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Need a greeting card, decorative candle or new car? Look no further. A wide array of products is manufactured right here in Northeast Ohio
By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Saturday, Nov 07, 2009
Jacob Sapirstein was a young Polish immigrant when he arrived in Cleveland in 1905 and launched a business selling German-made postcards to local drug stores and novelty shops.
He made enough from his penny postcards the first week in business to repay the $50 startup loan he got from the bank.
His American dream grew into American Greetings, a $1.8 billion international company that sells greeting cards as well as party and paper products.
More than a century after its founding, the company still calls Cleveland home and employs 2,871 people in Ohio.
This is the third installment of a Beacon Journal Business series about locally made or locally owned consumer brands.
Want to help the local economy? Here's this week's shopping list:
Automobiles
• General Motors recently began a second shift at its factory in Lordstown, which makes the Chevrolet Cobalt and will begin building the Chevy Cruze compact next year.
The plant now employs more than 3,000 people.
• There are three Northeast Ohio Ford plants. According to the company's Web site, the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake employs 1,821 making the Ford Econoline, and the Cleveland Casting Plant in Brook Park employs 799 making cast iron components for engines.
Also, the Cleveland Engine Plant 2 employs 446 in Brook Park making V6 engines. The plant also makes the new EcoBoost 3.5L V6, a fuel-efficient engine that will be available in the 2010 Lincoln MKS, Lincoln MKT and Ford Flex, and will be standard on the 2010 Ford Taurus.
Candles
• Root Candles employs about 200 at its headquarters and manufacturing plant in Medina. The company also owns a small plant in Texas.
Root decorative candles can be found at retail stores (from gift shops to grocery markets), as well as online at http://www.rootcandles.com.
The company introduced a new brand this year. Legacy by Root are all-natural beeswax candles.
Cards, party supplies
• American Greetings Corp., headquartered in Cleveland, owns greeting card brands American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus. The company also produces DesignWare party goods, and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift wrap and boxed cards.
The company creates and licenses popular character brands as well, and owns Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Madballs and Popples as well as new licenses Sushi Pack, Maryoku Yummy and Twisted Whiskers.
Products can be found at retail stores nationwide, as well as the company's own American Greetings and Carlton Cards retail stores.
The Cleveland office alone employs nearly 2,200.
Lawn mowers
• MTD Products Inc., founded in 1932 in Cleveland, started as a tool and die supplier and grew into a global manufacturer of outdoor power equipment.
The company's brands include Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, White Outdoor, Yard-Man, Yard Machines, Bolens, Arnold and GardenWay. Their products can be found in home improvement stores, hardware stores, mass retailers, independent dealers and farm supply stores.
MTD employs about 6,000, many at its global headquarters in Medina County's Valley City, as well as production operations in Streetsboro and Willard.
Paint/sealants
• RPM International Inc. in Brunswick Township makes specialty coatings and sealants under about 50 brand names. Popular products include RUST-OLEUM (rust prevention paint), Testors (enamel model paints), DAP (caulk), DIF (wallpaper stripper) and Zinsser (primer.)
Products are sold at national retailers, including hardware and home improvement stores. For a list of all of their products, visit http://www.rpminc.com/consumer.asp.
In addition to its world headquarters in Medina County, it owns manufacturing plants in Beachwood (Tremco Inc.) and Cleveland (DayGlo Color Corp.), employing a total of 851 in Northeast Ohio.
• Headquartered in Cleveland, Sherwin-Williams Co. makes and distributes several paint brands, including Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Krylon, Minwax and Thompson's Water Seal.
Sherwin-Williams brand paints are sold exclusively through some 3,300 company-operated stores. Other brands are sold through national chains, home centers and hardware stores.
The company, founded in 1866, employs about 3,000 in Northeast Ohio, including a research and development division in Cleveland and a manufacturing plant in Bedford.
Pets
• Bil-Jac Foods makes premium dog food as well as dog and cat treats, sold around the country under the Bil-Jac name. The frozen food is available where other pet foods are sold, while the dry brand can be found at national pet stores.
Medina is home to the headquarters and the plant that manufactures the frozen variety of Bil-Jac products, employing about 60.
Wheels
• Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels designs, develops and markets racing and high-performance tires for drag-racing cars and motorcycles, modified street cars, off-road race vehicles, modified pickup trucks, Jeeps, 4x4s and sport utility vehicles. The company recently won a state award for increasing its exports.
The company, headquartered in Stow, employs 60 people. For product information and a list of local dealers, visit http://www.mickeythompsontires.com.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
Jacob Sapirstein was a young Polish immigrant when he arrived in Cleveland in 1905 and launched a business selling German-made postcards to local drug stores and novelty shops.
He made enough from his penny postcards the first week in business to repay the $50 startup loan he got from the bank.
His American dream grew into American Greetings, a $1.8 billion international company that sells greeting cards as well as party and paper products.
More than a century after its founding, the company still calls Cleveland home and employs 2,871 people in Ohio.
This is the third installment of a Beacon Journal Business series about locally made or locally owned consumer brands.
