Victorian Heart Co., Inc. Owner

11/21/2023

06/17/2022

04/15/2019

Along with going to all the major markets in the United States, Victorian Heart now had to start going to China to visit the factories from which we were buying quilts. Ken Kline and Nancy Kline took the first trip to China in March of 1998. This was quite an experience for both of us. We spent a whole week in Shanghai. We did some major looking at quilts that we thought would sell in the United States. It was about this time that we were beginning to see the need to not just buy what China offered but to make changes in products by picking our own choices of fabrics, quilt patterns, and sizes that suited our customers. The factories were very clean and updated. The workers were all very happy to meet us and we were glad to see where the quilts were made. This was just the beginning of many more trips to China that we made as Victorian Heart grew and our demands for more and more quilts was growing fast.
These pictures are inside one of the showrooms we visited. One picture is of the in of one of the factories and then one picture of the streets in Shanghai.
We soon found that we needed to go to China about twice each year to keep up with our demands.

03/29/2019

VHC had some very fun days growing. Going to tradeshow marketing was allo new to us. We started off with just going to a few but ended up going to quite a number of markets. We went to Kansas City, Dallas, New York, Madison, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. We had some big wooden boxes made to ship all the things needed for a show. The boxes were painted pink and ended up having about six of these boxes. There would always be a small step ladder put in at the last so when the boxes were opened we could unload what could be reached and then we used the step ladder to climb inside the box to get to the rest of the items. As we were unloading other vendors got a kick out of seeing us in these boxes. We had a lot of fun going to these markets and it increased our sales. These are a few pictures of some of the shows we went to. By the way, these pictures were while I was still a brunette.

03/18/2019

03/18/2019

First Catalog of VHC Brands published in 1996

03/18/2019

We moved into the Hollister Industrial Park and for the first time had to buy a fork lift and warehouse racks. As we grew we had to constantly hire new employees. We published our first catalog in 1996. Most of the pictures were taken in my home. The catalog was a success and we got many new customers as a result. We were learning new things daily. The offices in the building we were renting were not enough for all the sales people and business employees we now had so we built a very large room to hold all the sales people. We also added a little break room, but without plumbing. We decided to start going to markets to get more customers. Our first market was the Kansas City Gift Market. It was quite an adventure for us. We then went on to the Dallas Market and the Atlanta Market. It was about this time that we decided to try going into retail. We opened a store in Osage Beach, MO in a large mall. The store did quite well so we opened a second store in Grapevine, TX. Both stores did ok for awhile but without our personal constant supervision they began to not be prosperous. Our wholesale business was growing quickly and we needed to spend our entire efforts on this side of the business so we ended up closing both stores. We were getting all of our quilts from China and made several trips there to see the factories. We went to a show in New York City and found a company from India. So we started importing from India as well as China. Trips to India and to China were getting more frequent.
More coming at a later date.

11/28/2018

Victorian Heart outgrew the small location on West Oklahoma in Branson, MO. We made the decision to rent part of a big warehouse owned by some friends who owned a business located on the highway south of town. We rented several offices and warehouse space. We were growing pretty good so we started hireing a few more employees. Our accountant needed help, we needed someone to help in sales and also needed more help in the warehouse. So, we hired several people and continued to grow. We stayed in that warehouse for over a year and had to start making plans on where to go from here. We needed more office space so we built a little building inside the warehouse to help solve that problem but that wasn't near enough. We were constantly looking for a place to rent. And we did finally find a better spot. It was in the Industrial Park in Hollister, MO. We were very excited about this finding and started making plans for the move.

09/28/2018

Our little quilt business was growing pretty fast now and with several new customers added we decided it was time to move out of my house. We looked several weeks and finally found an old house on West Oklahoma in downtown Branson that had been converted to offices. We rented it and had shelving installed in every room. Ken was busy all day ordering new product and selling and I was busy shipping and working with UPS.
Our oldest son Mike was still in Ruston, Louisiana and felt left out so he decided he wanted to work in the family business too. Second son and family had moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Daughter Kim and family had a store now in downtown Branson and Ken was full time at Victorian Heart.
We had to buy a fax machine and a printer for our office and then we hired a full time house accountant to keep up with all the business.
When trucks came to deliver we all got out in the street and unloaded. Sometimes it was raining or snowing but we got the job done.
We were making trips to New York City to visit with the companies we were doing business with and started going to a few markets to find new product.
It wasn't long before we had outgrown our little place of business on West Oklahoma and had to start looking for a new location.
Next move coming up!

