Meet Amy Kohler of Embroidery and More in Cranberry Township, PA

Dave Jackley
Welcome to another edition of ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh. And today I have the pleasure of talking to Amy Kolmer, Owner of Embroidery and More, right here in the center of Cranberry Township. Find out today how you can get high quality pictures, logos, custom information on such a variety of sportswear and goods you won’t believe it. So stay tuned.

Dave Jackley
Good morning, Amy. How are you? Please tell us about Embroidery and More, a little bit about your history, and how you got into this business.

Amy Kolmer
So we do custom, anything and everything. we do embroidery, we do screen printing, we do logos, we do one-off pieces, for example, for someone that comes in and just wants a name on a baby blanket, we can do that. We can do company logos, sports, apparel, whatever a customer wants. Basically, it’s customized, we can do it. And you could do the whole team and whole company if they want it. Or you can do a special thing that Grandma wants you to do for.

Dave Jackley
That’s really cool and personal. Well, how did you get into this business?

Amy Kolmer
My background is accounting and finance. And I had done sewing and embroidery at home. I came into the shop, the shop was for sale, took the flyer home to my husband and I said, I think we should do this. And he looked at me like it was a little crazy at first and he said. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” So, and that was five years ago now. And it’s been fantastic. We love it.

Dave Jackley
Oh, that’s great. And I guess what people might not know is this involves computers and 1000s of stitches and machines that all work by computer.

Amy Kolmer
For digitizing of logos and just the set up of it. It’s not just a matter of you know, putting the machine on and letting it go. You have to get in there. There’s programming involved. Yes, you have to you have to know how to program the machines. And these aren’t your typical home machines. We have big commercial machines. So it’s a little different than you know, just doing something at the house. And it’s fun. But when you need bags and towels and big items, you can’t do those at home, you need you need to bring the big guns.

Dave Jackley
Well, I can hear your machines humming in the background. And I think what amazes me is it takes 1000s of stitches for the picture to take place. And they look so high quality. It’s really good. And the variety seems to be endless, which you’ll see as we walk around the store here. So tell me what do you like most about this business?

Amy Kolmer
Just the people we meet, the different customers. Everybody’s got a different story about what they want done and why they want it done. We do corporate apparel, and bags which is neat. But for individuals, it’s something a little more personal to their story and the point of their wanting to personalize an item. It’s neat to see the people and that’s what we like,

Dave Jackley
I really like that. Yeah, I can identify with that because here I am listening to your story. And I love hearing about stories in the community. But I can imagine the story of the team, the story of someone you know, why so and so wants this for their child or whomever.

Amy Kolmer
Yes, I think that stories are very motivational. That’s fantastic. It turns out to be more of a personal business and you’re right it probably is their stories. Then you meet people who you know, come in for one thing for team then they go, oh, you know what, my husband was a company and next thing you know, you have their business as well. So it’s neat to to grow it that way too. And develop the personal relationships that you do. We do a lot of some charity work. For example, we do a lot of things for Highmark’s Caring Place. They do these beautiful quilt squares for families that are grieving the loss of loved ones from cancer. And the families will come in and not know how to put it together or what to do. And so then we help them create this square that they then take back and the Caring Place ladies, the people they have there, they assemble these wonderful quilts. It’s all volunteer time, and then they hang them in the caring place as a memorial to all the loved ones. I don’t ever charge the people for those. I just I can’t because of their touching mission. It’s already hard enough for them. So that’s just something we do. It just one of those little things in our community that helps people.

Dave Jackley
Yes, what a beautiful contribution to the community,! Speaking of the Caring Place or any other nonprofit or community service organization, or that helps people in the community, many people may not be as aware as they could be. They can put it on a bag and be advertising to make people to be aware of that business. I guess it’s all about awareness. Now, as you mentioned, we work in real estate with a lot of contractors, and you work with a lot of contractors,.too. And what do you think is good about your service for people like that?

Amy Kolmer
Brand recognition, obviously. You know, when you send your guys to someone’s home to do work, or you’re at a job site doing work, you and your customers want to know who your crew are. If there are multiple crews on site, it’s easier to pick out who is who if they are identified by company and the person’s name, whether it’s just a left chest or name,or your name and company on the back with your phone number. Bidding jobs, when you put on a nice polo with your company logo on it, you look a little more professional, and it makes a difference.

Dave Jackley
That’s really cool. So this is really interesting. But I think people would probably be more interested in hearing a bit more about your business and what you do here firsthand. So why don’t I step behind the camera? And you can give us a tour?

Amy Kolmer
So one of the most frequently asked questions we get is do we do one-offs of something can you bring in your own items? Absolutely. We don’t have a problem with that at all. We don’t charge any additional for that. You’re welcome to bring in anything you like. We carry a large selection of baby items and gifts that can all be personalized. Anything from blankets to the some of the stuffed animals to the baby lovies – those are really popular. And we do a lot of those things. We carry a lot of the Stephen Joseph line of the little backpacks and the lovies and the blankets and things like that. Those are great.

We’re also pet friendly. Here we have two little dogs who are usually in the shop with us all the time. So we carry pet bandanas. They’re cute on the dogs. They’re made locally by another woman. Her company is Goblin Girl Designs. You’ve probably seen her all over Facebook. Goblin is famous. We carry a line of little toys that her mom makes and we just keep them in the shop and people love them. So that’s always popular too. Her name is Laurie and she makes all the bandanas and the little pet toys. They are wound so tight. We have super chewer dogs who they have a hard time getting through them. She says she gets them so tight by watching the Pens play. So that’s how she weaves them so tight. She does a really great job with them and the dogs love them.

One of the other things we do we do a lot of sports apparel for a local sports teams with the schools. We have just about every school logo in our files already. We do sports from swimming, lacrosse, baseball, football, and cheerleading. You name it, we’ve done it. We can outfit your team or parents spirit wear, whichever or whatever your need happens to be. We’re happy to help with all those.

Dave Jackley
Terrific, I see you have some big deliveries you’re making down here.

Amy Kolmer
Yes, they’re waiting to get picked up. We have some bags, baseballs in full swing right now. So we’ve got hats and bags and few other things for some of our corporate clients. Yeah, we’ve got quite a bit and ready, ready to go.

Dave Jackley
Well, that’s good to hear for business. And I guess you’re working your way through the pandemic supply chain issues, too?

Unknown Speaker
That’s been that’s been challenging. But, you know, as long as our customers are flexible on things colors, you know, we can always find something that that will work for their needs. And again, they’re welcome to bring in their own items. If they find something they specifically like and we don’t carry, we’re happy to have them bring them in. That’s fine.

Dave Jackley
So Amy, thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.

Amy Kolmer
My pleasure.

Dave Jackley
It’s been so interesting learning about embroidery and all the things that can lead to. So remember, tune in again for another edition of ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh and meet more interesting people right here in our local community. Thank you