Lillian Vernon (1927-2015) started her mail-order business from her kitchen table and grew it into a multi-million dollar enterprise -- the first woman-owned business listed on the American Stock Exchange.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today, we’re talking about a woman you may have heard called “The Queen of Catalogs.” She started her mail-order business from her kitchen table and grew it into a multi-million dollar enterprise -- the first woman-owned business listed on the AMERICAN Stock Exchange. Today, let’s talk about Lillian Vernon.
Lillian was born Lilli Menasche on March 18, 1927. She grew up in Leipzig, Germany, the second child of a wealthy Jewish family. Lilli was just six years old when her family moved to Amsterdam, fleeing Hitler’s rise to power. Two years later, they moved permanently to New York City where she took on the name “Lillian.”
Lillian’s father, Herman, opened a new lingerie business as the family’s main source of income. Growing up, Lillian never took part in the family business. Even after her brother was killed in World War II, Lillian was expected to become a mother and homemaker after marriage. She attended NYU for two years before leaving to marry Sam Hochberg, the owner of a dry goods store in Mount Vernon, New York.
Lillian worked as a bookkeeper for the store for a few months, but she retired from the business early on. At the time, it was unusual for middle-class white women to work. Still, Lillian was skeptical that her husband’s store would bring in enough money to keep their growing family afloat. She almost certainly wouldn’t be able to afford the items she saw advertised in women’s magazines.
Sitting at her kitchen table, pregnant with the couple’s first child, Lillian took matters into her own hands. She invested two thousand dollars of her wedding money and set up a mail-order business from home. Her first ever product was a leather handbag and matching belt set for $2.99. As an added bonus, Lillian also offered to monogram the products. This would become her business’ signature detail. Her very first ad generated over $32,000 in orders.
Lillian named her business after herself and her Mount Vernon home-- and so, the Lillian Vernon brand was born. She made her small business stand out in a market saturated by the likes of Sears catalogs by offering low-cost items that she could cheaply monogram. Just three years after her initial ad, Lillian was renting a storefront, a warehouse, and a monogramming department for her store. She was also monogramming products for companies like Elizabeth Arden and Revlon.
In 1956, Lillian released her first 16-page catalog of gifts. She offered everything from jewelry to door knockers. She even sold an all-pink Lady Tool Kit with a matching hammer, wrench, and screwdriver. Lillian’s catalogs became a key part of her brand as she expanded her business: in every issue, she included a photo of her most recent outing, and a personal letter discussing how her latest travels influenced the quirky new items she’d added to her inventory.
Lillian also may have come up with the first ever seasonal catalogs for Halloween and Easter. She introduced one of the best selling items in 1968 — personalized Christmas ornaments. She sold more than seventy five million in the span of a few years.
By 1970, Lillian Vernon had its first million-dollar sales year. And in 1987, Lillian Vernon became the first woman-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange.
Though she never called herself a feminist, Lillian ran her businesses with an eye towards women’s advancement in the world of entrepreneurship. She said she hired women with the goal of promoting them within the company, and valued her reputation as “a woman who knows what women need.” Lillian attributed her success to what she called her “golden gut” for knowing what women wanted to buy.
Lillian’s business continued to expand in the 1980s and 90s, even debuting an online catalog. Her two sons joined the business in leadership positions during these transformative years.
As her business had grown, Lillian weathered many changes in her personal life; namely, three marriages and two divorces. Though she changed her surname twice during these unions, ahead of her third marriage she decided to change her name one last time. In 1990, she officially registered herself as “Lillian Vernon.”
In 2003, in the face of overexpansion, fierce competition from similar retailers, and e-commerce, Lillian sold the business for a little more than 60 million dollars. She stayed on the board as honorary chair.
Lillian died December 14, 2015, in New York City. She was 88 years old.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!