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Posted 12-10-99
CLEVELAND -- Perhaps during the holiday season it is appropriate for a toy company to lead the Weatherhead 100, the annual survey of Northeast Ohio's fastest-growing companies.
The winner for 1999 is All Wound Up, a Chagrin Falls-based retailer of battery-operated toys, stuffed animals, and novelty items. With 158 mostly seasonal mall stores, the company has experienced an eye-popping growth rate of 11,757% between 1994 and 1998.
The company was recognized for its accomplishments at the 12th annual Weatherhead 100 dinner held December 7 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in downtown Cleveland.
The Weatherhead 100 list is compiled annually by Enterprise Development Inc. (EDI), part of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
Weatherhead 100 companies are chosen based on sales growth over the previous five years, meaning this year's winners were selected based on their results from 1994-98. Companies with sales of more than $100,000 in 1994 and more than $1 million in 1998, and which employed at least 16 people at the end of 1998, were eligible for the nomination. View the full list of Weatherhead 100 winners.
More than 300 companies submitted nominations to be on the 1999 Weatherhead 100, an all-time high. "Obviously, many companies are doing well, which is an indication of the robust strength of the region's economy," says Ben Keller, EDI program director. Equally significant, the 100th company on the list had sales growth of 156% for the year, compared to the 133% growth recorded by the 100th company on the 1998 list.
In addition to the main Weatherhead 100 list, EDI recognizes two other categories of firms: Weatherhead Upstart companies, who have met the percentage sales growth criteria of the Weatherhead 100, but had sales of less than $1 million in 1998 or had fewer than 16 employees; and Weatherhead Centurions, with sales growth of 100 percent or more from 1994-98 and net sales of $100 million or more in 1998.
Topping this year's 22 Upstarts is AvBase Aviation LLC, with sales growth of 892%. AvBase, headquartered in Cleveland, sells, charters, manages, and leases jet airplanes.
Among the 21 companies in the Centurion category, the leader is the SummaCare Health Plan, with sales growth of 1,381%. The Akron-based Summa offers managed care products and administrative services to self-funded employers. Last year Summa placed second on the Weatherhead 100 list.
Kirk Neiswander, senior vice president-programs at EDI, notes that "while northeast Ohio is not considered a hotbed of computer activity, close to 40% of the Weatherhead 100 companies are in the software, hardware, telecommunications, information technology consulting, Internet, or e-commerce business. No one category of companies has ever so dominated the list."
Service companies account for the largest share of this year's list, with 52%, followed by manufacturing companies, with 26%. Rounding out the list are wholesale/distribution companies (9%), retailers (5%), construction/real estate (5%), and other (3%).
"The range of companies on the Weatherhead 100 shows that we have a very diverse community, and there are lots of interesting ways to create fast-growth companies in northeast Ohio," Neiswander says.
Stuart Fishman, president and founder of All Wound Up, attributes his company's success to hard work. "We have all worked a zillion hours, from setting up stores to unloading trucks to putting inventory on the shelves to maintaining warehouses," he says. "Most of our stores are open three months of the year, but the work is hectic 365 days of the year."
Previously the owner of a software business, Fishman got the idea for the company after he and his wife wandered into a toy store in California that he describes as "hyperactive." He duplicated the format with his first store, which opened in the Tower City mall in downtown Cleveland during the 1994 holiday season.
In March, 1999 All Wound Up was acquired by Borders Group Inc., the parent company of the Borders bookstore chain. The company's management team remains largely in place.
Rounding out this year's Weatherhead 100 top 10 are Foresight Technology of Brecksville; Hyland Software Inc. of Rocky River; Grace Software Marketing Company of Cleveland; Thermagon Inc. of Cleveland; Technical Information Management Services (T.I.M.S. Inc.) of Highland Heights; Group Management Services Inc. of Valley View; GEM Edwards Inc. of Twinsburg; Jet Dock Systems Inc. of Cleveland; and USA Instruments Inc. of Aurora.
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