Joel's Blog

Our 10th Anniversary is here

04/01/2009 and we are still afloat!!!

Hard to believe how time flies if you are having fun! After a quick trip to Vietnam in January 1999, then a mad crush of computer programming, I opened the doors of toolsforworkingwood.com on April, 1 1999. And I say "I opened the doors," because I was working by myself out of my house. Now that's not actually 100% true, since Sally, who was then girlfriend and is now my wife, has been a critical part of our success from the very beginning. She actually writes or rewrites a lot of the material you see in the catalog. And back then was no different. I worked out of my apartment, then our apartment (I got married), then finally in July 2002 I got a proper office and shortly after that, I started hiring staff.

Over the years, we have added lots of tools. We started making tools under the Gramercy Tools line in 2004. Now we have an in-house production facility, and more stuff is coming out.

I was planning to release a new on-line store to commemorate the anniversary but that turned out not to be. We will be adding features in the coming months and we expect the shopping experience to get better and better for everyone.

The picture shows our first three catalogs which made their debut in fall 1999, along with our much bigger current catalog. My friend Sharon volunteered to put together the first catalog for free because she know we needed all the help we could get. Thank you, Sharon, for helping us all these years! I am very, very grateful. Sally and I stayed up pasting mailing labels for this first catalog, lining the labels up carefully to comply with postal codes with a gizmo I made for this purpose, then sorting the catalog for bulk mail. Then one night we took the bins via taxi to the main post office for bulk processing. I can't say I miss this process.

I am grateful to everyone who encouraged toolsforworkingwood and helped it grow. Most of all I want to thank our customers, especially the patient ones who stayed loyal and gave allowances for our smallness when we couldn't get everything done instantaneously. Thanks, everyone for your continued support.

Times are tough now and growth isn't as easy. I am pretty sure the next 10 years will be "interesting" and I hope that's a good thing!

Please help us celebrate by checking out our 10th Anniversary Sale, featuring 10% savings on many of our popular Gramercy Tools items.

Thanks again, everyone!

Joel

Join the conversation

04/07/2009 Rob Porcaro http://www.rpwoodwork.com/blog

Joel,

Congratulations. Best wishes for the next ten years and more. What you've accomplished and contributed to the world of woodworking surely has taken courage and great passion for our craft.

Keep a-goin'

Rob

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