Want to help the local economy? Here's this week's shopping list:
Automobiles
• General Motors recently began a second shift at its factory in Lordstown, which makes the Chevrolet Cobalt and will begin building the Chevy Cruze compact next year.
The plant now employs more than 3,000 people.
• There are three Northeast Ohio Ford plants. According to the company's Web site, the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake employs 1,821 making the Ford Econoline, and the Cleveland Casting Plant in Brook Park employs 799 making cast iron components for engines.
Also, the Cleveland Engine Plant 2 employs 446 in Brook Park making V6 engines. The plant also makes the new EcoBoost 3.5L V6, a fuel-efficient engine that will be available in the 2010 Lincoln MKS, Lincoln MKT and Ford Flex, and will be standard on the 2010 Ford Taurus.
Candles
• Root Candles employs about 200 at its headquarters and manufacturing plant in Medina. The company also owns a small plant in Texas.
Root decorative candles can be found at retail stores (from gift shops to grocery markets), as well as online at http://www.rootcandles.com.
The company introduced a new brand this year. Legacy by Root are all-natural beeswax candles.
Cards, party supplies
• American Greetings Corp., headquartered in Cleveland, owns greeting card brands American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus. The company also produces DesignWare party goods, and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift wrap and boxed cards.
The company creates and licenses popular character brands as well, and owns Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Madballs and Popples as well as new licenses Sushi Pack, Maryoku Yummy and Twisted Whiskers.
Products can be found at retail stores nationwide, as well as the company's own American Greetings and Carlton Cards retail stores.
The Cleveland office alone employs nearly 2,200.
Lawn mowers
• MTD Products Inc., founded in 1932 in Cleveland, started as a tool and die supplier and grew into a global manufacturer of outdoor power equipment.
The company's brands include Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, White Outdoor, Yard-Man, Yard Machines, Bolens, Arnold and GardenWay. Their products can be found in home improvement stores, hardware stores, mass retailers, independent dealers and farm supply stores.
MTD employs about 6,000, many at its global headquarters in Medina County's Valley City, as well as production operations in Streetsboro and Willard.
Paint/sealants
• RPM International Inc. in Brunswick Township makes specialty coatings and sealants under about 50 brand names. Popular products include RUST-OLEUM (rust prevention paint), Testors (enamel model paints), DAP (caulk), DIF (wallpaper stripper) and Zinsser (primer.)
Products are sold at national retailers, including hardware and home improvement stores. For a list of all of their products, visit http://www.rpminc.com/consumer.asp.
In addition to its world headquarters in Medina County, it owns manufacturing plants in Beachwood (Tremco Inc.) and Cleveland (DayGlo Color Corp.), employing a total of 851 in Northeast Ohio.
• Headquartered in Cleveland, Sherwin-Williams Co. makes and distributes several paint brands, including Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Krylon, Minwax and Thompson's Water Seal.
Sherwin-Williams brand paints are sold exclusively through some 3,300 company-operated stores. Other brands are sold through national chains, home centers and hardware stores.
The company, founded in 1866, employs about 3,000 in Northeast Ohio, including a research and development division in Cleveland and a manufacturing plant in Bedford.
Pets
• Bil-Jac Foods makes premium dog food as well as dog and cat treats, sold around the country under the Bil-Jac name. The frozen food is available where other pet foods are sold, while the dry brand can be found at national pet stores.
Medina is home to the headquarters and the plant that manufactures the frozen variety of Bil-Jac products, employing about 60.
Wheels
• Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels designs, develops and markets racing and high-performance tires for drag-racing cars and motorcycles, modified street cars, off-road race vehicles, modified pickup trucks, Jeeps, 4x4s and sport utility vehicles. The company recently won a state award for increasing its exports.
The company, headquartered in Stow, employs 60 people. For product information and a list of local dealers, visit http://www.mickeythompsontires.com.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 07:29 AM, 11/07/2009
Shame on you for not mentioning GoJo - they're your nearest neighbor, ABJ! AND they're booming!!
akron, oh
Posted 11:36 AM, 11/07/2009
This is all well and good, but how about suggestions on keeping our money from the blcak, hooded sweatshirt gangs?
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:01 PM, 11/07/2009
Representatives; of we, the people; of this Representative Republic; defy demands; of Natural Law: what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world, God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demanding every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church; markets the cost; in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care); enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide for every child (job) they conceive; and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
And scam; Fathers disqualified for affirmative action with white skin, Union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and Americas grandchildren’s children; to fund all stimulus packages, property tax abatement, tax incentives, tax credit, tax refunds, tax exemptions. And pay for the more stock dividends (money). Hillarys, Chinese, Foreign and Domestic Investors and Stockholders (money marketers) market quarterly; in the wholesale and retail price; of EVERY product and service Human Beings use for life. And Government needs to build, maintain, and operate schools; infrastructure; and provide government services; and national security. That gets only product or service. With money derived from wages or independent business profit.
This defiance of realities demands; is needed; to measure and maintain; the strength and growth of this UNAFFORDABLE economy; and distribute wealth; into Hillarys, Chinese, Foreign and Domestic Investors and Stockholders portfolios!
