Longaberger history

Starting in 1978, the company began selling Longaberger baskets through home shows using a multi-level marketing model.

In 1980 the entrepreneur agreed to purchase a veneer factory in nearby Hartville to accommodate his growing materials requirements.

Exhibiting a combination of business acumen and altruism, Longaberger began revitalizing the city of Dresden in 1988.

In 1990 the company started production at a new plant and opened Popeye's Soda Shop.

In 1993 the company's Weaver Request Program began offering a select few basket weavers the opportunity to travel around the country giving demonstrations of their craft at company sales meetings and events.

Dave Longaberger's confidence in the nostalgia market led him to take the phrase "company town" to a whole new level in 1994, when he announced plans to build Longaberger Village, an "educational theme park" just west of Dresden on a 625-acre campus.

Longaberger sold seven million baskets in 1996 and took in revenues of $525 million.

At the end of 1997, the company's 500 employees moved into their new workplace, a $30 million, seven-story building designed as a replica of a genuine Longaberger basket.

In July 1998, Tami Longaberger, a daughter of the founder, was named president and CEO of the company, while her younger sister Rachel remained president of the Longaberger Foundation.

Going back nearly two decades, many Longaberger leaders talked about restoring the brand to the glory it enjoyed under its founder, Dave Longaberger, who died in 1999.

Once the sole product, these baskets made up about half the company's sales in 2000.

The slowing economy prompted Longaberger to cut 400 jobs, five percent of its workforce, in April 2001.

Starting in 2006, he served on Longaberger’s board of directors for two years.

The founding family in 2011 sold the company to a private equity firm.

In February 2016, the company said it would sell the Basket Building and move its employees to Longaberger's factory in Frazeysburg, Ohio.

In 2017, livestreaming was a $3 billion business in China, according to Coresight Research.

On May 4, 2018, a note was sent out from a sales force supervisor that the company had ceased operations.

There’s also social commerce marketplace giants such as Etsy, which in 2019 posted $4.97 billion in gross merchandise sales, and Poshmark’s $2 billion payout to its seller community in September.

Meanwhile, Xcel hopes to lift Longaberger sales from $2.5 million in 2020 to $10 million this year, according to The Dispatch, a target that will be unattainable without a more robust sales force.

He said sales have more than tripled this year during the period from April through September, and he expects even better results in the last quarter of 2021.