PRESS / TESTIMONIALS
MOST RECENT AWARDS!
Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts portcitypottery.com
Year founded: 2007
Number of employees: “No paid employees; we operate as a co-op with all members performing various operating procedures.”
Top official: Pat Holleman, president
Company description: “The first Wilmington gallery of 3-dimensional, locally made art in clay, wood, metals, textiles, basketry, gourds, glass and mixed media.”
Company growth: “A group of women potters invited artisans from other mediums to join the venture. Since 2007, we have grown in customers, sales, reputation and popularity amongst locals and visitors from around the world. The quality of our work speaks for itself, so repeat business is the mainstay of our success.”
How has your product helped impact the region’s economic development? “We contribute through taxes, donations to nonprofit organizations and supporting marketing efforts of The Cotton Exchange and downtown projects. Our artists sell at art/craft shows, promoting our business while promoting themselves.”
How did you originally come up with the concept of your product? “Our products are as varied as our 20 artists, so each artist’s conceptualization and process differ. The original vision was to provide unique, quality craft to the community while allowing the members freedom to explore their respective mediums and keep most of the proceeds (80 percent).”
Year founded: 2007
Number of employees: “No paid employees; we operate as a co-op with all members performing various operating procedures.”
Top official: Pat Holleman, president
Company description: “The first Wilmington gallery of 3-dimensional, locally made art in clay, wood, metals, textiles, basketry, gourds, glass and mixed media.”
Company growth: “A group of women potters invited artisans from other mediums to join the venture. Since 2007, we have grown in customers, sales, reputation and popularity amongst locals and visitors from around the world. The quality of our work speaks for itself, so repeat business is the mainstay of our success.”
How has your product helped impact the region’s economic development? “We contribute through taxes, donations to nonprofit organizations and supporting marketing efforts of The Cotton Exchange and downtown projects. Our artists sell at art/craft shows, promoting our business while promoting themselves.”
How did you originally come up with the concept of your product? “Our products are as varied as our 20 artists, so each artist’s conceptualization and process differ. The original vision was to provide unique, quality craft to the community while allowing the members freedom to explore their respective mediums and keep most of the proceeds (80 percent).”
Jean LeGuin Awarded Prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the AAW (2018)
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The AAW (American Woodturners Association) recently awarded our own Jean LeGwin with this award in honor of her MANY years of contributions to the organization. Two videos are available - one a history of her major commitment and various talents offered to the Association; the other her acceptance speech. Both are available here.
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Melanie Walter in the News! "Passionate About Pine Needles"
We have been selected by readers of the Star News as "The Best Gallery in Wilmington!"
Come see what everyone is talking about!
Come see what everyone is talking about!
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WE ARE WINNERS!!!
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Gallery Hopes To Grow With Help Of SCORE Award
BY JENNY CALLISON
March 9, 2015
http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/retail/2015/03/09/gallery_hopes_to_grow_with_help_of_score_award/12995
Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts – whose business is creativity – is looking forward to an unusually creative year, thanks to its recent designation as an American Small Business Champion. Rather than just turning out more artwork, however, the four owner-artisans will be rethinking their business and planning for its continued success.
The downtown gallery cooperative, which specializes in three-dimensional craft arts, is one of 102 small businesses in the U.S. to be recognized through this program hosted by SCORE, in partnership with Sam’s Club. Winners each receive a $1,000 Sam’s Club gift card, an all-expense-paid trip to a small business training event, SCORE mentoring for one year and promotional exposure all year through SCORE, a national organization of volunteer business professionals.
The key element of Port City Pottery’s application for the award was to answer the question: “What sacrifice have you made to help your business succeed?” Co-owner Pat Holleman believes she and fellow owners Sybil West, Pat Hart and Mary Holden-Hall had a very compelling response. “We do not take a salary, and have not tried to recover our original investment,” Holleman said. “All four of us are potters, and we get only the commission from sales of our own work.”
When the original seven-owner team proved unwieldy, the current owners bought out the other three to create a leaner organization and easier decision-making process. While the business is not technically a non-profit, its initial funding and its cooperative, collaborative model do borrow from the non-profit world.
The gallery, which will celebrate eight years in business April 1, has minimized operational expenses by asking its exhibiting artisans to share staffing duties. Those who do put in a shift or more receive a higher commission on the sale of their work. That model has had benefits beyond those of keeping expenses down, Holleman said. Working together, getting to know each other and everyone’s needs has created a “culture of caring,” she explained. “We’ve been graced by that culture and it has enhanced our success.”
Last year, Port City Pottery exceeded $1 million in sales, and hope for a continued increase in revenues. To prepare for growth, Holleman said the owners have added several more people to the organization’s board who bring specific skills.
Holleman said that she and the gallery’s other three owners would like to use this year of mentoring, publicity and training to explore how they can best grow the business, in terms of both size and sales. “We’d like to expand our square footage,” she said, noting that if larger space or adjoining space comes available in the Cotton Exchange, the gallery’s home, they have secured the right of first refusal from landlord Nancy Bullock. Enhancing the existing space is a priority as well. The owners have just installed new carpeting. Port City Pottery will likely spend its $1,000 from Sam’s Club on better lighting, display fixtures and other physical enhancements, said co-owner West. “Displays and lighting are critical here,” she said.
