InnStyle’s parent company, County Linen, opened its doors in 1952. That’s a long, long time. Not many businesses can say they have survived for that long.
Like the name suggests, we started as a linen store, a small family business run by my father-in-law, Jack Sternthal. As time went on, Jack’s sons graduated from college and joined the family business. We eventually had three locations, with our main store moving to a 30,000-sq. foot building where we provided linens, furniture, accessories, flooring, custom window treatments and bedding.
We launched InnStyle in 1988. Starting with a catalog, we began providing bed and breakfast properties with quality bed linens and other items for their rooms.
InnStyle began with customers who owned bed and breakfast properties in tourist destinations like New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ coming to shop at our store in Doylestown.
But it eventually morphed into an internet shopping experience, as our innkeepers began to put their businesses online. Visitors to our site can now find wholesale and retail shopping carts.
So why are we talking about all this?
Because we’re proud. Not a lot of companies stay in businesses this long. We’re not saying this to sound smug. If anything, we’re humble. We know we’re lucky. We’ve had to change with the times, reinventing ourselves over and over. If we hadn’t, we would have disappeared many years ago.
To what do we owe our success? Part of it was changing with the times. That was a necessity, as small, family-owned bed linens businesses were being drowned out by big box stores such as Sam’s Club, BJ’s and of course, Bed, Bath and Beyond. We understood this. We even shop these stores ourselves.
But how did we compete with these retail giants?
Our strength was in our personal service. We aimed to please. We were taught to provide the best service we could. If a customer wanted to take home a sample, we provided it (and we still do)! If a customer needed better product, we ordered it, and we still do. If a customer was purchasing in volume, we provided better pricing. If a product did not perform the way it should, we sent it back to the manufacturer.
Yes, the big box stores provide products. But they cannot compete with the personal service that you get from a small wholesaler or retailer such as ourselves.
And in the search for bed linens, personal service counts for more than just PRICE! Our staff goes out of their way to provide an easy shopping experience. They will find products, get the best product and do it all with the experience that is necessary for your budget.
If you’d like to learn more about our bed linens or any of InnStyle’s other products, please visit our website or call 1-800-877-4667 to talk to someone from our expert sales staff. We’ll be happy to hear from you.