In 1966, after a year of recovery from major heart surgery, Paul Sayre was told by the large corporation he worked for that he essentially was unemployed and broke.  While living in Southern California, he and his wife Denny started a graphics arts supply company selling photographic supplies and equipment to large business such as Lockheed-Martin and other aero space companies.  Unfortunately, this was not as lucrative as he’d hoped and then in 1969, their son Mark was diagnosed with testicular cancer there was no health insurance.  With major bills mounting, Paul & Denny decided to change directions and started

working at open air flea markets selling products from a

supplier out of Mexico.

The items included cotton shirts, blouses and baskets.  They progressed to opening a retail shop with women’s wear, but eventually found the Flea Markets to be more lucrative.  Terri, their daughter, worked these outdoor shows while finishing high school and college.  Their son’s health went from bad to worse and he passed away in 1970.

With the basket business doing very well, Paul and Denny looked into baskets from a lot of other sources and found a company  who aided him with importing his own merchandise.  Initially, products came from China and then Paul and Terri adventured to the Philippines in 1978 and found great suppliers for a wide variety of products.  The Basket Pedlars were formed by Paul, Denny and Terri.  They opened several retail shops while still working the fairs.  Paul, Denny and Terri put in a lot of hours traveling from fair to fair setting up and tearing down several days a week.  Denny had a “regular” spot at a local weekend lot and Paul and Terri had places out in a rural area where a lot of new goods were sold at discounted prices 3 days a week.

Several customers asked about buying wholesale or in volume, so Paul opened a new division of the company in 1981 for wholesale business.  As this happened, the merchandise expanded into several lines from China as well as the Philippines where he and Terri had established a growing export company with several employees.  In 1985, Cristina Encarnacion joined the company as the manager of the Philippine offices with her cousin joining in 1988 to head up the quality control area of the business.  She and Eric are still managing the business today in Manila and attend our trade shows here every year!

Eventually, The Basket Pedlars progressed into solely a wholesale business handling craft supplies only from the Philippines.  Paul’s health began to become a challenge.  Terri was handling the larger accounts from her new home in the San Francisco area.  In 1997, Paul passed away and Terri took over the business, moving it to Northern California.  The business name changed to The Craf-T Pedlars in 1995 and then incorporated as The Craft Pedlars, Inc. in 2005 with Terri Johnson as the sole owner.

 

The Craft Pedlars, Inc.

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