Nancy’s Notions, a Beaver Dam, WI-based cataloger of sewing supplies and producer of the PBS TV series Sewing with Nancy, is being acquired by its top merchandise supplier, Tacony Corp. The $140 million Tacony agreed to buy Nancy’s for an undisclosed amount on July 23; the deal is scheduled to close on Jan. 2, 2003.
“We’ve worked with Tacony for 18 years,” says Nancy’s owner Nancy Zieman. “Discussions came about over the past eight months, and it seemed the appropriate thing to do for our long-term relationship.” Nancy’s will gain greater merchandise buying power under the Fenton, MO-based Tacony, fueling the $12.5 million cataloger’s growth. For wholesaler Tacony, “Nancy’s knowledge of the sewing consumer will be good in identifying trends in products and services,” says Tacony president/CEO Ken Tacony.
Zieman will continue to run Nancy’s as president under a five-year contract and will continue to produce and star in Sewing with Nancy indefinitely. The 23-year-old Nancy’s Notions distributes nearly 1 million catalogs annually. The company sells more than 3,000 sewing, quilting, and machine embroidery products, from $1.29 pins and needles to $1,300 sewing machine cabinets. Although catalog sales represent 90% of Nancy’s business, the company also sells to retailers and operates a store in Beaver Dam.