In 1980, the husband-and-wife team Peter and Peggy Rice, together with Michael Burns, founded Plow & Hearth as a small retail store amid the lush, rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Madison, Virginia. In an era when interest in alternative energy, family and self-reliant lifestyles was growing, Plow & Hearth's opened it first "Essentials for Country Living" store. The earth-bermed, passive solar structure heated by a wood stove sold chainsaws, rototillers, wood stoves, country kitchen items, food preparation and preservation equipment, bird watching items, bulk seeds, lawn and garden tools and how-to books.

Encouraged by the community's enthusiastic reception, the following year Plow & Hearth produced its first catalog, mailing 100,000 copies nationwide. Typical of a family-run start-up, Peggy Rice and her sister, Marty, filled the catalog orders from the old granary on the Rice's farm.

Our Catalog Headquarters, 1980.

The catalog successfully expanded operations beyond the Shenandoah Valley, and Plow & Hearth was profitable at the close of its first complete financial year. Within another year, catalog sales grew beyond the granary's capacity, and were moved to the back of the retail store. By 1983, the growing catalog mail order business was again outgrowing its space and was moved to a more suitable location: the old Farmers' Cooperative building in downtown Madison.

In order to maintain the company's strong commitment to exceptional customer service, operations were computerized. In 1984 a second retail store was opened in nearby Ivy, Virginia.

From 1986 to 1990, the company experienced extraordinary growth. In 1986, Inc. magazine selected us for its Inc. 500 Award, given to America's fastest growing private companies. We made the Inc. 500 list for four consecutive years, with five-year growth rates as high as 1,217%!

Rapid expansion forced catalog operations to move yet again, this time to a renovated textile mill, known as the "Silk Mill" in neighboring Orange County in 1989.

In order to reach more customers in our own community, in 1990 we moved our retail store from the small town of Ivy to the new Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. The new store gave us a unique sidewalk selling area which continues to bring customers into the store a decade and a half later.

The growing catalog and retail operation soon outgrew the Silk Mill that served as corporate headquarters. Land with room for future growth and expansion was purchased in Madison County, and in 1995, construction began on a new 120,000-square foot, state-of-the-art distribution center.

To ensure that the rapid growth of the 1980s did not alter the friendly way of doing business with our customers, who valued what they found in a small, responsive, family-oriented business, we instituted a Quality Improvement Process (QIP), which has become a core part of the Plow & Hearth corporate culture. Quality initiatives were implemented throughout the company, with problem-solving teams as the cornerstones of our quality efforts.

In 1994 Plow & Hearth was selected as a Finalist for the 1993 United States Senate Productivity and Quality Award (USSPQA) for the state of Virginia. The USSPQA is modeled after the nationally recognized Malcolm Baldridge quality awards and uses many of the same criteria for recognizing companies of outstanding quality. In 1995 the company was selected a USSPQA Medalist Winner, the highest award for quality bestowed upon an organization.

Three years later, we received the prestigious Award for Continuing Excellence (ACE) from the USSPQA. The ACE is awarded to past medallion recipients demonstrating sustained exemplary performance in quality and productivity.

Prompted by our environmentally conscious approach to business, Plow & Hearth joined the Direct Marketing Association's Corporate Environmental Stewardship Challenge. One of our model programs is Two for One™, in which we plant two trees for every one used in the production of our catalogs. Since the program's inception in 1991, we've planted over one million trees. We are deeply committed to this effort, and we encourage other catalog companies to emulate this valuable program.

In 1996, Plow & Hearth was selected to host the Federal Executive Institute to train federal executives from across the country in quality management principles. Our Business/Education Alliance was selected to receive the 1996 Virginia Governor's Award for Educational Partnership. We also received a formal commendation from the Virginia General Assembly for work in promoting business/educational partnerships throughout Virginia, including working with students from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate Business School.

In 1997 Plow & Hearth was awarded the Industry Excellence Award by the United States Postal Service in recognition of progressive mailing practices in the mail-order industry.

In 1998, the company joined the rapidly growing world of e-commerce, launching its first website. Within four years, the site earned a Gold I.Merchant Award, which recognizes excellence in website marketing. Also in 1998, a 60,000-square foot addition to the Plow & Hearth fulfillment center was constructed. Within two years, we outgrew the space yet again. A second expansion brought the fulfillment center to its current capacity.

Our growth, national recognition and exemplary customer service during our first two decades made Plow & Hearth highly attractive to investors. In 1998, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, a publicly traded company, purchased Plow & Hearth. The acquisition provided the company with even greater opportunities for growth and expansion, including the introduction of a second catalog, Plow & Hearth Country Home, specializing in home furnishings and decorative accents. Over three million catalogs were printed and mailed that first year, and the endeavor was deemed a rewarding success.

The turn of the century marked Plow & Hearth's 20^th year of operation. To keep up with growing demand and ever-increasing industry competition, and to ensure that the company could continue to meet and exceed the level of service customers have come to expect, the fulfillment center was completely re-engineered with state-of-the art materials handling systems. This major upgrade dramatically increased the efficiency, speed and accuracy of the order fulfillment process.

The following year, an additional distribution center in Vandalia, Ohio was acquired to better serve our customers in the central and western states.

Two leading U.S. children's catalogs, HearthSong® and Magic Cabin®, joined our family in 2001. These two brands strive to enrich the lives of children and strengthen family relationships by serving as trusted sources of safe, enduring products that inspire creativity and imaginative play. Their emphasis on tradition, self-reliance and the importance of family has made them worthy additions to the Plow & Hearth family of brands.

Yet another brand was added in 2002 with the debut of the Plow & Hearth Problem Solvers® catalog. Problem Solvers' goal is to make everyday life a little easier, with functional and practical items for staying organized, safe, clean and well. The new catalog quickly became another successful addition to the Plow & Hearth family, and a stand-alone Problem Solvers website was launched in 2006.

In 2003, Plow & Hearth received the Madison Chamber Award, recognizing the company's contribution to economic growth and stability, and our commitment to improving the quality of life in Madison and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Plow & Hearth continues to support the Madison Council for the Arts by contributing time, talent and funding to Concerts in the Park, a series of free summer concerts solely for the enjoyment of the residents of Madison and surrounding counties.

We celebrated our 25^th anniversary in 2005 with an outpouring of thanks to the many associates and friends of Plow & Hearth who were an important part of our quarter-century of tremendous growth. The weeklong, in-house celebration paid tribute to the associates, family and friends who have brought strength and recognition to the Plow & Hearth brand.

As if to mark the occasion, that same year BizRate® granted the company its award for overall customer satisfaction for the third consecutive year.

Also in 2005, the company acquired Wind & Weather®, a direct marketer of weather-related instruments, gifts and home and garden accents. Like Plow & Hearth, the company markets primarily through catalogs and websites and has attracted a loyal customer base. Wind & Weather moved its operations to Madison in October 2005.

Retail store operations expanded outside the state of Virginia for the first time in 2006. Two new stores opened in Maryland and a third store opened in North Carolina, bringing the total number of retail stores to nine. Plans are underway for continued expansion of our retail marketing effort. With all the expansion in the new century, another distribution center became necessary, so in 2006 Plow & Hearth opened a third distribution center in Reno, Nevada to bring more efficient service to our west coast customers.

Much has changed since the first "country store" opened over a quarter century ago, and though Plow & Hearth continues to grow, we've remained faithful to the core values that have been so instrumental in our growth and success. These include honesty and integrity, treating customers the way we expect to be treated, offering only quality products we would use ourselves, and guaranteeing 100% customer satisfaction with every purchase.

The Plow & Hearth Guarantee