Page 87 - enLIGHTenment October 2016

Under the RadaR

far LefT: Vera Cohen
“We expanded our imports to Italy with great suc- immediate sales and a lot of success. Eventually
cess,” he remarks, adding that they’d typically we sold our Sparkle Plenty product in Canada, handles the cash-wrap
area, which included the
make four to ve buying trips to Europe a year. England, Spain, and other countries. I purchased heavy brass cash register
Fortunately, spending a lot of time in an airplane the name from Chester Gould, the artist and own-
(near le ).
was something Fred enjoyed immensely.
er of the Dick Tracy cartoon characters. When
“I have been ying for 70 years, starting when I we registered the name, that brought a lot of at- mIddLe: The Lamp
& Lantern Ltd. retail
was 12 years old and hanging around the airport, tention from the major chemical companies that
showroom was a long-time
gassing and washing planes,” he recalls. “I got wanted to purchase our product and de nitely destination for lamps,
many rides from the pilots who showed me how the valuable name. Eventually we did sell it to one chandeliers, clocks, and
other accessories.
to control, land, take o , and navigate. When I was of the largest in the U.S.”
15, I got my license.”
Over the years, the Cohens’ empire expanded
rIGHT: Back in the day
Lighting captured the couple’s heart since they beyond the lighting showroom, ceiling fan compa- (the 1960s), Fred Cohen

opened their rst store. “Our rst retail lighting ny, import business, Sparkle Plenty, and later real demonstrates how boxes
store had wood oors, beams [on the ceiling] to estate holdings. These days, the couple remain of candelabra light bulbs
were displayed for pur-
hang chandeliers, and an old brass cash register focused on their latest “baby,” a mirror manufac- chase in bushel baskets
that counted up to one dollar. It looked like an old turing company that makes all of its products in
that complemented the
general store in the frontier days. We sold light Missouri. The Hitchcock-Bu er eld Company look of the showroom,
which mimicked an old-
bulbs in bushel baskets,” he states. [The Lamp does a sizable business in manufacturing mirrors time general store.
Journal trade magazine featured the showroom and frames for some of the home décor industry’s

back in 1966.]
biggest brands as well as under its own name. The
As the retail and import business grew, the Hitchcock-Bu er eld products are sold online

couple then targeted another segment of the in- through all of the major e-tailers as well as through

dustry: ceiling fans. “The St. Louis Fan Company showrooms all over the country. 
was another one of our ventures that was timely

and served a niche business that we recognized,” “Our rst retail lighting store had
he recounts. “We developed the business with re-
wood oors, beams [on the ceiling]
search from the St. Louis World’s Fair styles. Our

new sales representatives sold the ceiling fans to hang chandeliers, and an old
to most of their lighting store accounts as well as

furniture stores.”
brass cash register that counted up
Another entrepreneurial idea inspired the

couple years later when they invented Sparkle to one dollar. It looked like an old

Plenty chandelier cleaner. “We developed the for-
mula and packaged it in a white box with a sparkle general store in the frontier days.”

pop-up,” Fred comments. “Since I knew most of
the good sales reps around the country, we had
—J. Frederic Cohen

OctOber 2016 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 85