Sovietski Collection, a San Diego-based cataloger of gifts and collectibles from the former Soviet Union, is changing its name. By the end of this year or early 2005, the cataloger will be known as Siegler & Co.
This past fall, the company’s catalogs and Website began bearing the title “Siegler & Co.’s Sovietski Collection.” Throughout the year, the font size of “Siegler & Co.” will grow larger while that of “Sovietski Collection” will diminish, until the Sovietski name is phased out altogether.
The catalog name change, says president/CEO/founder Mitch Siegler, reflects a shift in the company’s merchandising. “By virtue of our company’s name and the geographic constraints, we’ve had to find extraordinary and unique items from the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, and that’s become increasingly difficult to do,” says Siegler.
Since 2002, the company has been selling more items from other markets, such as Egyptian cartouche pendants, Chinese zodiac stamps, and Swiss watches. Simply put, Siegler doesn’t want the catalog to be limited by its name anymore. His strategy is “to make our catalog more mainstream, address a larger audience, and open some new merchandising opportunities.”