UPDATED: Burr Ridge Business Making It Personal

It all started with an idea—a preference actually—for a young mother, who liked to give personalized gifts.

"I’ve always enjoyed giving personalized gifts to my own family and friends ... They were big hits at birthday parties, bridal showers," said Kathy Napleton, founder of Personalization Mall. 

It was 1989, before Internet businesses became popular.

"I would find this beautiful frame and source out somewhere else to have it personalized," said Napleton. "Pre-Internet, it was not an easy task, but worth it for me for the reward I received in the end."

Her husband at the time, Co-founder Dan Randolph was in the catalog business. He saw how much time and effort she put into personalizing her gifts.

"He said to me, there's got to be a market out there for people like you," remembers Napleton.

So the couple invested their own money to start a small catalog business in the basement of their home in Burr Ridge. Napleton had just quit a job that required a lot of traveling and had their first child.

"We did the manufacturing of a lot of items. More of the items at that time were outsourced," said Napleton. "There was a lot of trial and error. A lot of sweat and tears."

The couple started going to gift shows in the area, sampling their products and growing their customer base. Randolph handled the manufacturing and shipping for the company. Napleton handled the merchandizing and customer service, answering calls from their home.

"[One time] when my son was a baby, he was crawling on the floor and starting to cry. I remember telling the customer 'Sorry about that. That’s our day care center—they just let out, and the customer said, 'You work in a facilty with a day care center? That’s so terrific,'" said Napleton with a laugh.

The company moved to one of its first offices in Burr Ridge on Executive Drive, off Madison Street. It continued to grow and went online in 1998.

"From the very beginning, our goal was to turn around our orders within 24 hours," said Napleton.

Unlike businesses that specialize in bulk orders of personalized items, Personalization Mall produces "one-offs," for customers, who buy individual items for special occasions.

Now 23 years later, Personalization Mall is an international business that had more than $81 million in sales in 2011, produces 45,000 items a day during peak holidays and employs about 200 people in the area, (including seven Burr Ridge residents.)

Despite the downturn in the economy, the company has grown 20 percent every year since it started. It moved into its current facility on Shore Drive in 2009.