Kalan has been selling trendy, impulse-buy novelties out of its warehouses in Lansdowne and Yeadon for more than three decades, writes J.F. Pirro for Main Line Today.

“With what we sell, you don’t know you need it, like a sleeping mask decorated with stars and the moon,” said Dan Shoemaker, Kalan’s vice president and national sales manager. “But you come into a store, you see it and then need it.”

Kalan is a third-generation business that initially focused on funny gift cards before expanding into novelty products. The enterprise was started two generations ago by the current owners’ grandfather and continued by their fathers Jeff and Bobby Kalan. Now the family business is run by cousins Andrew and Scott.

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Kalan’s clients number in the thousands, from small mom-and-pop stores to leading retailers. Among the keys to its lasting success are its low prices and product diversification. The company has also acquired the picture-magnet manufacturing company What’s the Big Idea? and is also the exclusive distributor for National Design.

“If you can get it for $2.99 here, you’re not going to try to find it for $1.99 elsewhere,” said Shoemaker. “It’s already at a buy-now price.”

Read more about the successful enterprise at Main Line Today by clicking here.

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