The Christmas tree room at the American Sales store in Orland Park is an artificial but enchanting forest of spruces, firs and pines. Snow brushes the tips of some trees; small electronic birds chirp from within the branches of others. The trees are draped with sparkling garlands and twinkling lights and topped with elegant bows, bright stars or angels lighted from within. The branches are weighted with ornaments available for purchase in the adjacent aisles: globes of handblown glass, brass Santas, ceramic bells, banjo-playing teddy bears.
“I just love Christmas,” said Bob Jones Sr., 59, president and founder of American Sales. “It is a tremendous amount of work because we have so many items. But I remember we began with just one type of tree–a silver aluminum tree with satin ornaments lighted by a revolving color wheel.”
American Sales opened for business in 1960 in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood. Toys made up the bulk of the merchandise, and Jones gradually added seasonal items during the next couple of years.
Jones and his family–wife Dolores and children Bob Jr., Sandy and Mary Ellen, all of whom live in Crete–currently operate six stores in the south and southwest suburbs, and the regional retailer has become a destination of choice for holiday decorators.
The company is sponsoring a a Christmas decorating contest for area homeowners and recently hosted Mary Edsey, author of “The Best Christmas Decorations in Chicagoland” (Tabagio Press, $21.95), who is one of the contest judges, at the Orland Park store. “People showed me pictures of their displays and tried to convince me theirs was the best,” Edsey said.
“People really go wild,” said Edsey, who has logged 10,000 miles and interviewed more than 1,000 homeowners for her book. “They were coming past me pushing cartloads full of decorations–obviously on their way to becoming avid decorators.”
Beginning with that single tree and satin ornaments in red, green and gold, American Sales stores now offer a multitude of items. There is aisle after aisle of bows: red, white, green, gold, silver, pink and maroon, of satin and velvet, adorned with snowflakes and bells and trimmed with gold braid.
Strings of white and multicolored lights and connector sets are joined by bulbs nestled in clusters of holly or roses. Lighted angels and doves, gingerbread men, candy canes and icicles are stacked next to blinking strings of miniature basketballs, soccer balls, cowboy boots and M&M candies. Shoppers also can choose from laser stars, bubble lights, flicker lights, twinkle lights and fiber optics.
Nativity scenes, carousels, miniature snow villages, wreaths, tree skirts, giant lawn ornaments and window decorations round out the seasonal offerings. New this year are net lights, with bulbs attached to large, square pieces of green netting, for trees and shrubbery. Trees already strung with lights are an increasingly popular item, Jones said.
Preparations for Christmas begin in December of the previous year. “We listen to what our customers are asking for,” Jones said.
January through April, the company is buying stock, and seasonal items arrive in May to be stored in the warehouse. Most of the stock is transferred to the stores by Sept. 1. And decorating of trees is under way by Oct. 1, according to Sandy Jones, who grew up dusting toys in her father’s store and is now a designer for the company.
“My mom started doing the trees,” she said. “They were the bottle-brush type. Now the trees look real.”
Sandy, 37, said she directs the setup and decoration of approximately 500 trees at the six stores. “I have four or five people helping me in each store, and it still takes six weeks to finish,” she said.
The displays are designed to provide customers with ideas and inspiration.
“We’ll do a theme, but mostly it is the traditional tree that’s hung with all the favorite family ornaments,” she said.
“We try to show people how they can make up different things,” Jones Sr. said. “And we try to keep our prices reasonable so people can afford it.”
When Lori Chojnacki of Orland Park wanted to find something new for Christmas, “I immediately thought about coming here,” she said as she browsed through the animated musical scenes at the Orland Park store.
Barbara Hartman of Bourbonnais said she toured the Christmas tree room looking for ideas. “I’m looking for ornaments, and I know they have a good selection.”
“It’s hard to believe all the different products,” Jones Sr. said. “The category has expanded in every direction.”
Christmas isn’t the only category that has increased at the company. In addition to holiday items, American Sales retails swimming pools and patio furniture during spring and summer and pool tables year-round. The Casual Furniture Association, a trade group, has named American Sales one of the association’s top 10 retailers for each of the last five years. And in 1996, American was at the top of that group of 10, based on sales, displays and customer service, and received the Apollo Award.
