Workshops Inc. diversifies with ‘feel-good product’

Since 1900, Birmingham nonprofit Workshops Inc. has provided training, employment and support for the disabled, and its workers have done assembly, mailing and other handwork for hundreds of local companies.

But Workshops wanted to supplement this income by starting its own enterprise, according to Executive Director Susan Crow.

“We’re not just looking to make money,” she said. “We want a line of business that creates jobs.”

The result was Avondale Mercantile, which launched in November 2017 with a product made by Workshops employees.

Avondale Mercantile sells decorative, long-burning pine cone and cube fire starters for use in fireplaces, fire pits and campfires.

They’re made with with sawdust from furniture maker Alabama Sawyer and reclaimed paraffin.

And the tag on each product is signed by the Workshops employee who made it.

“It’s a feel-good product, in addition to being attractive, high-quality and nicely packaged,” said Crow, who credits the efforts of designer Leigh Anne Gilbert.

They are sold at Home Furnishings, Swoon, Junky 2 Funky, Elements, Frontera, Leaf & Petal, Vulcan Park & Museum and Chapel Farm Collection in Fairhope.

“We had great success over the holidays,” Crow said.

And the staff is already looking forward to the holidays in 2018, according to Crow. “We are gearing up for an even bigger season next year,” she said.

The fire starters can be used all year but will likely be more popular with consumers in the winter months, according to Crow.

She is proud of Avondale Mercantile from a purely business perspective.

“We broke even on this new venture even in the first few months, which I think is very unusual for a new start-up,” she said.

Avondale Mercantile now has its own space at Workshops, and the staff is developing other “mostly natural products for home and body,” Crow said.

Possible new products the staff is looking at include lip balm, room sprays and pet products.

Workshops would like to have at least a dozen employees working on Avondale Mercantile products in 2018, with more to come, according to Crow.

And the employees who have taken part in Avondale Mercantile in its early stages have benefited, according to Crow.

“All of us want to feel we are contributing something positive to the world,” she said. “This job has given them something to be really proud of. They are actually creating something that they put their name on that will make someone’s life a little better.”

For more information, go to workshopsinc.org.