Qvc Will Feature State Businesses Giant Electronic Retailer Coming To Town On Thursday

Eastern Washington small business owners will have a shot at national exposure next week.

QVC is coming to town.

The world’s largest electronic retailer, which sells products on its cable channel, will select items from 20 Washington state businesses to be marketed during a QVC broadcast June 1.

“We sold $25,000 worth in five minutes,” said Emory Clark, president of Noxon Inc., a Spokane Valley company that sold items on QVC in 1995.

Noxon, which sells spring-powered tools, was the only Spokane company chosen the last time QVC toured the country looking for products to market.

The home shopping network reaches about 60 million households.

QVC representatives will meet with Eastern Washington businesses Thursday at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI) building at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd.

QVC will visit Seattle on Tuesday and invites Idaho companies to demonstrate their products on March 4, in Boise.

The last time QVC toured the country, Coeur d’Alene businesses did better than Spokane businesses.

Four Coeur d’Alene businesses were chosen, including Jewelry Works, Bumblin’ Bear Barbecue Sauce, The Basket Case and Northern County Woodcrafts.

“We have a lot of talented people in this area,” said Alan Reid, who owns Northern County with his wife Kathy. All 600 of their wooden sun and moon shaped clocks were quickly snatched up by buyers.

QVC chooses 20 businesses from each state. Of the 20, three will be selected to be on regular QVC programming.

Clark said being on QVC helped build Noxon’s reputation.

“We’ve been able to use the leverage of having been chosen (for QVC) to show we really had noteworthy tools,” Clark said.

, DataTimes