“The American Sales stores are very service oriented. The main focus is customer satisfaction,” said Karla Carey, director of marketing for the association, located at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Industry representatives recently visited American Sales’ Tinley Park headquarters to discuss retailing trends. “Bob does a good job of getting the word out about what he carries, and he seems very knowledgeable about his customers’ needs,” Carey said.
“Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” Jones said, explaining his philosophy for success. “I always try to do the right thing and take care of my customers 110 percent.”
The company recently built a 118,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and warehouse at 8401 W. 185th St., Tinley Park, but it opened for business 37 years ago in a 20-by-50-foot storefront at 113th Street and Michigan Avenue.
As a boy, Jones shined shoes in his father’s barber shop; he briefly worked as a barber before opening the first store.
“I opened my first store at 21. I never really worked for anybody else,” he said.
The Roseland store was a narrow but deep storefront with large display windows.
“I didn’t have any displays. I bought orange crates at Water Street for 25 cents, and I bought lumber and made shelves,” he said. “I found an old door and laid it on top of a couple of crates for a checkout counter.”
Two aisles of toys were stacked floor to ceiling; customers walked down one narrow aisle and up the next to the checkout counter. On the counter was an ornate Merchant’s cash register with a gold-plated handle. Jones paid $35 for the register, which has been restored and is on display in a conference room at the corporate headquarters.
Jones opened his second store, at 89th Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, in 1971. Several years later, he opened a store in suburban Lansing; he then closed the Roseland store and phased out toys. The Merrillville, Ind., store opened in 1985, followed by the Orland Park store in 1986. Bolingbrook opened in 1993, and an outlet store at the new headquarters is the most recent retail center opened.
The company employs about 150 full- and part-time workers during the holiday season, and Jones, despite his executive duties, often works the sales floor at the various locations. He dons one of the red sales associates shirts provided to all employees and helps stock shelves, assist customers and ring up sales.
“I get a better feel for what is going on. I find out what my customers want,” Jones said. Shoppers, though, are sometimes surprised to find out the smiling, white-haired man is actually the company president.
“We had one customer tell the store manager that there was a `crazy man’ going around telling people he owned the store,” Jones said, laughing.
Jones is particular about his stores, his merchandise and warehouse. Samples are stacked around the offices. “I like to see and feel the products,” Jones said.
The warehouse is spotless, and employees are provided with cleaned and pressed uniforms. Electronic guidance systems built into the floor streamline the process of selecting merchandise, which is stacked in eight levels measuring a total of 40 feet high.
While Christmas merchandise is being sold in the stores, patio furniture is already arriving at the warehouse. Trucks delivering tables with umbrellas are backed up to several of the 19 loading docks, while smaller vans and trucks are loaded with pool tables to be delivered and installed.
Next to the warehouse is the company’s outlet store. It features overstocks for half-price, and Jones said it is always stocked with fresh merchandise.
The Tinley Park facility opened in 1996, and Jones is constructing another building on an adjacent piece of property. That building will be leased to other companies until American needs more room. “I wanted a building large enough that we could grow into it,” Jones said.
The company was previously headquartered in Calumet City, and the move to the southwest suburbs tripled the space.
Jones chose the Tinley Park location for its exposure along Interstate Highway 80. The interstate highway is just a couple hundred feet from the rear of the large, white warehouse and outlet store, and large billboards beckon eastbound travelers to exit at Harlem Avenue. The interstate access also makes shipping to and from stores and manufacturers easier.
As a regional chain, Jones said his company can be more flexible than national companies and can take advantage of special buys and off-season merchandise.
“We are seeking that discretionary income,” he said. “A lot of thought goes into our products and displays, and we are very price sensitive.”
Jones attends major trade shows and also shops the discount and department stores for price comparisons; the company offers a price-matching policy. He also listens to his customers. Several years back, when shoppers started looking for more outdoor items–large plastic Santas, candy canes, snowmen–he passed along those suggestions to his manufacturers; those items are now among the manufacturers’ most popular, he said.
“I have a tremendous respect for my customers,” Jones said. Although the retailer advertises in newspapers and on radio and television, his best advertising is word of mouth.
“We get a lot of repeat business,” he said. “But I never take anything for granted. My feeling is that I have to earn people’s business each year.”