09/18/2018

Ken Kline moved to Branson and was immediately named CEO of Victorian Heart Co. We had started a business and were happy to leave it as a small family and close friend endeavor and not needing to make any money but just helping relatives and friends. And then, here comes Ken. Husband Billy was working as president of a friend's company at the time and I was enjoying my new home. So we pretty well left things up to Ken. We decided to run the company from our home. We ordered quilts and sold them wholesale to our existing customers. Ken and I worked side by side in my home as he took over husband's office and I tended to the orders in the kitchen.
We made arrangements for trucks to deliver to my garage and UPS would come daily to pick up the orders we were shipping out. Pretty soon the garage was so full of quilts that we had to park cars in the drive.
It was soon realized that we needed more customers in order to make enough money to pay Ken full time. He and I decided to run a classified ad in the Kansas City Star newspaper. It was a very short ad with not much information. We waited for six weeks before we got a response.
A very sweet lady and her two daughters came to visit us from Oklahoma. She had carried a worn and folded copy of the ad in her billfold for weeks before deciding to contact us. They were wanting to open up a store. So far we had only dealt with family and close friends as buyers so this was something really new to us. They did buy some quilts and we paid them a visit to see their new store open in Oklahoma.
Shortly after that another lady found our ad and was interested in buying quilts from us for a store where she worked in the Kansas City area. She fell in love with our quilts and filled her car up to take back to her boss.
Now we had two new customers and by word of mouth others appeared shortly.
As our home was in a nice neighborhood in Branson we were fearful of neighbors complaining of trucks delivering loads of boxes and UPS picking up daily. Also, it was inconvenient to have UPS in the kitchen daily. The guys were nice but I didn't need them investigating what I was having for dinner every evening as we were using the kitchen for getting orders ready to ship.
Next part of the story is when we decided to relocate to another place in Branson and get out of my house.

09/11/2018

Moving into a new house is a lot of fun. We were so excited to get all our "stuff" from Louisiana that had been stored for two years. Our daughter and familly decided that they were going to live with us which was fine as we were used to living together. After all, we had spent the last two years together so why not? The day before the big move our son living in Ruston, Louisiana called to tell us that his wife was ill and had to be hospitalized and he was bringing his two young daughters to stay with us. This was not a good time but we did have extra beds and lots of room. They stayed with us for three weeks while we unpacked and adjusted to the new house.
The furniture did come but to our disappointment a lot of it did not look too pretty in the new house. We had to spend a lot of time in furniture stores replacing and trying to fill up all the space in the new house. It took us the next year to finally get things to look good.
Our son at Pepperdine had finished school and was living in California. Everytime he came to visit he became more and more interested in the business and encouraged us to grow. We were happy as we were with just selling to close friends and relatives.
We told him that if he wanted to grow the business he could move to Branson and do just that.
He took us up on that and moved to Branson to work at Victorian Heart.
Next phase is Ken moving and taking charge of new growth!

08/29/2018

After moving to Branson in January 1993 we lived in a rent house until it sold and we had to move on. There were no apartment buildings at that time and very few rental homes but we did find a pretty ratty one that was vacant so we took it. We had to paint all the walls and scrub down the kitchen and baths to get it liveable. We moved in right before Christmas that year. We used the basement to store quilts and Kim and David and kids lived there too.
It was another hard winter for weather but we survived and were glad to see Spring come. Our house in Shreveport finally sold so we had to make a trip for closing and move our furniture to storage. In January of 1994 we staked out our new home.
Living in this second rent house was convenient to everything we needed but then disaster came along. In the summer the air conditioner went out and the owners told us if we wanted air conditioning we would have to put a new unit in ourselves. We did not want to do that so here we are looking for another place to rent while building our new house. We did find another quilt source while living there so now we had more quilts to offer our customers.
As there was nothing to live in in Branson we moved to Ozark, Missouri. We rented two apartments in two different buildings but next to each other. They allowed only three people to live in each one so Kim, David and Kendall lived in one and Billy, Blakely and I lived in the other.
It proved to be quite a busy year with building a new home and managing a wholesale quilt business plus keeping Kendall and Blakely but we managed to get it all done.
One good thing was that our customers were selling more and more quilts. Our wholesale business was taking a big spell of growth which was exciting.
Our new home in Branson was finished in November of 1994 and we were able to plan on moving in.
Next: Moving into new home in Branson

08/28/2018

One last thing we had to do before leaving Victorian Rose and Louisiana to relocate in Missouri was to give our new company a name. We were no longer affiliated with Victorian Rose. The Wallaces were happy to stay in the cabinet business and run the Victorian Rose. All their family was nearby too.
I was running the vacuum cleaner in our house and Billy asked me what I wanted to name our company. I didn't give it much thought and what came to me at the moment was Victorian Heart. So now we have a name, Victorian Heart Inc.
We settled into our rent home in Branson and waited for Kim, David, and their two children (Blakely 4 and Kendall 2) to arrive. They came around the middle of January and occupied the main floor while Billy and I took the basement. We also used the basement for quilt storage.
It was a very cold winter with more snow than I had ever seen.
The house had a big old fireplace and we kept a fire going. One night the chimney caught on fire and we all ran outside in the cold snowy winter night and thought the house was going to burn down. The fire department came and put the fire out. There was no damage to the house but we had the cleanest chimney in town. The ground that had been white with two feet of snow was not covered with black ashes.
Kim and David found a part of a store to rent in downtown Branson and opened their first sort of store. Their business grew quickly and before you knew it the were buying the building. Now they had the Brier Rose Quilts and Gifts in downtown Branson.
Billy and I stayed at the house and kept the kids and ordered quilts. We now had several customers. Both of Billy's sisters in East Texas, Twyanna at the Victorian Rose, son Kevin in Eureka Springs, and son Michael in Ruston, Louisiana. We were now an official wholesale company.
We spent nearly a year in that house and the property was sold so we had to move on. Rentals were not very easy to find at that time but we finally found a place to live.
The second year was quite an adventure also. More tomorrow.

