Hallmark Cards Inc.

Exporter
PO Box 419034, Kansas City, MO 64141-9034, United States
(800)425-5627, (816)274-5111, (816)274-5061 fax, http://www.hallmark.com

Primary SIC: Greeting Cards, Primary NAICS: Greeting Card Publishers
Description: Manufacturing: Greeting cards, gift wrapping paper, ribbon, gifts, albums, and art supplies. Communications: Television broadcasting and cable television services. Services: Television, film production, floral delivery, marketing consulting, and portrait studio services. Finance: Licensing and franchising. Retail: Greeting card stores and online sales. More

Hallmark is the country's leading maker of greeting cards with brands such as Shoebox, Mahogany, and Tree of Life. Hallmark also owns Binney & Smith (the producer of Crayola crayons), Picture People (portrait studio), Hallmark Entertainment (producer and distributor of television shows, movies, and home videos), Tapper Candies (party favors and candies), and William Arthur Inc. (invitations and stationery). Over 45,000 retail outlets sell Hallmark's cards and about 7,500 of these are Hallmark stores. Hallmark recorded sales of $3.9 billion in 1998 and employed almost 21,000 workers. Joyce C. Hall started what would become Hallmark in 1910 as a teenager in Kansas City, Missouri. Hall began by distributing postcards to stores through the mail. Although Hall succeeded in selling postcards through his mail-order service, he believed there was a growing market for different kinds of cards--greeting cards such as those for Christmas. Joyce C. teamed up with his brothers Bill and Rollie to form Hall Bros., which made these kinds of greeting cards. Members of the Hall family still own the majority of the company and Hallmark employees own the rest of the company. Hallmark's key competitors are American Greetings and Gibson Greetings.