Inside Levenger: Stage Fright on Christmas Eve

Our first Christmas at Levenger was twenty-one years ago. Lori and I were still working out of our townhouse in Belmont, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. We had a total of 46 customers, having just started in October with a Tiny Tim of an ad in The New Yorker.

Christmas past
When your customer base is a mere double digit, it’s easy to recall their names, even years later. Henry A. Scheel, N.A., for instance. I remember his name because I hadn’t known what N.A. meant when his catalog request arrived, and curious, I called the library reference desk (this was before Google). It means Naval Architect. Mr. Scheel and I had had an engaging conversation when he called with some technical questions about his reading light, and I learned he was a stickler for good design. I’m sad to say he passed away a few years later. His obituary mentioned his highly respected Scheel Keel design for boats, and that he had designed all the boats for Disney World.

That first Levenger Christmas, Lori and I wanted to thank Mr. Scheel and those 45 other customers. We remembered an exhibitor we had liked at one of the local gift shows who made pretty little nightlights from seashells. We called and ordered 46. A few days later, working at our dining-room table, we carefully packed the nightlights into boxes with our handwritten notes of thanks. I loaded them into our creaky VW station wagon and delivered them down the hill to the post office.

Christmas presents
In the intervening years many things have changed at Levenger—our merchandise for one, and our big distribution center in Memphis. And fortunately, we have more than 46 customers.

What hasn’t changed is the gratitude I feel for each customer, and the delight I take in getting to know as many of you as I can. When describing Levenger customers to people, I say they are the Who’s Who of America—the people who, if our world can be saved, will do the saving.

Am I obsessed with our customers? Yes, guilty. I’ve met so many of you, and corresponded with thousands more, to know I’m right to feel in awe of the august Americans in the Levenger customer file.

My obsession, I’m happy to say, is shared. There’s an expression in our business, “retail is detail,” which roughly translates to sweating all the little things that make the big thing work out right. At Levenger, we’re blessed by a staff of professionals who sweat the details. They are a driven bunch of believers, and I am grateful to them.

Together we obsess and, at holiday time in particular, hope that the gifts your loved ones and colleagues receive from Levenger meet your, and their, full expectations.

What would Dickens do?
My good friend Les Standiford, a bestselling author, has just published his newest work, The Man Who Invented Christmas. He tells the true tale of how Charles Dickens’s newly penned Christmas Carol breathed new life into the holiday.

As a retailer, I tip my hat to him. But I wonder if he’s also why I’m visited by my own Ghost of Christmas, one I suspect other customer-centric retailers see as well.

This ghost comes every year in the form of Christmas Eve Stage Fright.

It happens just about the time I take a last look at our tree before heading to bed on Christmas Eve and remember the tens of thousands of Levenger gifts under Christmas trees across America at that very moment. In a matter of hours, our curtain will rise as people wake on Christmas morning and begin unwrapping Majorca Briefbags and Shirt Pocket Briefcases, Bomber Jacket Desk Sets and True Writer pens, lap desks and Levenger Press books.

I want your loved ones to rush up to you on Christmas morning—or on Hanukkah, or on whatever day you celebrate this special season—throw their arms around your neck and say, “It’s perfect! How did you know that’s just what I wanted?”

Lori and I won’t be packing up seashell nightlights this year, but we’ve been sending other little gifts to you, which you’ll find in your Levenger emails (click here if you don’t yet subscribe) and inside our shipping boxes if you’ve ordered recently—all ways to say that we care deeply about your business.

Thank you for giving us your custom for twenty-one holidays. And do let me know if there is something else I can obsess over to serve you better. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments.)

Happiest Holiday ever—

Steve

Comments

[Barb Thames]

I just received my new Arborea pen (along with another True Writer) and have fallen in love with it. It's wonderful!!!

Barb

[Jane Drake]

Well, Steve. You really are correct about Christmas gifts--my kids asked me what I wanted and I told them about one of your pens I had been so so tempted to get. I can't tell you how many times I nearly clicked on it--only to tell myself to wait a bit. Now I know why I waited. The kids, all three of them, don't have to guess now because they even have the link.

Have a wonderful holiday. AND, I understand that Helix High School finally has a library to be proud of. I am anxious to see it.--Sincerely, Jane

[ARLENE ABRAMS]

I have been a loyal and satisfied customer for years and years. And was THRILLED to shop at your store in Florida. I even took pictures of the building.
There have been many instances of special requests....quick deliveries etc. and your people have come through every single time.
In addition to your quality products your customer service stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Happy holidays..........great New Year ahead and continued success......

Arlene

[Carol Jo Horn]

I feel like I have been with you almost all the way. When someone is talking about the very BEST smaller companies I always say that Levenger is MY fav. Thank you for continued excellence.
CJ in Seattle

[Anne Moroh]

In these challenging times, I have reminded all my friends that shopping at a favorite store or website is the best way to say thanks for a quality product. Levenger is the first name on my recommended list....

