Company Profile - Things Remembered

Overview

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Things Remembered began over 40 years ago as a small engraving and services shop called “Can Do”. And today, Things Remembered has grown into the nation’s leading, and most successful, retailer of personalized gifts. We’re proud of our longevity in the retail business and we are committed to continue to offer beautiful, unique, quality, personalized gifts to our customers.

Today’s Things Remembered customers can browse through our collection of gifts that goes far beyond expectations. Plus, we’ll engrave gifts purchased elsewhere. No matter what the gift or where you purchased it, we can engrave the item for that extra, personal touch. Simply bring your item to any of our 600 nationwide mall locations and one of our experts will carefully engrave it.

Things Remembered offers three ways to shop. Whether you’re shopping online or in one of our 600 stores across the country, Things Remembered customers receive excellent personal attention and service from over 5,000 of the friendliest, most accommodating teammates in the retail world. And customers can place orders directly through our Customer Service call center in North Jackson, Ohio and they’ll be treated to equally attentive service.

Culture

• Customers are our greatest gifts • Teammates are our greatest asset • Our spirit for performance is "Gung Ho" • Our goal is play for the long term • Our attitude is Together Each Achieves More

Benefits

Our Corporate offices are located in beautiful Northeast Ohio. The following link will provide you with all the resources you'll need to learn about everything that Northeast Ohio has to offer. Find out why this region is such a great place to live and work - http://www.ercnet.org/neohio/index.htm

Career Opportunities

MICHAEL ANTHONY NAMED CEO OF THINGS REMEMBERED

Former Brookstone CEO to Lead Expansion
Plan for Largest Personalized Gift Chain

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, OH, JANUARY 5, 2007 -- Things Remembered, Inc., the leading specialty retailer of personalized giftware for all celebratory occasions, today announced the appointment of experienced retail executive Michael Anthony as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Anthony was formerly President and CEO of Brookstone, Inc., a leading national specialty retailer, where he served in positions of increasing executive responsibility from 1994 until April 2006. The appointment is effective immediately.

Suzanne Sutter, the current President and a long-time senior executive at Things Remembered, is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Sutter has played a key role in facilitating the company’s successful transition to new ownership. Formerly owned by Luxottica Group S.p.A., Things Remembered was acquired in September 2006 by two of the leading investors in retail consumer products -- GB Merchant Partners, LLC, the private equity affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, and Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co (BRS).

The nation's largest personalized gift chain, Things Remembered provides solutions for all gift-giving occasions through more than 650 stores across the U.S. as well as its catalogs and website, www.thingsremembered.com. Throughout its 40 year history, creative engraved and monogrammed gifts have contributed to the company’s strong brand name and loyal customer following. Things Remembered generated revenues of approximately $300 million in 2006.

“I am excited to join Things Remembered at an important time in its history, and to work with the management team and dedicated associates to help the company achieve its full potential,” Anthony, who will also serve as Chairman of the Board, said. “Supported by the resources and expertise of our partners at GB Merchant Partners and BRS, we will execute a focused strategy to seize the growth opportunity presented by increasing demand for personalized gifts.”

“My experience at Things Remembered has been extremely rewarding from both a professional and personal standpoint,” stated Sutter. “But after nearly 30 years with the company, I feel the time is right for me to move on to the next chapter of my life and for the company to embark upon a new phase of its growth with the support of the management team and the leadership of Mike Anthony.”

“Mike Anthony is a terrific merchant who also has strong executive management and people leadership skills,” said Mark Schwartz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gordon Brothers Group and Managing Member of GB Merchant Partners. “We believe his unique understanding of the gift and specialty retail business will be real assets as he leads the Things Remembered team in executing its growth plan. We also join BRS in expressing our gratitude to Suzanne Sutter for her many contributions to the company, and her stewardship during the transition.”

“Things Remembered is a unique specialty gift retailer that will benefit from the leadership of an executive with the talent and expertise of Mike Anthony,” stated Tom Baldwin, Managing Director of BRS. “Mike’s experience with innovative consumer and lifestyle products will be invaluable as the company develops strategies and promotional programs to appeal to individuals and businesses seeking the right personalized gift for every occasion.”

Anthony, 51, joined Brookstone in 1994 as President and Chief Operating Officer, and was appointed President and CEO in 1995. He was named Chairman of the Board in 1999. Prior to joining Brookstone, Anthony was President of Lechter's, Inc., a nationwide chain of specialty housewares stores, where he also served as Executive Vice President and as Vice President/General Merchandise Manager during a five year career at the company. Previously, Anthony held various merchandising positions over an eight year period with Gold Circle, at the time a division of Federated Department Stores, including Divisional Vice President/Divisional Merchandise Manager.

Our Mission Statement

Be the destination for trend-right gifts and custom engraving that create personal and lasting memories.

