Nevadan at Work: For women’s products seller, business builds bonds

Before he started selling lotions, vibrators and lingerie through Party Gals, company owner Christopher Griggs got his start working in the private-label cosmetics industry.

Griggs began his career in a marketing and sales job at Cosvetic Laboratories , a manufacturer of vitamins, skin-care and hair-care products. From there he started Beauty Mark International and Health Monitor, both of which focused on cosmetics and lotions.

In 1994, Griggs decided to branch out and buy an ailing company called Fun Products. He renamed the business Party Gals, fed about $100,000 into the enterprise and went to work.

Party Gals survives through its network of distributors who host in-home parties to pitch and sell the company's products. Retail items sold include massage oils, lotions, electronic stimulators and lingerie.

Griggs operates his warehouse and national distribution center from a 16,000-square-foot space in North Las Vegas. He employs 23 people, and most have worked for him for nine years or more. His corporate employees, most often, are distributors themselves.

In addition to the North Las Vegas office, Griggs operates an information technology department in Omaha, Neb., and a graphics department in Chicago.

Party Gals has about 14,000 distributors, and 98 percent of the distributors are women.

"It's a constant battle," Griggs said. "They go inactive, they go active, they go inactive. In any given month we're probably dealing with 3,000 to 4,000 active distributors that are buying from us on a monthly basis."

Minimum cost for a distributor is $250, which Griggs says buys them about $1,100 in merchandise and a website.

Party Gals' yearly revenues usually fall between $12 million and $15 million. About 20 percent of Party Gals' total sales come through the Internet.

Right now, Griggs is a happy man. Between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15, Griggs' business increases about 30 percent due to Valentine's Day.

"This is my happiest time of the year," he said. "It's just time to get back into business."

Sales continue to be strong for Party Gals until about June 15 when business falls off because of the summer season. Things pick up again after Labor Day.

In a typical month, Party Gals does about $6,000 to $7,000 in sales. From Dec. 15 to Jan. 15 sales dip dramatically.

"During Christmas season everybody's looking for a different kind of toy," Griggs said.

Question: What was the state of the business when you took it over?

Answer: It was in its infancy, it was brand-new. We had one customer.

Question: How would you describe the company now?

Answer: The company has grown quite a bit. We're 17½ years old. In that period of time we've signed up over 14,000 distributors nationwide so we've had a great deal of growth. I'm very happy. The business that we do is fulfilling, because it's really a women's business. I've sort of stayed in the background for most of the first 10 years of the business. Pretty much still to this day it's very women-oriented. The women run the business, as you'll see as you go through. Most all the employees are women.

Question: How have you grown the product line since you've taken over?

Answer: It's been a learning curve. I could sit here and show you catalogs from the early '90s to where we are today. The products have become much more sophisticated. The packaging has to be more upscale. When we first got into the business everything was fun-oriented. Now it's become more of a serious business.

Question: When you tell people what you do and what your company sells, is there a stigma? Do people ever give you strange looks?

Answer: They do. But I think it's a lot different. I think we get a different reaction than we would if it were strictly an adult-oriented kind of business. I would say 65 to 70 percent of our products are not even adult-oriented. We do provide every kind of item that people like, but we're here to really help people. The focus behind our parties are to give other people knowledge. There are a lot of questions to be asked. Women have many questions. We think it helps enhance relationships and we think we're doing good for people.

Question: What has been your favorite aspect of the business throughout the years?

Answer: I've taken girls that were making minimum wage and now they're making $125,000 a year. So I've seen them change their whole families. They're buying new houses, they're driving new cars, they're going on vacations.

Question: What's your favorite Party Gals product?

Answer: Probably Fuzzi Wuzzi. Fuzzi Wuzzi is one of the first products that we developed. It originally was a hair conditioner that has since become a shave cream. We came out with it in our initial product line when we launched in 1994 and it was something that we have had a great deal of success with. It's just a keeper.

Question: What's your least favorite product?

Answer: I try to stay away from the adult novelty end of the business. The main thing is, I don't know anything about them. I'm sort of prudish to be honest with you. I didn't come from that. I came from a private-label manufacturing business.

Question: What do you do when you want to get away from Party Gals?

Answer: I do a lot of traveling. I travel all over the world. I love Hawaii, I've lived in Laguna Beach (Calif.) for the last nine years, sort of off and on. I enjoy being down there with my family. We spend most of the summers down there. That's sort of my place away from home.

Question: How do you balance your daughter's knowledge of the business?

Answer: That's a challenge sometimes to try to keep her on the bright side of what does daddy do. We ... have a very normal home. There's nothing unusual about what we do or how we are. We're very family-oriented, my wife and I and our daughter.

Question: What does your wife think of the business?

Answer: She's always been well removed from the business. She's a housewife and a mother and she's dedicated to our daughter. She does a lot of volunteer work at the school. She's the one that takes all the kids on the carpools and the trips.

Question: What is your target demographic for your distributors?

Answer: We're not really going after brain surgeons when we're recruiting people. We're going after somebody that's never had their own business before, they don't know about the ins and outs, and what they need to do to be successful in the business.

Contact reporter Laura Emerson at
lemerson@lvbusinesspress.com or 380-4588.