Then, envisioning the gallery’s future, the owners will attend the SCORE small business training session in May, at which Holleman expects to get a refresher on small business management, some gallery-specific coaching, and some big-picture ideas about how to take Port City Pottery to the next level.
One issue on the minds of all four owners is succession planning. All are past traditional retirement age and have indeed retired from other careers, while pursuing their pottery. They want to ensure a bright future for Port City Pottery.
“I think we have a wonderful gallery and have demonstrated our success,” Holleman said.
The downtown gallery cooperative, which specializes in three-dimensional craft arts, is one of 102 small businesses in the U.S. to be recognized through this program hosted by SCORE, in partnership with Sam’s Club. Winners each receive a $1,000 Sam’s Club gift card, an all-expense-paid trip to a small business training event, SCORE mentoring for one year and promotional exposure all year through SCORE, a national organization of volunteer business professionals.
The key element of Port City Pottery’s application for the award was to answer the question: “What sacrifice have you made to help your business succeed?” Co-owner Pat Holleman believes she and fellow owners Sybil West, Pat Hart and Mary Holden-Hall had a very compelling response. “We do not take a salary, and have not tried to recover our original investment,” Holleman said. “All four of us are potters, and we get only the commission from sales of our own work.”
When the original seven-owner team proved unwieldy, the current owners bought out the other three to create a leaner organization and easier decision-making process. While the business is not technically a non-profit, its initial funding and its cooperative, collaborative model do borrow from the non-profit world.
The gallery, which will celebrate eight years in business April 1, has minimized operational expenses by asking its exhibiting artisans to share staffing duties. Those who do put in a shift or more receive a higher commission on the sale of their work. That model has had benefits beyond those of keeping expenses down, Holleman said. Working together, getting to know each other and everyone’s needs has created a “culture of caring,” she explained. “We’ve been graced by that culture and it has enhanced our success.”
Last year, Port City Pottery exceeded $1 million in sales, and hope for a continued increase in revenues. To prepare for growth, Holleman said the owners have added several more people to the organization’s board who bring specific skills.
Holleman said that she and the gallery’s other three owners would like to use this year of mentoring, publicity and training to explore how they can best grow the business, in terms of both size and sales. “We’d like to expand our square footage,” she said, noting that if larger space or adjoining space comes available in the Cotton Exchange, the gallery’s home, they have secured the right of first refusal from landlord Nancy Bullock. Enhancing the existing space is a priority as well. The owners have just installed new carpeting. Port City Pottery will likely spend its $1,000 from Sam’s Club on better lighting, display fixtures and other physical enhancements, said co-owner West. “Displays and lighting are critical here,” she said.
Then, envisioning the gallery’s future, the owners will attend the SCORE small business training session in May, at which Holleman expects to get a refresher on small business management, some gallery-specific coaching, and some big-picture ideas about how to take Port City Pottery to the next level.
One issue on the minds of all four owners is succession planning. All are past traditional retirement age and have indeed retired from other careers, while pursuing their pottery. They want to ensure a bright future for Port City Pottery.
“I think we have a wonderful gallery and have demonstrated our success,” Holleman said.
Business Milestones
by Cammie Bellamy
March 3, 2015
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20150303/ARTICLES/150309927
Port City Pottery wins SCORE award
WILMINGTON | A downtown Wilmington gallery is one of 102 national winners of the SCORE Association/Sam's Club American Small Business Championship.
Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts, located in The Cotton Exchangeat 307 N. Front St., features three-dimensional pieces by 22 Wilmington artists. The awards honor small business from across the country whose owners have sacrificed to achieve success.
Port City Pottery is one of five North Carolina businesses honored and will receive a year of SCORE mentoring and a $1,000 Sam's Club gift card to help grow the business.
"We are so proud to be recognized for our hard work, sacrifices and achievements as a small business," store owners wrote in a news release. "Thank you to our wonderful community for supporting us over the years and for helping us achieve this distinction."
WILMINGTON | A downtown Wilmington gallery is one of 102 national winners of the SCORE Association/Sam's Club American Small Business Championship.
Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts, located in The Cotton Exchangeat 307 N. Front St., features three-dimensional pieces by 22 Wilmington artists. The awards honor small business from across the country whose owners have sacrificed to achieve success.
Port City Pottery is one of five North Carolina businesses honored and will receive a year of SCORE mentoring and a $1,000 Sam's Club gift card to help grow the business.
"We are so proud to be recognized for our hard work, sacrifices and achievements as a small business," store owners wrote in a news release. "Thank you to our wonderful community for supporting us over the years and for helping us achieve this distinction."
AN INTERVIEW ON PBS
Our local PBS station (UNC-TV - Wilmington) came to our shop in The Cotton Exchange last Fall,
filmed our gallery and interviewed a number of our members.
Click HERE to enjoy a visual tour.
It begins at about 7:19 minutes into the video.
filmed our gallery and interviewed a number of our members.
Click HERE to enjoy a visual tour.
It begins at about 7:19 minutes into the video.
