Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - Bart's Water Sports, a mainstay in the catalog mail business, is quickly shifting over to the Internet.
The 26-year-old North Webster business, which distributes 1.7 million catalogs a year, is quickly getting caught up in the Web for several simple reasons.
"You automatically have access to millions of people worldwide. Via e-mail, we can interact with our international customers at virtually no charge," said Bart Culver, owner.
"I believe the paper catalog will go away within three to five years," Culver said during a presentation Wednesday at the Lake City Bank economic briefing in Warsaw.
While catalogs remain an important facet in marketing the skis and other water sports products, about 3 percent to 5 percent of the business now comes from customers through the Internet.
But that should increase soon.
Its Internet website - www.bartsport.com - has been running for about two years and includes 30 pages featuring mostly closeout items and a few high-profile products.
But within a month, the company will upgrade its site to about 200 pages featuring its entire product line and more closeout items, he said.
The pages will be updated daily, he said.
The business began in 1972 after Culver, a big water-skiing buff, got a $2,000 loan so he could start selling water skis out of an abandoned farmhouse along Ind. 13 near North Webster.
Four years later, the company moved to its longtime store near Backwater Road. In 1995, Bart's relocated to a 30,000-square-foot building along Ind. 13 north of North Webster.
The company is one of three major outdoor water sports merchandise companies that depend greatly on direct mail and has catered to some worldwide figures and possibly the biggest movie of all time.
Bart's sold skis to the former Shah of Iran shortly before he was deposed by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Jordan's King Hussein is also a repeat customer.
Hollywood also likes the company's dry suits.
Culver said their switchboard operators received several calls from a production company wanting to use the dry suits for actors who wanted to put their period costumes over the top of the suits.
An operator inquired further and the caller said it was a movie they had probably never heard of called "Titanic," Culver said.
Bart's also has some unique incentives to attract and retain employees, which vary from 45 in the summer to 20 in the winter.
The company sponsors regular bowling and racquetball outings and each year takes all of the full-time employees with at least one year's tenure on a four-day vacation to such southern destinations as Jamaica.
Workers can also take breaks and go skiing or wakeboarding in a pond behind the store.
"It's a way of building camaraderie," Culver said.
And a solid workforce. Of the small group, about 10 employees have 10 or more years with the company, he said.
