THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170067
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 83 lines
Ilona Bruner, sales coordinator for Rowena's Inc. of Norfolk, described the Richmond Centre on Thursday as a window of opportunity that everybody wanted to jump through.
Bruner, who represented the company that got its start making gourmet pound cakes, was surrounded by others just like her. All of them had a unique idea, a product typifying Virginia.
And that's exactly what five buyers from the QVC cable shopping network were looking to include in the show's ``50 in 50 Tour,'' special segments that QVC has run for the past two years showcasing products from every state.
``They wanted to know about minimum quantities and about arrangements for shipping,'' a nervous Bruner said. ``They were interested in some new products, particularly the children's books and the carrot jam. Whoa . . . I hope I made Rowena proud.''
Hopefuls must wait two weeks before QVC makes the big announcement.
``Nothing ventured; nothing gained,'' said Edye Buckman of Virginia Beach. She and her husband, Bob, make sauce for chicken wings.``What have we got to lose?''
QVC is a national leader in home shopping. It airs over Cox Cable in Hampton Roads and has a customer service center in Chesapeake and a distribution center in Suffolk.
Nearly 200 small businesses from across the state - touting everything from dip and sauce mixes to boxer shorts sporting musical notes - converged at the `` '97 Quest for America's Best'' in the Richmond convention center. Their goal: to convince the buyers that their product could appeal to at-home shoppers armed with a remote control and buying power.
The buyers strolled the individual tables in the large room in search of the best Virginia has to offer. They will select 20 of the products to be featured on the April 5 ``Virginia Show,'' part of the state-to-state buying tour.
The QVC tour started this month in Hawaii and will finish in California in December, said Robin Blane, QVC's publicist from West Chester, Pa. This is the third year that the cable shopping network has toured the nation in search of unique products from each state.
``One buyer works with a vendor for from five to seven minutes,'' Blane said. ``They'll be trying to find things that are really indicative of Virginia. They're looking for new and different or something with a new twist.''
``Small businesses drive our economy,'' Gov. George F. Allen told the hopeful entrepreneurs. ``I'd hate to be a judge trying to figure out which one to put on the show.''
Bruner thought Rowena's had just what QVC was searching for. The company was featured on the QVC state tour last year and sold nearly 2,000 cakes in about three minutes, Bruner said.
Arthur Carver, of Montross, Va., felt certain that his gourmet ginger ale made from his grandfather's recipe would be a hit.
Larry Santure, with V.W. Joyner of Smithfield, showed off a brand new product that the company developed especially for TV shoppers - a small, fully cooked half-ham.
``We've got a real winner here,'' Santure told the buyer, as he competed for his company for a slot on the show. ``It's a smaller size. We kept the price down.''
Just because the buyers loved the product didn't necessarily mean it was good enough for TV shoppers, head buyer Carroll Thomas told the vendors before the touching, tasting and demonstrating began.
``We've all got to get together and figure out what will make a good show from Virginia,'' she said. ``We may love your product, but you still may not make it.''
That's what happened to Terry Grape last year. Grape, who lives in Norfolk, makes sauces for pork and beef. And although he wasn't chosen in 1996, he was back with his ``Bosse-Hogge'' sauces to try again.
In some areas, the shopping venture showcasing states have created millionaires.
A former tennis pro pushing an electronic pest repellent on the 1995 tour, for example, has sold about $17 million worth of his product on QVC. That same year, 1,000 products were selected from 50 states. Gross sales from the tour that year were nearly $62 million. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot
Bob Buckman has the hot sauce ready for application on chicken
wings. His wife, Edye, has a fire extinguisher ready - the sauce is
hot, get it? The Buckmans were among the almost 200 entrants
Thursday in Richmond vying for a spot on the shopping network.