[Valdez]

Steve, to get a gift in a Levenger box to me is better than getting a gift in one of those light aqua blue boxes. I have been a Levenger fan for over 16 years. When I lived in West Palm Beach, going to Levenger was "PURE JOY." I am a fountain pen addict and to be able to drive to Delray and see all the wonderful pens in person as opposed to in a book, was heaven...I became a regular at the pen counter, most of my 30 fountain pens I have were bought at Levenger in Delray.
I've met you on several occasions, the love of what you do is so evident in talking with you. Steve, you guys do an amazing job with the products that you carry in your store. They have such an old-world feel to them... meaning "QUALITY."
The "HAPPIEST" of Holiday for you and your family.

[Eve Richardson]

I continue to appreciate every Levenger product I own, from paper clips to furniture. And yesterday a friend called to remind me of the year I gave Levenger paper clips; the next year, page points. She'd not known of Levenger, was glad to learn about y'all, and says she still has a few of each, rationing them carefully; she added "That company makes things that are both lovely and functional." My sentiments exactly, and why I enjoy giving and receiving your unique goods.

[Kathleen Wells]

Dear Steve,

thank you for your kind thoughts for the holiday season, they are much appreciated. I was introduced to your company via a very dear friend, Deb Ann Phelan of San Luis Obispo, CA some time ago. To say she waxed lyrical on the quality of your goods is a serious understatement. After experiencing the fine quality of some of your paper, care of Deb, I knew I had to purchase some of your superb goods for myself and am glad that I have done so.

However, being an Aussie I'd love to add a little to one of your above lines, namely: "When describing Levenger customers to people, I say they are the Who’s Who of America — the people who, if our world can be saved, will do the saving."

I would include: ...of America and numerous other countries - the people who...

I for one would like to think that I would also stand proud to save this magnificent world of ours, even though I live 'down under'.

I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and continued success in your excellent company.

Kind regards,

Kathleen Wells
Newcastle
Australia

[Pat Bielecki]

Steve,

I am a loyal customer from the Chicago area. I love to visit your stores, however both of them are downtown and I live & work in the suburbs. I would visit (and purchase) more often if you had a store in the Chicago suburbs (Oakbrook or Woodfield). Have you investigated this? Many of us don't go to the city during the day and this would be very convenient for us to shop 'live' at Levenger. Thanks.

[Charles P. Tivenan, Esq]

Dear Steve:

Thank you for the Christmas gifts to customers story...it reminds me when I first started out as a young attorney many years ago, I gave little gifts to my few clients (some still with me) and many recited it was the first time an attorney gave them anything but heartburn and a big bill....Merry Christmas, Charley

[Victoria Smith]

Dear Steve and Lori - I started ordering from you in the early 90's (I think) so that makes me a youngster in your business (just glad I'm truly not that young).
Over the years I have delighted people with your merchandise as well as outfitting my office with tools of the trade.
This year is a little tough - nothing from Levenger will be under the tree but come 2009 I WILL be back ordering. In the meantime I have thoroughly enjoyed reading "Well-Read Life" and drooling over the goodies you offer.

Thanks for the memories. Victoria Smith, MD

[Steve Leveen]

Dear Customers,

Hearing from you is my Christmas. Thank you for the kind words and for the important reminder from Down Under--Yes! The Who's Who of the World.

All best wishes to you, dear customers, wherever you live,

Steve

[Beth Van Vorst Gray]

Dear Steve:

I appreciate quality, honesty,and promptness, all of which are always exhibited by those representing you.

Usually there is an obsessive person behind ANYTHING that approaches perfection! I salute you and your wife.

Beth

[Beth Van Vorst Gray]

Steve:

Forgot, in my prior message, to thank you for the split reading table, lapdesk, and the newspaper rack end table. Several of our friends and relatives have "copycatted" (to our delight) these purchases.

B.

[Theron John]

Steve, I have to hide your catalog this time of the year or I would never be able to give any other gifts. Your great products are my weakness and I enjoy several writing instruments and calendars and leather cases that I have been blessed to make a part of my life.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to all at your great company.
Theron John

[Chip Dietrich, J.D.]

I. too. am a pen-freak with nineteen fountain pens but always drooling over new ones. Though mine are not the most expensive, they are still important to me. Levenger gives me reasonable prices that I can afford and more so justify. I do get catalogs and websites that exhibit those pens of thousands of dollars. My treasures are encased in one of Levenger's glass trophy boxes to my delight. I do appreciate the Levenger products and the business. Some day I will strive to visit the Delray location since I live in Cape Coral, Fl. Thanks to all who are a part of the company and I hope 2009 will continue to be prosperous for us all.

[Steve Leveen]

I have been content to watch from a distance as you have taken a small operation in Delray Beach... when it was not certain that this brilliant little man putting out a catalogue full of office furniture and supplies was actually going to make it.

My first contact with you (I don't remember that date) was an evening when you were answering Levenger's only phone right around Christmas, and I had a question about one of your products I wanted to buy. It was in that conversation that you told me how you and your wife put together your names (Leveen and Granger) to get "Levenger," and you had the time to speak with me as long as I wanted that night, because you had no other customers at the moment(!!!!).

