Kalalou

It was a beautiful sun-drenched day in the colorful market square of Ocho Rios, Jamaica when fate was about to tap Doug and Susan Williams on the shoulder. The year was 1984, and the young couple had taken one of those “Five days for $500… come back to Jamaica” trips with their best friends Andy and Debbie. That typical sunny day found Debbie and Susan shopping for souvenirs while the boys drank Red Stripe under a palm tree.

It was that fateful moment when Susan held up a basket and yelled back to Doug, “I paid $40 for a basket just like this back home.” Doug yelled back, “How much are you paying for that one?” When Susan said two dollars, legend has it that you could see the dollar signs ringing up in Doug’s eyes$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Susan and Doug were doing flea markets back home selling their artwork painted on old barn wood to make ends meet as a young married couple. And, both thought that the baskets would make a great addition to their flea market endeavors. So, Andy and Debbie, being best friends and all, helped the Williams carry as many baskets as possible on the plane home… and what a sight they were… back in the day when you could do stuff like that on an airplane.

Back home, Doug just couldn’t get the 2000% mark up out of his head. So, he posed the idea to Susan of returning to Jamaica to try and import the baskets back to Mississippi. Now Doug and Susan knew next to nothing about importing, so they learned. Well, Doug did… because the couple didn’t have enough money for both to make the return trip to Jamaica. As the story goes, it was Doug who convinced the Jamaican Trade Council to ship a container load of baskets to Jackson, Mississippi with no money down and 30 days to pay. That was miracle number one of many miracles to follow in the life of a true entrepreneurial company.

Nothing in their life would ever be the same after that first container pulled into their driveway. They unloaded the whole container themselves into their garage, and three flea market weekends later the whole container load of baskets was sold. The bill was paid and another container was ordered. The flea market business continued like that for two years, until one day a flea market shopper, who was buying up baskets for her retail shop, said “You guys should try and sell these at the Dallas Wholesale Show.”