based stores in 2000. Today, that number
tops 250 in 18 states.
Through it all, Anna’s Linens has
always been a family affair. Gladstone
named the store after his mother (and
her picture appears in each store to this
day, even though she passed away in
2003), and his children are long-time key
executives in the company. Son Scott
Gladstone is the retailer’s chief operations
officer and daughter Carie Doll is its chief
merchandising officer.
While the company began marketing
using print circulars — for 18 years, direct
print accounted for 100 percent of Anna’s
Linens’ marketing spend — it added TV
in 2006 and began beefing up its Web
site, www.annaslinens.com, around the
same time. Adding TV and Web to its
marketing mix helped boost Anna’s Linens direct campaigns to a new level.
“We needed to expand the aware-
ness of Anna’s,” Gladstone says. “TV has
broadened our reach. We track every sale
The Brand
DRTV Agency
Innovative marketing through
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ATOMIC DIRECT
503.296.6131 Portland, Oregon
by zip code, and since we went to TV,
our reach is wider. At the same time, the
Internet is our fastest growth vehicle. It’s
seen ridiculous increase levels, but I still
think it’s underutilized. We’re funding it,
but I am still surprised at how many states
we sell via the Web that have no Anna’s
locations.”
However, direct response isn’t only
working for Anna’s Linens across TV,
print and online media. It’s also providing
new products for the retailer to sell, as the
company’s stores now stock and highlight
a bevy of As Seen on TV products, a
sector that Gladstone calls “our biggest
growth area in stores last year.”
A Love for the Business
While the company has experienced great growth during the
past 10 years, however, it’s Gladstone’s background in business
that has created a culture at Anna’s Linens that values customers
and employees equally.
“I’ve been in the linens busi-
ness since I was 18,” he says. “My
job in high school was as a stock
boy in the linens department at a
discount store. It was something I
enjoyed — folding towels, lining
up sheets, and I did it fairly well.”
The CEO of the store, White-
front Stores, took a liking to Gladstone
and offered him a deal to pay for his
college education if Gladstone agreed to
work for the company for two years after
graduation. He jumped at the chance.
“Every summer during college, I was in
the company’s training program, learn-
ing more about the linens and domestics
market,” he says. “I even went to New
York with the buyers — the entire busi-
ness intrigued me, and I’ve been in it ever
since.”
But his background is not without dis-
appointments. “I was at the right place at
the right time, becoming a senior execu-
tive with a new company at 23 years old,”
Gladstone says of Three D Bed & Bath,
where he transitioned to after Whitefront.
“I stayed with it for more than 10 years,
and actually thought it would be longer
— I was the assumed heir-apparent to the
owner, who was nearing retirement.”
However, the owner stunned Glad-
stone. “The CEO brought me in and said,
‘Good news! I’m bringing my son into the
business to work with you.’ I’d met him
before, but the news left me crestfallen,”
Gladstone contends. “My wife talked
me into staying, but after his son started
working, it became clear he wasn’t my
kind of person.”
So he left the business to go to work
for HomeFront, another housewares re-
tailer. “It was a great move,” he says. “I
had expanded responsibilities, became
president, made a lot more money. The
Anna’s Linens stores feature bed, bath,
kitchen and other housewares items,
including the recent successful addition of
As Seen on TV Products.
stores were owned by a Fortune 100 com-
pany. It was terrific.”
However, in 1986, Gladstone took
note when two major discount chains
that had been long-time leaders on the
Southern California retail landscape
went out of business. “Zody’s and Gemco
going out of business got me thinking
about starting my own company,” he says.
“I wanted to pick up the void they left
— we had leased and operated the linens
department for each — and I thought it
was a great opportunity to set up my own
stage and try something on my own.”
One year later, with the inspiration
— and name — of Gladstone’s mother,