Since then, I have watched as you have added product upon product, added stores, enlarged the catalogue, and just gradually built a dynamite business that has supplied your "world of readers" with absolutely marvelous products, including the relatively new whole segment of products called Circa (of which I have bought just about every product carrying that name from you!).

It's been my pleasure to watch it all unfold right before my very eyes. And I must not let the opportunity pass by without pointing out that I am the proud owner of several products which were not around for very long, some of which are no longer manufactured (remember that leather, full size, huge folio patterned on the old airplane pilot's case for handling and looking up information on maps and other materials while in the cockpit seat? I use it every day of my life, and have done since the day it came! I remember once, sometime during the past, say, 3 or 4 years, having to call customer service with a question about how some feature or other was supposed to work on that contraption, only to find that there was no one there who could answer my question because everyone currently employed at Levenger had come on board since the product was discontinued and no one knew how it worked!!! Gawd, I suddenly felt old!)

Anyway. I just placed an order for a couple of Circa things on the website, and for some reason, just placing that order caused that whole film to roll by my mind's eyes, and it took me all the way back to the beginning of my years-long relationship with you and your little catalogue company in Delray Beach.

Do you realize that a whole generation of young people just graduated from high school who were just born that first Christmas when I placed my first order with you? Personally? I am proud of you Steve. And I take enormous pleasure in telling your story to everyone I know. Thank you, from my heart, for giving me this pleasure.

Your friend,
Donald Lewsader

[Ed Brenegar]

Steve and Lori, there may be no greater honor than for a customer to feel a sense of honor to purchase one of your products. I've enjoyed reading your customers' comments as I did your post, Steve.
May the example you set continue to bring loyal friends to become your customers.
All the best,
Ed Brenegar

[Sharifa Abdul-Wahid]

Thank you for all your lovely pens and accessories. Whenever I see someone using a fountain pen the first thing I ask is, "Do you know about Levenger?"

[dr. penny pickett]

Thank you for your 2008 Christmas story. Your products are some of my favorite things. The attention you give to how you present them is beyond fabulous.

I don't recall when I bought my first object from your store or whether it was online or from a paper catalog. Most likely it was my red majorca bag, which as you know everyone covets, men and women alike. Even my cat loves it, as one or two other women have noted in their reviews on your Web site.

One Christmas present I gave to a friend this year was your $75 gift card: she's beside herself with pleasure at the chance to pick a treasure of her own from the catalog you sent with the card. She's seen some of the things I've bought from you, from paper to furniture. There is nothing I've bought that I've been disappointed with, that I wouldn't rate with five stars all the way down the line. I have written a few reviews. I called the majorca bag "Better than Helen of Troy," for example.

My one and only complaint is that you let go out of stock the file folders of different colors (pink, yellow, blue, green) you had some years ago that had printed lines inside and out for writing data about their contents. They were wonderfully useful; nothing you offered after replaces them. I have a few left: I parcel them out now to special projects.

You're greater than Tiffany's, Cadillac, and Chanel wrapped up together. Keep on keeping on. Thank you.

[Maris Jean Nagl]

Dear Steve,
Wishes sent for a healthy and prosperous 2009. Would you please put some of your practical items on sale. For example: your pencils, steno pads, index cards. I love your products but the million I won through the lottery :) is gone and I'm dying for a steno pad and pencils. By the way, women I don't even know come up to me and ask my about my Levenger tote, the small brown leather one, they drool, and I am your best form of advertisement...........so please, happy new year and put the stenos and pencils on sale. Thanks in advance - Maris Jean Nagl.

[Michelle]

I am an Executive Assistant and have always recommended your products to my Executives. This year, my Executive gave ME my own Circa planner set with all the bells and whistles. With all the times I've recommended and set up systems for others, I don't know what took me so long to set one up for my self!!

[Melody Bliss]

Thanks for the great Christmas story. And thanks to Levenger, my Christmas was great. I received a True Writer demonstrator ballpoint with matching ink and it writes beautifully, plus a Circa notebook AND a $75 gift card. I especially like the helpful tips on your site. Wish you had a store in Vegas!

[Wendy]

Seeing that my Mom was using a clipboard on her lap in her chair to write letters and such, I decided to get her a Levenger Lapdesk for Christmas. I called her a few days pretending to be Santa and told her she couldn't open her package untill Christmas morning. "You mean the desk from Levenger? Honey I opened that as soon as it came thru the door. I love them." So I looked at the website again and decided to order myself a lapdesk. which I love.

[Estrella Gutierrez]

Hey! are you the owner of Levenger Store? Why you discontinued some cool furniture you had? finally i managed to get a job and wanted to buy some of your stuff, but it is discontinued.

I M H O, some of my favorites were the Jeeves file organizer and the briefduffel, very useful for me, because i travel too much.

I am writing this from Mexico Baja, By the way.

Cheers for your surviving store over this ruff times.

P.S. And if you can make these great goodies again, we would be thankful.