BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR
The Wichita Eagle
Cyndee Pollock jokingly says her first career was collecting college degrees.
She was a graduate student in psychology when her husband, Robin, suggested she think about a “real job,” she said.
She had always loved baskets and had a house full of them, so he suggested she try selling them.
Now she has a real job. She’s owner and president of Greenbrier Home and Garden, a Wichita company that started as Greenbrier Baskets and grew exponentially.
Four years ago, Pollock bought the entire block of warehouses on the west side of Mosley between Ninth and 10th streets as headquarters for her domestic packaging, shipping and wholesale showroom.
Last year, Greenbrier opened a showroom in Hong Kong under the name Green Luck Products, where Pollock now spends about half her time. She just got home from a buying trip in China and is preparing to go back next week to spend a month in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong showroom supplies the largest of her corporate customers, including Michael’s and T.J. Maxx. Products available there are unique and are not offered in the company’s U.S. locations.
The Wichita warehouse supplies small and midsize U.S. customers with the baskets, home decor and indoor and outdoor furniture Greenbrier now handles. Last Monday, she was preparing to ship out the Christmas Tree line for Bed, Bath and Beyond stores.
Greenbrier also has space in showrooms across the country, including the Atlanta Gift Mart, Chicago Merchandise Mart and the Dallas World Trade Center.
“I think I just found the right niche,” she said.
“When I got into this, I did a lot of research. I found there were a lot of really cheap baskets out there, and a lot of really expensive baskets. Ours are modestly priced with a lot of extra features.”
All of Greenbrier’s products are made in China. Pollock designs many of the baskets, which have become known for their unusual weaves, colors and accents.
The metal products line has experienced immediate response as well, she said.
“It just took off,” she said. “The first things I put out there were just gone overnight.”
With more home decor came a demand for furniture, so wicker and rattan indoor and outdoor furniture joined the product line.
“I always swore I wouldn’t handle furniture — too big and bulky,” she said. “Now look: furniture.”
Eventually, she says, she may import from other countries in Asia. But the lessons she has learned in merchandising remind her that big customers have big demands — and the suppliers have to have sufficient production to meet those demands.
She’s also learned about living for weeks at a time in rural areas of China. And about eating strange food.
“At first I asked about the stuff that was ‘sort of like’ carrots or potatoes or shrimp,” she said. “Now I don’t even ask. It looks like little bugs to me, but I just eat it.”
