'Geppetto' tries to craft the sale of his shop

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Dec 10, 2004 by Spohr, George

PHOENIX - Robert DuLong's wife doesn't mince words.

"Mrs. Geppetto gave me an ultimatum that on the occasion of my 77th birthday, coming up on March 1, that I retire before I expire," says DuLong, owner of Woodendipity, a small company that handerafts wooden sculptures.

DuLong's seven employees know him as Geppetto, named for the "father" of the wooden Disney character Pinocchio. DuLong refers to his employees as the "Guild of Treelance Artists."

A firm believer in the saying that a happy wife makes a happy life, DuLong has put his company on the market for $195,000. That includes an 8,800-square-foot property that once was an old mill. DuLong purchased the property, at 9485 River St. in Phoenix, 10 years ago.

DuLong himself has been at the craft for 18 years. Since then, the company has created 60,000 "Woodendipities" and generated $18 million in sales. Even though the last eight years have been "disappointing" financially, DuLong still boasts sales of $590,000 annually.

"It's there, and it's a happy business to be in; it's just that I'm running out of steam," he says. "I've been in a lot of corporate worlds, and you can't really identify with what you do. You can't put your handprint on your product. Here, you know what you do, and you know that ]It really does bring out smiles by the owners, because of the whimsy and the function of our work. That's our niche."

But now the company's future is in question. DuLong is being extremely selective about potential buyers. There's one "white knight" who owns an arts-and-crafts company down in Florida, and she's: indicated that she'd relocate her company to Phoenix to take over Woodendipity, but that's not yet etched in stone - or wood, for that matter, DuLong says, noting that the company has received 18 inquiries. "It's in the hands of a broker," he says.

One other potential buyer emerged from the Atlanta area. lie visited the plant and caused quite a stir. "He looked us over and all, and he wanted to make so many drastic changes that my employees said, 'if you sell to him, lay us off right now.' lie Would've destroyed our world within a year," DuLong says.

DuLong says he's torn between his wife's ultimatum and looming deadlines for national catalogs that need to print their spring 2005 catalogs. He has two weeks to let his catalog vendors know if they'll be producing Woodendipities for the spring season. If the Florida nibbler doesn't bite soon, DuLong runs the danger of downsizing his business to the point of its demise, he says.

He's afraid that skipping the spring 2005 season would open the market up to competitors, who, like Woodendipity, have been struggling lately because the market for high-end collectibles weakened amid the sluggish economy.

"We have downsized, and so has the economy in the market for our kind of thing," DuLong says, noting that the company employed 12 about five years ago. "It's a niche we have, and that market is there. But [potential buyers are] sitting on their hands and worried about their jobs, and there's not much I can do about that. ... I've been at this for 18 years, and its been a joy every day. The market is starting to revive; if we were as busy as we are right now all year long, we'd have 10 people."