Meet Blaine Austin and John and Annette Douthat of AllBrands.com

Today we’d like to introduce you to Blaine Austin and John and Annette Douthat.

Please kick things off for us – we’d love to hear the story.
John M. and Annette Douthat, the passionate marital team behind our brand, have been in the sewing business since the mid-70s. Together, they have spent almost forty years cultivating AllBrands as their pride and joy, setting an example for competitors everywhere on how to properly offer superior customer service and unbeatable satisfaction. Still active within the company today, John is a regular at our weekly meetings, as vibrant and passionate as ever before. A walking encyclopedia of sewing machines and repairs, he can be regularly found bouncing ideas off of his tailor-picked staff through email, discussing business propositions with vendors and salesmen, and attending conventions.

Back in 1995, it was the suggestion of their preadolescent son, John F. that prompted the senior John to consider a website. At the time, the Internet was just pulling itself out of its infancy, long before the dot-com bubble burst of 2000. The World Wide Web was a new frontier, offering limitless potential to some, but nothing more than a gimmick to others. Regardless to say, John and Annette took their business online, becoming the first sewing and vacuum business on the Internet. Shortly after, a new era of prosperity came to AllBrands, and John M. was able to suspend his extensive trips between his ten retail stores. He consolidated his brand further towards home, able to focus on delivering exemplary customer service.

Their twins, John F. and Barbara, have both been a part of the business since high school. Always tinkering with electronics and computers from an early age, John F. built the website, and can be usually found glued to his MacBook Pro while continuously improving and streamlining our extensive system. Barbara, meanwhile, is the head of Product Development, overseeing the cherry-picked selections of vendors, product lines, and products themselves. She maintains and oversees the presentation and quality control of our inventory.

AllBrands has participated in extensive philanthropy work both here in Louisiana and outside our community. and To our local youth development 4-H charter, The Douthats have donated a brand-new machine every June for the last thirty years to the winner of their design contest, as well as supplies to all the contenders. Several years ago, the company donated over 1000 machines to the 4-H national charter.

Among the other extensive local charities and clubs supported are Fashion Week New Orleans, which raises attention through a variety of high-end runway shows, pop-up boutiques, networking opportunities, and chic parties, and Hemline@LSU, the official student fashion organization at Louisiana State University.

Outside of our home state, AllBrands responded to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. After learning that 60% of the country’s exports are sewn products, John M. donating over one hundred factory-sealed Brother sewing machines to the cause. We are also a proud member of the SeaHope Partners, working to do our part to curb the aftereffects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Sewing Machine Project, dedicated to donating machines around the world that have been ravaged by misfortune and disaster.

At our various retail locations, AllBrands is host to a variety of sewing classes for the community, incorporating such guests and celebrities such as Paula Reid of Batts In the Attic and Anthony Ryan Auld, first-place winner of Project Runway All-Stars Season 2.

Giving back to the community is a massive part of who we are. It’s how we identify ourselves. Whether it’s donating a hundred sewing machines to Haiti, offering sewing classes to the community, seeking out and presenting the biggest names in sewing and crafting, working with and inspiring the local youth, or sponsoring local fashion events, we are here to help.

This year, AllBrands.com will be celebrating our 41st year in business. Our company has spent four decades focused on one thing above all others, unparalleled customer service.

Our owners, John and Annette Douthat, were very careful when they chose our name, AllBrands.com. They wanted it to reflect the products that we carry. We go out of our way to fulfill your needs by offering all brands of Floor Care, Garment Care, Sewing Machines and Sewing Related products. We partner with many different manufacturers and offer many different brands of products. Our corporate office is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We operate 8 retail stores, 5 in Louisiana and 3 in Texas. Our Louisiana stores are located in Slidell, Metairie, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles. Our Texas stores are located in Houston and 2 in San Antonio. John had a philosophy from the beginning and it still holds true today. We are a buying agent for our customers, and not just a selling agent for the manufacturers we represent. To do this, we follow the trends in sewing products, and we carefully choose the correct merchandise and vendors to fulfill your needs. Furthermore, we do our share to contribute back to our community, through philanthropic endeavors, by donating machines and other works of charity.

It is things like these kinds of basic principles that set us aside from the rest. Walk into any of our brick-and-mortar stores and you’ll see the same thing. The stores are filled wall to wall with merchandise, personally chosen to cater to your creative projects. You will also find a warm, inviting staff of sewing specialists, who are ready to answer your questions and help you with your projects. We carry a broad selection of specifically-chosen Sewing Machines, Embroidery Machines, Quilting Machines, Vacuums, Fabric and Accessories. If on-line shopping is what you prefer, we offer a very comprehensive website that hosts over 15,000 products to serve your needs. Both in our retail stores and on-line, we strive to be your all-in-one shop for anyone from the novice seamstress to the veteran designer. To help us Celebrate our Anniversary, sign up for our Newsletter or Like our Facebook page, for exciting offers and coupons throughout the year.

As part of our 40th Year Anniversary Celebration, we are adding the full line of Bernina Sewing and Embroidery machines to our Retail Stores. We are very happy and excited to merge this great brand with the AllBrands.com family of Sewing and Embroidery machines.

Also, as part of our Anniversary Celebration, we are doubling the number of Events for 2017. For a list of all the exciting events and activities, please visit our Events Page.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We’ve had our fair share of Natural Disasters and Unnatural Disasters that’s really affected our business. In 2005, we actually lost a store in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina came to town. We’ve had so many our customers that have been affected by Hurricanes since 2005, The Houston Flooding in 2016 & 2017 and the 2016 Baton Rouge Flood caused some many of our customers to be displaced. We had several employees that lost homes in the Baton Rouge Flood. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill also referred to as the BP oil spill, began on April 20, 2010, it is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. This had a very adverse effect on the Gulf Coast and our customer base. This lead to the Oil Bust in 2015 & 2016. The oil slump hit Houston and the Louisiana Gulf Coast even harder than first thought, costing the region thousands more energy jobs and snuffing out overall employment growth during the years since. Through all of this, AllBrands.com has remained strong and even expanded into the San Antonio market by acquiring two retail stores bringing up our overall store count to 8.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success by what customers and employees say about you. I also measure success when other businesses emulate you.

Contact Info:

• Address: 20415 Highland Rd.,
  Baton Rouge, LA 70817
• Website: www.allbrands.com
• Phone: 1-800-739-7374
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allbrandscorporate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allbrands1976
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/allbrands1976
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/ALLBRANDSLLC1976

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