Stocking Up for the Holidays

Vecchiarelli Brothers Inc., 64-year-old supplier of dress forms, sewing machines and sewing suppliers, opened the doors of its L.A. garment district store on Dec. 6 for a customer-appreciation-day sale.

This is the sixth year the company has hosted the event and 300 people lined up at 8:30 in the morning waiting to get in to shop for sewing supplies and equipment at drastically reduced prices, said Joe Vecchiarelli, president and grandson of the founder of the company.

Vecchiarelli sits on the board at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and several Trade-Tech instructors stopped by the party with their students in tow.'Among them was Laine Brechner, who praised Vecchiarelli for his integrity and the special customer service he extends to her students.

“When my students come here, they say they’re Ms. Brechner’s students and he takes care of them as if they were diamonds,” she said.

Several representatives from New York–based sewing machine company Consolidated Sewing Machine Corp. (CONSEW) were also in attendance, including President Murray Feit, Vice President of Sales Doug Glenn and John Sandahl, manager of the Los Angeles office.

This was Feit’s first time at the Vecchiarelli event and he described it as “a wild scene.”

“I’ve never seen a sewing machine dealer like this,” Feit said, adding, “We’ve sold every machine we have here.”