08/27/2018

Some more VHC Brands history. One son Kevin moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and opened a store.
Daughter and her husband decided that they wanted to open a store in Branson, Missouri. This all happened one night after church. We were just sitting around discussing quilts and they up and said they were going to move to Branson. That's when grandmother jumped in and said that if they moved to Branson we were moving also. We actually thought we were building sand castles in the sky but that is not what was happening. They went home and stuck a "For Sale" sign in their front yard. Their house sold in less than a week. Well, we stuck a sign in our yard and our house did not sell that quick.
We all decided we better go take a look at Branson. We fell in love with the town immediately and started looking for a place to live. On our second trip to Branson we found a lot and bought it so we could build later. A place for a store would come after we moved.
We went to church and a member said that he had a house we could rent. It was for sale but we could stay there until it sold.
On January 1, 1993 Billy and I loaded our van up with things necessary and drove to Branson. Our daughter had moved her furniture ahead of us so we had enough to furnish the main floor of the house. Daughter and her family stayed in Shreveport for a few weeks and moved into the rent house with us. Billy and I brought some twin mattresses to sleep on in the basement and used boxes to keep our clothing in.
When we got to the house we were renting it was 9 degrees and ice was on everything. We were now beginning to wonder if we had made a big mistake.
The house had a strange heating system. There were heating elements in the attic right on top of the ceiling and little tiny pin holes let the heat through. There was a thermostat in every room but we could not find the heater. We kept turning the thermostats higher and higher and finally after a couple of days the house got warm.
Next part will be the first year in Branson.

08/23/2018

Victorian Rose was selling more and more quilts. We had to use part of the Wallace's cabinet shop to store all the boxes. Also we had to quit having trucks deliver to our home address.
I continued to go to Bonnie and Clyde in Arcadia, Louisiana with son Mike every month. Billy's sister established herself very well in Canton, Texas as well as another sister in Marshall started selling our quilts in her gift store. The other two kids that were going to trade and craft shows continued to sell more and more quilts.
Big change was in the air. Son Kevin was doing shows in Arkansas and while in Texarkana someone from Eureka Springs, Arkansas told him that he needed to go there and open up a quilt store. Plans started unfolding and before you know it he and family were moving to Eureka Springs. They did open up a store and ended up finally having several stores there.
Daughter and her husband Kim and David Webb were making more money selling quilts on the week-ends than at their jobs of teaching and the insurance business so they began talking about moving to Branson, Missouri and opening a store.
Big move coming up!

08/22/2018

The next months went by so fast it is hard to remember everything and exact dates. The company we were ordering quilts from decided not to sell to us anymore. This was a terrific shock to us. We had to make good use of our time and really fast. We took a label from one of the quilts and got the importer's name. My husband looked them up and called to see if we could order quilts directly from them. They said we could but the minimum was pretty high. We decided to do it anyway and if the quilts didn't sell we had Christmas presents for several years bought up.
The quilts did sell quickly so we were ordering quite often. The company was located in New York City. They called us one day and said they were going to send a rep to see us. They wanted to know how we were selling so many quilts so fast. Twyanna and I had no idea what a rep was but if he was coming from New York City he must be important. We got our little store in shipshape order for this rep to come. He spent several hours visiting with us and went back to New York City and told the company he had visited us and still didn't know how we were selling so many quilts. While he was visiting us he did let slip that there was another importer. We started checking labels everywhere we went and found another name. So we looked them up and now had two sources to get quilts.
Bonnie and Clyde Trade Show opened in Arcadia, Louisiana. Our oldest son lived in Ruston, Louisiana at that time. Arcadia was on Interstate 20 and you passed by Arcadia on the way from Shreveport to Ruston. Our son decided to rent space in the trade show and sell quilts. They were open one week-end a month. We thought this was a good idea too and so we bought a tent and some tables and our son and I went to Bonnie and Clyde. We sold several quilts at the first show. It was enough to keep our interest up so we signed up for the next month. At the second time to go there were some women waiting at our spot to see our quilts. They bought three from the trunk of the car before we could even set up. We sold fifteen quilts. The third month we went my husband's sister wanted to go and see what we were doing. She was so excited about sales that she decided to open a spot in Canton, Texas.
Things were moving fast now. Our second son and his wife wanted to go to trade shows too. They went in the direction of Arkansas. Our daughter and her husband wanted to get in on the act so they started going to trade and craft shows in the Shreveport, Louisiana area.
Now we were ordering truck loads of quilts.
Tomorrow, more growth!