Our Community Commitment

Things Remembered has a very strong commitment to community service. We are actively involved in many charities including Make-A-Wish Foundation, United Way Services, American Cancer Association’s Relay For Life, The March of Dimes, The United Way, Domestic Violence Center, Fresh Air Camp, Rebuilding Together, and The Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure (Breast Cancer Foundation, Northeast Ohio). We are very proud of our partnerships and commitment to giving gifts from the heart to enhance the quality of life for others.

Growing and Changing

Forget them not

With staying power its goal, Things Remembered lays out a blueprint to etch its stores in customers’ minds

For a retailer in the keepsake business, it’s the worst possible fate: Things Remembered had become a forgotten brand.

But after eight frenzied months under a new CEO, the Highland Heights company is rolling out big changes in its merchandising and store presentation in hopes of becoming a top-of-mind name.

“We haven’t done a lot in the past couple of years to position ourselves as a place for trend-right product,” said Michael Anthony, who was hired in January as president, chairman and CEO of the company.

“I hope in this first year, we’ll have accomplished two or two-and-a-half years’ worth of things,” he said.

At the top of the to-do-list was a change in what Things Remembered sells.

Mr. Anthony wants to emphasize “the kind of things you’d like to have that can be engraved, as opposed to things you buy to be engraved.” So instead of depending, for example, on trinket boxes that exist almost solely to be personalized as gifts, the store will start selling bejeweled earbuds for music players and oversize heart-shaped universal remote controls, both with room for personalization.

The company also will sell many more items created from its own concepts, such as a new take on family-tree style picture frames and enameled fortune cookies into which customers can place their own messages.

It’s a huge shift on the shelves.

“We intend to change out about a third of the (product) offerings by this holiday season,” Mr. Anthony said. “We expect in the first half of next year to change out another third.” And by Christmas 2008, Things Remembered’s shelves should be stocked largely with all-new stuff.

Chief financial officer David Stefko estimates that of the current merchandise, “10% or less might have legs enough to go on into the future.”

Off the wall

And the way all that stuff is displayed will be different, too.

This summer, Things Remembered opened a prototype of its new store at Summit Mall in Fairlawn.

“Traditionally, we would call ourselves a ‘wall merchant,’” Mr. Stefko said, referring to the shallow shelves that typically have lined the store. “With this, there’s a lot more angles, more fixtures, and more ways to display product.”

The makeover includes free-standing jewelry cases and changes in the store’s packaging that help set off different areas from each other. Where Things Remembered’s shelves once were a sea of beige boxes, several colors of packaging now are used.

As a result, even though the Summit Mall store occupies a smaller footprint than it did before the overhaul, Mr. Anthony says the design and displays have had customers asking if the place has gotten bigger.

The new merchandising strategy is aimed at pulling mall shoppers in and making Things Remembered a destination rather than a place people pop into after they’ve come to the mall for something else.

“It had really become a forgotten brand,” said Jeff Petit, senior vice president and account manager at the Cleveland office of ad agency Doner, which finalized the Things Remembered account in mid-August. “As mall traffic started slowing down, those people who weren’t destination (stores), who were casual drop-offs, started suffering.”

Things Remembered is making over 23 stores in the new image this year, with at least that many planned for 2008. The company runs 630 locations in all, 165 of which are kiosks. Even those not on the schedule for the full overhaul will be tweaked with pieces of the new look. Company officials are working on incorporating smaller-scale changes into its kiosk locations.

Removing the 'cuffs

The company also is revamping its catalogs and web site. The former traditionally has served to drive traffic to the stores, and while that’s not a bad thing, Mr. Anthony wants to see more growth in online sales.

“We have a decent Internet business that hasn’t benefited from this (catalog) activity anywhere near the extend I know it should,” he said.

Company executives know it’s made for a hectic year, but they say the aggressive approach is fueled in part by a recent past in which the company was restrained by its ownership and by the stress of seeking a buyer. Last fall, a private equity firm, GB Merchand Partners LLC, purchased Things Remembered from Cole National Group. Mr. Stefko said coming under an ownership aimed at growing the business was like unleashing a beast.

“We expect to have ourselves poised to turn into a growth company,” said Mr. Anthony, who described Things Remembered’s past few years as “flat.” In both 2005 and 2006, the company generated about $300 million in revenues, with a slight uptick in 2006, though Mr. Anthony said the growth was coming through catalog and Internet sales even as Things Remembered closed 50 locations between 2004 and 2006.

“A lot of the focus for the company, unfortunately, had gotten away from growing the business,” said Mr. Stefko, who has been CFO for four years. “It was exciting to take the handcuffs off the company.”

Diversity

We are an equal opportunity employer. We believe our Teammates are talented people whose different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives are essential to Things Remembered's continued success. To us diversity is: leveraging the differences and similarities in our Teammates and customers. We further believe and affirm the company's fundamental goal of providing every member of the organization with the opportunity to realize his or her full potential. Our conviction is that we must develop a healthy environment where all people are valued and where we support personal growth and contribution.

Shop with us!

We are dedicated to providing you with memorable personalized gifts for weddings, business, birthdays,anniversaries, and holidays just to name a few.

Check out our great gift ideas at:
www.thingsremembered.com