Bowl Company Blog

Effective 11/1/11, we will no longer be able to advertise a discount on Waterford Crystal, China or products, however if you ADD THEM TO YOUR CART, you will be able to get the discount that we are currently offering. This is a restriction being put in place by Waterford. We will continue to price match any of the big box store pricing. We apologize for any confusion.

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As the owner of a small business, I am always intensely optimistic. I can lie down and a million ideas jump through my head about how to do things, new ways to help our customers or things that need to be fixed on our website. I’ve even startled myself awake every now and then about something I forgot to do during the day. But there is one problem in this Great Recession that concerns me most – have people had their fill of small businesses and are they now totally converted into box store customers?

To answer this, I look around at the village we call home – Brewster, NY. Brewster is an absolutely wonderful town to conduct business and not unlike many others. It is a charming train town with many dedicated merchants. It has certainly been affected by the business cycle, the internet and absentee landlords. So my question is, what does it take to make a village?

In the age of the internet, box stores and mobile consumers – is small business dead? Obviously not! But we probably have to continue to change and evolve. Consider what one Home Depot can do to a community. In this giant box store is a garden center, electrical supply, plumbing supply, lumber yard, outdoor furniture, tools, bathrooms, kitchens and many more. All of these “stores” in a Depot type store were once small businesses in the community. Consumers have flocked to these box stores for many reasons and I am not here to debate the merits of this, but to merely say – what kind of stores are left to fill the many villages, towns and shopping centers?

For sure, what small business must do is find their niche. In the past it may have been books, antiques or a “variety” type store, but those are all tough fights in the current reality of a free shipping internet and the box store. However does that leave us with nothing? Absolutely not! Brick and mortar stores haven’t died in the face of this environment but the ones that have survived realize they need a strategy that gets consumers involved in all levels – electronically and in person. Person to person shopping is not dead. In fact, most people still prefer to get out and do something. I think that is where the small business world must change – we must come together and be a community and make a place that people want to visit.

To be clear, I would much rather walk into a small store, talk with the owner or partner and purchase my goods then any box store. As small business, we need many more shoppers that are willing to shop small. We need consumers that are willing to come into a town or a village and shop and spend some time looking around, talking to people, owners and employees. If you want to get America back working again, we all need to come back to small businesses.

So how do we get you to come back? We must agree to provide an engaging, thoughtful, beautiful, clean and well kept environment. We promise to give each customer what made us successful – a dedication to our word, products and reputations. What we need from everyone is to start considering a small, local business for your next purchase. Whether it is a garden center, hardware store, florist or even a china shop – we want you back. And if there is something we need to do, I for one would love to hear about it.

Bob Dumont

“Miss Manners,” Judith Martin, has said, “The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society…” Polite? Not necessarily. Can’t remember the last polite conversation we had at our table.  But conversation – silly, serious, mundane, energetic, ambitious, antagonizing, caffeinated – it is. There is so much to the table. It is, after all, the center of the universe.

“It all happens at the table” is The Bowl Company’s new tag line. It was not conceived by a marketing agency or an advertising executive, but by someone who can attest to many “happenings” at the table. You have probably had countless happenings at your own table: card games, pancake breakfasts, gift wrapping, endless homework, vacation planning. Scores of “things” have hence found temporary homes on your table: a pocketbook, laptop, backpack, car keys, chunks of salsa. Being a china company, our focus is the most common of them – tableware. Your fork, your butter dish, your red wine goblet.

The Bowl Company’s mission is to “re-popularize” the importance of choosing and using lasting dinnerware that reflects both your character and commitment to the table. It’s to start a tradition for our new brides and grooms. It’s to magnetize scattered family members to a central location. It’s to create heirloom pieces which will carry on them not only your delicious sausage risotto, but the story of that football game or the time when…

As a person who was there on the day the Towers fell, and lucky enough to have gotten out of there, I have seen the damage that hate can do first hand.  September 11th, 2001 was a terrible day for many (and not my best day either!) but what I took from that day is the devastation that hate can cause to people, families and even countries.  On this day of reflection, while you may “never forget”, don’t forget to look forward and begin things that are new and good. Love, friendship, companionship and understanding are constructive forces. Use those tools to build a new future and leave everything else in the past. One of the results of September 11th for myself was the creation of The Bowl Company, so this a day in which I have many mixed emotions.

For those of you interested in probably too long of a narrative of that day, see the link below
9/11 Narrative – Bob Dumont

Peace and Love To All!

Bob Dumont

Last year, The Bowl Company opened up our retail store. September 9th will mark the one year anniversary of its opening! While many in the village of Brewster were negative about it and some even predicted we wouldn’t last 6 months, we are glad to say that we are doing terrific and look forward to a terrific holiday season. To the people that have traveled both near and far to come see our store and purchase some of our wonderful items, many thanks for all your nice remarks and patronage!

Starting on September 3rd, The Bowl Company will be accepting Google Checkout, in addition to Paypal, Visa, MC and Amex.