History Lesson
This couple invokes a bygone era with their victorian antiques and reproductions.
Entrepreneurs: Melissa and Randy Rolston, 47 and 49,
respectively, founders of Victorian
Trading Co. in Lenexa, Kansas
Description: Wholesaler and retailer of Victorian-themed
artifacts and antiques
Startup: $200 in 1986
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2005 projected sales: $15 million
Celebrating life: In 1986, Melissa and Randy Rolston
celebrated the birth of their baby by sending out personally
illustrated and printed Victorian announcements. Impressed friends
requested the Rolstons do their announcements, and a small
greeting-card business was born. Now, nearly two decades later,
they've expanded their business to include a line of
replicated, functional items, including lamps, jewelry, clothing
and furniture, dating back to the Victorian era.
Haunted headquarters: Along the way, the Rolstons
"upgraded" their location from their attic to a
beautiful, century-old building, which they later discovered was
once a jail and night court. Their warehouse occupied the
courthouse, and the shipping department replaced the dunk tank.
Employees entertained themselves with spooky tales. The company has
since outgrown that building, employing up to 140 people and
working with factories in China and India and artisans
nationwide.
Antiquity meets modernity: Stationery was once the
Rolstons' primary focus-now it accounts for only 10 percent of
sales. In addition to selling via catalog and in more than 6,000
gift stores and museum shops in North America and Japan,
they've had to embrace the internet and e-mail to sell to
today's high-tech customers. One thing remains constant: their
mission to preserve history. Their next big project is to publish a
compilation of stories they've heard during their search for
items. "I see us as historians," says Melissa.
"We're recreating artifacts that are just too good to be
forgotten."