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What's Happening at the LCC?
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All are welcome to join us for the biggest Mix and Mingle of the year. Our special holiday edition will be held December 14th on the 8th floor. Mounds of food, a lively bar and the sounds of the holidays will ring through with the close company around you.
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The Larkin Center of Commerce has gone green to show our continued support to all veterans. Check out the Frank Lloyd Wright commemorative pier. Also remember to bring in clothing and food donations to assist veterans in need. Look for the donation barrels through the first week of December in the 701 and 700 lobbies.
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The 6th and 8th floor event centers are quickly booking up for holiday luncheons. Contact Scott Tempeny to schedule your event now.
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Save local lives by donating blood at our upcoming Unyts Blood Drive.
There is no substitute for blood. It has to come from one person in order to give to another. A critical number of voluntary donations are required every day to meet the need for blood in the areas we serve.
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Meet this year's 40 Under 40 honorees
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Jim Courtney |
Congratulations to Larkin Center of Commerce tenant, Elizabeth
Kraengel, Partner, Duke Holzman Photiadis & Gresens LLP, for being named to this year's 40 under 40 list.
Buffalo Business First covers the honorees.
The 2016 40 Under 40 honorees are impressive. They are making a difference at work, at home and in the community.
And they love Western New York.
The 25th annual 40 Under 40 program is sponsored by Business First. This class brings the totl number of honorees to 1,000.
The thrust of the awards hasn't changed since the program's inception in 1992. The goal has always been to identify men and women - under age 40, of course - who are successful in their professions and heavily involved in community activities.
The group was chosen from more than 160 nominations. This year's judges were former winners.
The winners were honored at the November 17 luncheon at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
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Larkin Premiums - The Larger Picture
Sharon Osgood take's a look at the larger picture of the Larkin Soap Company's use of premiums as a marketing device.
When the company was created by John D. Larkin in 1875, it was limited to the manufacture of soap, specifically, a laundry soap bar called "Sweet Home Soap." It was sold to retail outlets for resale, to consumers door-to-door and salesmen working directly for L.S.C. also sold to households. By 1905 L.S.C. had diversified its manufacturing to making 116 different products including soaps, shampoos, talcum powders, jellies, peanut butter, chocolate, coconut and soups. By 1912, the L.S.C. catalog offered 550 products. The company had branches in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and Peoria. Buffalo remained its headquarters and primary manufacturing complex.
In the early 1880's, L.S.C. began to enclose with orders of products, 8"x 9½" chromo cards bearing pictures of animals, children and other pleasant subjects. They were quite collectible and highly popular. Sales, of course, were boosted.
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CFC Computer Sale
November 30 - 701 Seneca Lobby
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Unyts Blood Drive
December 7 - 701 Seneca Lobby
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Mix and Mingle - Holiday Party
December 14 - 8th Floor Event Center
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Second Saturday
January 14 - 2nd Floor Conference Room
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Heart & Soul Run
February 11 - Larkin Center of Commerce
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Larkin Premiums - The Larger Picture
When the company was created by John D. Larkin in 1875, it was limited to the manufacture of soap, specifically, a laundry soap bar called "Sweet Home Soap." It was sold to retail outlets for resale, to consumers door-to-door and salesmen working directly for L.S.C. also sold to households. By 1905 L.S.C. had diversified its manufacturing to making 116 different products including soaps, shampoos, talcum powders, jellies, peanut butter, chocolate, coconut and soups. By 1912, the L.S.C. catalog offered 550 products. The company had branches in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and Peoria. Buffalo remained its headquarters and primary manufacturing complex.
In the early 1880's, L.S.C. began to enclose with orders of products, 8"x 9½" chromo cards bearing pictures of animals, children and other pleasant subjects. They were quite collectible and highly popular. Sales, of course, were boosted.
