Moms Create Business Plan That's In The Bag
Peninsula residents Jan Mercer and Caryl Parker went with a simple business model: see a need and fill it.
One year later, their small company, which designs and sells environmentally sustainable shopping bags, is thriving.
Mixed Bag Designs — founded by the two stay-at-home moms in February 2008 — began simply as an idea. Mercer was looking to create a large bag that could carry multiple shopping bags from car to home in fewer trips.
“As a mom you have a lot of things to carry,” she said. “It just made sense.”
Parker, however, was not sold on the idea.
“I didn’t think anyone would buy them,” she said.
Mercer had another plan: create reusable shopping totes that would offer women a more stylish alternative to logo-adorned bags sold by stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
Now, Mercer and Parker have a warehouse off Rollins Road in Burlingame stocked with the polypropylene bags that come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Sold online, to stores and at fundraisers, retail prices range from $7 for the “drugstore” bag to $12 for the “department store” tote.
Logo from Mixed Bag Designs
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