feature Dunn-made products.
Observation windows on either side of the second-story showroom give visitors a bird's-eye view of the manufacturing process a floor below.
For the next month, however, sales will take place on the first floor, in a room destined for laser engraving machines.
The only other rooms approved for public occupancy are the restrooms and the lobby.
The store will be open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. through the last day of the year, except for Sundays.
The building won't be idle between the post-Christmas closing and the official grand opening planned for May 1.
Dunn is taking advantage of the uncluttered floors to host the Northeast Ohio Sportsman Show on Jan. 25-26, expected to draw a crowd of 30,000. The company's own dealer conference will also be held there in March.
The carpet won't go down until those events are over, Dunn said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
DALTON: P. Graham Dunn — a Wayne County manufacturer whose religious-themed gifts, art and home decor is sold by 4,000 dealers around the world — opened its long-awaited outlet store in Dalton on Wednesday.
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