Marketing, of course, had to change for such volume and diversity. By 1885, Elbert Hubbard (John D. Larkin's brother-in-law and future founder of the Roycroft movement), had changed roles from being one of the door-to-door salesman, to becoming a one-third partner and secretary/treasurer of the company. The L.S.C. adopted the motto: "The Larkin Idea: Factory to Family, Save all Cost that Adds no Value." Hubbard promoted the idea of selling directly to the consumers via catalog sales (about the same time that Sears began catalog sales). The retailer, wholesaler, traveling salesmen and brokers, i.e., all middlemen, were eliminated. The savings realized by L.S.C. was largely passed on to consumers by offering premiums based on the amount spent. The concept of consumers forming "Larkin Clubs" and "Larkin Pantry Parties" grew after some clever customers bought products collectively in order to qualify for more expensive premiums. The members took turns keeping each month's premium entitlement. The concept was highly successful, with premiums also becoming very diversified.
In 1891 L.S.C. ordered its first huge supply of premiums - a piano
lamp. The order was $40,000 worth that year, delivered at the rate of $4,000 per week. Within a year, L.S.C. had ordered 80,000 oak Morris chairs and 125,000 solid oak dining room chairs.
But it was the offering in 1892 of the oak "Chautauqua desk" that really created an explosion of sales. The desk stood 5 feet high, was 2 ½ feet wide and 10 inches deep, with a drop-down desk surface, three book shelves, a top shelf for knick-knacks, seven pigeon-holes for papers and compartments for letter paper. By 1893 L.S.C. permitted purchase of the desk directly in addition to its continuing availability as a premium. Sales of the desk amount to $15,425 in 1894 and peaked at $80,635 in 1899. Daniel Larkin, a grandson and biographer of John D. Larkin, reported that on one day alone in February, 1900, 2036 desks were sold. The 1901 L.S.C. publication, The Larkin Idea, reported that 400,000 Chautauqua desks had already been sent to customers. Over the years nine different versions of the desk were offered. It remained a catalog item till 1920, averaging an annual gross profit for L.S.C. of $87,378.
Premiums included many other pieces of oak and other wood furniture, including mission, parlor, colonial or art nouveaux styled chairs and settees; wardrobes, bed frames, dressers, wash stands, dressing tables and medicine cabinets. Laundry washers, wringers, wash-boilers, ironing boards, flat irons, carpet sweepers, cook stoves, room heaters, cookware, carpets, cutlery, lamps, Seth Thomas watches, even a grand piano appeared in L.S.C.'s catalogs. The list is nearly endless. The 1926 catalog lists many categories of premiums available, each category containing numerous items totaling over 1500 items. Quality was always a priority; the ability of L.S.C. to provide these items was because of bulk buying by L.S.C. or
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because it was able to manufacture the item itself or through one of its subsidies. In addition to the Buffalo Pottery Co., L.S.C. owned a furniture making company, I believe located in Jamestown.
It also purchased land at Seneca and Fillmore Streets, originally intended to be the site of Buffalo Pottery. When Larkin decided the land was too small, he erected a building that became Larkin subsidiary, Buffalo Leather Company, to make leather premiums. Many different manufacturers were involved but 15 of them specialized in only one item, all of which was bought by L.S.C. According to the 1912 catalog, "These factories are in each instance wisely located where supremacy in the particular line of work of each has been attained."
Premiums were shipped with the products purchased by a consumer whenever possible, but larger items, likes pieces of furniture, were shipped from the manufacturer directly to the consumer. "Thus, by this co-operative policy we are able to save consumers all cost that adds no value to the goods by avoiding unnecessarily handling and transporting the same goods twice, often in opposite directions, moving them instead, in a direct line only." (1912 catalog).
As a footnote, obviously the U.S. Postal Service had a major role in this "factory-to-family" system. Catalogs, fliers, payments, shipments - all were handled by them. The customer mailing list alone was over one million! The volume of mail was so great, that a post office branch was established in our building!
~ From the Desk of Sharon Osgood
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