User:BCDavidson/History of Brands On Sale

Brands On Sale is an online retail company www.brandsonale.com based in Redlands California. It was founded in February 2002 by John Weeks who is the President and CEO today. John was a very good small business entrepreneur who fell on hard times when 9/11 hit. He was manufacturing and distributing Weeks Juvenile Products to Toy and Game retailers. WJP was producing high margin dress up costumes for children and selling them in high end specialty shops. Once he proved successful with individual flag ship Toy Stores in upscale communities across the country he got the attention of Toys R Us, Zainy Brainy, FAO, Store of Knowledge,etc. His sales ramped up dramatically after the Toy Show at the Javits Center in February of 2001 and he borrowed heavily to expand his product to fulfill his orders. When 9/11 his business stopped immediately and the big regional chains his was producing for canceled their orders or just returned pallet loads of merchandise without notice. During his busiest time of year there were no 4th quarter sales for Weeks Juvenile Products. John was devastated and on the verge of bankruptcy. Scrapping together 10,000.00 including the 2,500.00 for the 10' X 10' booth space he and two friends drove an old brown high top Chevy van called "the ice cream truck" from California to the Javits Center in Manhattan. This was late January in 2002 in the dead of winter. The van loaded with the display booth and all his samples and literature broke down several along the way. They were exhausted by the time they hit NY. To make matters worse they had to sneak every piece of equipment and all his products by the union officials to avoid the 2,500.00 in and out drayage charges. This is mandatory in every union run convention center. This is the fee charged to take the booth and the merchandise from the dock to the booth space. He couldn't afford the 1,200.00 electrical hook up fee so he "stole" power from generous neighbors on either side in his isle. By the time the Toy Show opened in he and his friends were fried. That year there was a very heavy snow fall just prior to and during the 3 day event. Many flights were canceled, the city traffic was completely at a stand still and foot traffic at the show itself was almost non existent. The exhibitors were almost the only ones standing in the isles. John knew then and there he needed another sales channel if he had any hope of surviving. On the last day of show with no prospects in sight and old acquaintance stopped by looking like a million bucks. John knew him from his Long Beach days when he was a struggling machinist trying to survive running his own shop. He went on and on about how successful he was selling toys and games for kids on his own website. John was completely broke by the time he and his friends eked their way back across the snowy west to So Cal during the last week of February 2002. He immediately registered www.brandsonsale.com and spent two weeks trying to figure out how to sell auctioned items on EBAY. Almost bankrupt and living in tiny RV inside the warehouse full of WJP components he started selling his dress up costumes one auction at a time.